UNIVERSITY graduate Luke Sheppard is one of the few people who can say that the Boscombe surf reef has lived up to his expectations.

For the 30-year-old examined proposals for the reef eight years ago – and concluded it was virtually guaranteed to fail.

Luke was on Plymouth University’s surf science and technology degree course back in 2002 when he wrote his dissertation on the reef plans.

He looked at the claims regarding the performance of the reef and concluded the vast majority were either completely unfounded or simply incorrect. He sent his dissertation to Bournemouth council but never received a response.

Web designer Luke, of Talbot Woods, said: “I went into it with an open mind. I surf in Bournemouth and so was really hoping it would work but when you look at the conditions in Bournemouth you can see it was never going to.

“I really hoped I would be proved wrong but obviously that hasn’t been the case. I have to say I think it would have been almost a miracle if it had worked.” His reasons for the likely failure of the reef to double the number of surfable days were based on his view that Bournemouth does not have the right conditions for a reef to work.

Reefs need offshore winds to hold up the face of the wave, he said, while onshore winds simply make the wave crumble at shallower angles. But the predominant wind direction in Bournemouth is southwesterly while offshore winds are rare.

He also said that Bournemouth is subjected to various different swell conditions whereas the reef would need to be aligned to a particular swell direction to function effectively.

And he added that surfing reefs work best with long-period groundswell, or large gaps between waves, whereas the vast majority of waves on Bournemouth beaches are locally generated windswell.

Roger Brown, service director at Bournemouth council, said: “These views are based on the student’s dissertation which was carried out before design and construction of the reef.

“We have followed the advice from the leading experts in marine biology and the professional Doctors at Plymouth University.”