When surfers of a particular generation hear the name Cape St Francis, their minds immediately turn to the zippering coils made famous by Bruce Brown’s ‘The Endless Summer’. A part of the bay was re-named ‘Bruce Beauties’ in the wake of the film and it remains one of the most celebrated sections in surf movie history. However, since that footage was taken in the early 60s the waves in the region have been in steady decline. A new project hopes to revive them.
St Francis Bay is about to change fundamentally. The Long Term Coastal Protection Scheme, a precise combo of rock groynes and beach nourishment, could reset the Bay’s sandbanks and reshape its surf potential. If all goes to plan, St Francis and Bruce’s Beauties might emerge as South Africa’s next true surf zone.
For decades, St Francis Bay’s shifting sands have undermined everything from dunes to driveways. Seasonal erosion, driven by longshore drift and dune stabilisation, has left high tides rolling in against carparks and eroding beaches to near vanishing point. Homes, roads, and waterfront infrastructure all stand at growing risk. To counter that, the St Francis Property Owners NPC (SRA) has spearheaded a two-pronged solution: groyne construction reinforced by sand nourishment from the silted-up Kromme River – the main river flowing out into the bay, and the Sand River Delta, a sand build-up in the river resulting from the Sand River, a tributary, flooding out a decade or so ago.
The Kromme River is like the Tweed, only on the wrong side of the waves, so the sand needs to be dredged like the Super Bank project, but the outflow needs to be placed on the other (southern) side of the longshore current, hence the 5-odd kilometres of piping and a dredger vessel currently being constructed.
The Engineering
At the southern edge of St Francis Bay (towards the Bruce’s Beauties side of the Bay), the first groyne, Laura Road groyne has already begun taking form. Over the coming months (estimated 13.5 to 14 months for this initial phase), four groynes will be erected, with nourishment expected to follow closely.
The nourishment involves dredging sand from the Kromme River with a dredging pipe system and the dredger, and trucking in sand from the Sand River delta to replenish Main Beach and areas south of the groynes. This dual approach aims to rebuild a continuous sandy buffer along the 2.7 km stretch from the river mouth to Main Beach.
Why It Matters for Surf
Groynes aren’t new to surf culture. While Durban got its legendary banks from pier structures, St Francis is engineering a whole surfing canvas. If the groynes capture sand as intended, the widened beaches and new banks could spawn some incredible waves.
“I’ve been waiting for this since we moved here ten years ago,” said former world number 15 and big wave legend Johnny Paarman, who also served as the director of the Red Bull Big Wave Africa contest.
“Something incredible could happen here. That groyne at the river mouth? That could form into a new Bay of Plenty. Do they know what that could do to this town? The amount of benefits is staggering.”
The Bay of Plenty was arguably one of the greatest waves in South Africa when it was in its prime and spawned the likes of Shaun and Mike Tomson, Barry Campbell, Mike Savage, Mark Price, Dave Hansen and Martin Potter, to name a few. A 200 metre groyne alongside a river mouth that is going to be de-silted and start to flow better, could create something wild.
Bruce’s Beauties once delivered mile‑long peeling rights (thanks to a sand‑laden river mouth and open dunes). Now, with stabilised sands and erosion, it’s all but gone. The nourishment project offers it a fighting chance, especially if sand finds its way east along the shore. A few big easterly onshore blows could easily see sand landing up along the fabled point.
Build-Out and Outlook
The LTCPS strategy is clear: protect infrastructure, rebuild natural buffers, and create hands‑off engineering that works with the Bay’s coastal dynamics rather than against them. But nature still holds the final say. If sand drifts unevenly, banks may fizzle. If groynes interfere with swell delivery, some waves might be soft. As it is, St Francis Bay – most of the 2.7km stretch, is generally a close-out with some occasional days on the right tide and a some south or east swell – which is rare.
But even if surf payoff isn’t immediate, the project shores up what’s at stake; homes, roads, and the fragile spit that separates canals from open ocean. It’s not just about surf; it’s about keeping the Bay standing.
Surfer-Eye Forecast: What the Bay Could Look Like in 5 Years
- New Bay Of Plenty. A perfectly sculptured outside right at low tide, and an inside bowl at high tide. At all of the groynes.
- Mini-Wedge Madness – Sand-sculpted banks pop up between groynes, and wedge sections appear, perfect for airs or close-outs.
- Bruce’s 2.0 The old Beauties, reshaped, barrelling, and just another diversion to help spread the crowds and allow the old timers some longboard nostalgia while the groms practise their rotations at the piers.
- Naming Rights – Everyone is talking about the names, but these things have a way of sorting themselves out. Ie when they built a new pier in Durban it became The New Pier, when waves break in front of a landfill, a blue house or a toilet they are called Dumps, Blue House and Toilets. When a wave barrels it is called Tube Wave. All in South Africa.
- Miscellaneous – Contest venues, ocean economy (lifeguards, surf schools, beach amenities) surf tourism, hospitality industry, property prices escalating, surf shop boom, localism, crowds, the next Jordy Smith, the next Bianca Buitendag. BTW, Jordy, Bianca and Matty McGillivray all live nearby now.
