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8:10AM Sunday 12 October, 2008 Sunshine Coast weather Showers min 17° - max 24°

No place like foam

Published 12:00a.m. 24th January 2008

| By Alan Lander


Updated 9:57a.m. 20th February 2008

No place like foam

Coast teenagers Gary Gilliland, Rob Gould, Ben Norris and Elliott Hannan found fun in the ooze that smothered Point Cartwright. Photo:Barry Leddicoat/172289z10

February: THE FOAM IS BACK!

For new galleries and an update, click here.

They looked like mini monsters of the deep as they emerged from the foam that took over the sea at Pt Cartwright yesterday.

Having lost all thoughts of their day’s surfing – after the “sea-change” – four fully foamed frolickers made the most of incredible masses of sea foam.

Teenagers Gary Gilliland and Elliott Hannan of Buderim, Rob Gould of Yandina and Palmwoods’ Ben Norris normally surf the point, but the oozing, rank, brown invasion changed all that.

“I’ve never seen this (foam mass) before,” Ben said. “It was like this yesterday, too.”

Rob said they had arrived around 8am, and surfing was out of the question, so foam fun took over.

How did it feel?

“It was weird, slippery,” Elliott said.

“I can’t explain (the feeling),” Ben said.

“It was a bit like a swirl pool, all churned-up water.”

The foam had overtaken the rocks, creating a treacherous canvas, quivering in the wind like a huge jellyfish. Point Cartwright wasn’t the only spot furnished in foam, as other beaches reported similar conditions.

Sunshine Coast Environment Council general manager Ian Christesen said while he could not quantify the whole mass of gunk, he suspected much of it was run-off from development.

“It’s possibly the product of sediment from developments where adequate barriers had not been set up,” he said.

Much of the local soil contained colloidal clay which did not mix well with water.

“It’s getting mixed up in the surf,” he said. “Sediment in our waterways emphasises the importance of controls.”

Mr Christesen said he was surprised by how much there was in the water adding suspicion to the amount of sediment run-off being allowed.

But the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) said the process was likely to be more natural, despite its unpleasant odours and looks.

“It’s fairly common in big storm events,” EPA spokesman Chris Voisey said.

“Like detergent in a kitchen sink, swirl it around and you get bubbles.”

He said much of the ingredients of the mud-like substance was the breakdown of dead sea-life and seaweed.

“Events happen like this every 40 or 50 years, even when there was far less development,” he said.

Meanwhile, regular Point Cartwright surfer and Kawana Island resident Mick Smith watched the outgoing tide from the safety of his bike at the eastern Spit.

He had been surfing the day before, and didn’t like the foam effect.

“It’s really greasy,” he said.

Mr Smith said the tides had dropped a lot by yesterday morning, but a lot of sand had shifted.

“There is a lot of sand shifted into mounds,” he said, pointing to various underwater spots around the shoreline.

“It has all shifted off the point.

“But it’ll come back – it always does.”

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Recent Comments

Add a comment
Posted by starfish from Battery Hill
on 24 January, 2008 at 12:01 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Gee I wonder how long it took them to get this photo - you can't tell me it's natural.

- I don't know if natural is the word but it's certainly a real image based on what was before our photographer - the foam has certainly been a talking point among beachgoers and surfers - Editor.
Posted by blog_editor from Maroochydore
on 24 January, 2008 at 2:55 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Comments on this story from Fark.com:

That look fun. Sadly, pics can't convey smells or subsequent amoebic dysentery
rocinante721
Posted by blog_editor from Maroochydore
on 24 January, 2008 at 2:57 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Comment on this story from Fark.com

That is nasty in every way.

Foam picks up the dirt and debris in the water. Bird poop, fish poop, and crab poop.

Yuck.

fuzzwell
Posted by blog_editor from Maroochydore
on 24 January, 2008 at 2:59 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Comments on this story from Fark.com

Dead sea-life.
And I won't even swim in a public pool.

2PanMan
Posted by blog_editor from Maroochydore
on 24 January, 2008 at 3 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Comments on this story from Fark.com

If I remember correctly, I seen this PBS nature show where all the coral releases it's sperm simultainously. Causing a murky, foul smelling tide that coats everything.

This would also explain the slippery part.

Have a nice swim guys.

Migaloo
Posted by blog_editor from Maroochydore
on 24 January, 2008 at 3:01 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Comments on this story from Fark.com

So these guys see a weird, unknown, smelly, oozy substance come out of the ocean and the first thing they do is cover themselves with it?

I see a darwin award in one or more of their futures.

rawkus
Posted by blog_editor from Maroochydore
on 24 January, 2008 at 3:02 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Comments on this story from Fark.com

So they've basically covered themselves, including their faces, in industrial runoff? Seems like a good idea.

mistervague
Posted by suavebeast from Byron Bay
on 25 January, 2008 at 8:52 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Anyone with a marine tank who has a protein skimmer will know exactly what this foam is. Its freshly rotting material being drawn to the static charge on air bubbles.
So basically the water has lots of stuff in it from lots of stuff rotting. Soon it will change to ammonia-nitrite-nitrate and we will have a nice increase in algae.
:) Good old algae.
But ya I wouldn't swim in skimmate.....
Posted by leelee from Maroochydore
on 1 February, 2008 at 10:14 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
Check Yaroomba Beach where there is dried foam that has turned black and coated the grass and bases of trees. Looks like an oil spill to me, possibly run off from roads and all the fertilisers and any other rubbish you can think of. In my 35 yeas on the Coast this discolouration of the foam is getting worse. It is an oily slim and it wasn't anything like that when I was a kid playing at m'dore beach. Why doesn't the daily get a few different people to test it and report on it?
Posted by paulf from Buderim
on 7 February, 2008 at 10:15 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Too serious! What won't kill ya will only make ya tougher! Good on ya guys for playing around and having some fun! Don't listen to all the honky's who forget that they too were once young!

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