4 BUSINESS Friday, August 10, 2018

A proposed concept fora “world first” artificialsurfing reef at Bunbu-ry’s Back Beach couldpave the way for similarstructures to be imple-mented at protectedbays along the Capescoast.

Surfer and SouthWest man Troy Bottegalwill meet with City ofBunbury staff nextweek to pitch his AIR-WAVE inflatable surfreef idea.

If successful, the AIR-WAVE, a dome-shapedbladder made out ofrubber — described byMr Bottegal as an envi-ronmentally inert com-pound — will beanchored to the oceanfloor before beingpumped full of air.

While Mr Bottegal ishopeful to gain supportin Bunbury, he believesthe idea could also cre-ate greater wave shapeand protection fromwave erosion to beachesalong the Capes coast.

“We’ve got a huge surf

population in the SouthWest so it’s about creat-ing user friendlywaves,” he said.

“Some of the smallerbays could use them tomake surfing more easyfor children and alsospecial needs users.”

Mr Bottegal has beenworking on his conceptfor 10 years, hoping toproduce an eco-friendlysurf reef which mim-icked the back of a nat-ural reef, hollowing andtapering the swell toproduce a high quality,rideable wave.

“The Bunbury one isgoing to be the world’sfirst test,” he said.

“We’ve done somesmall scale testing tosee what it looks likeand the results havebeen quite encouraging.

“As soon as we test itin Bunbury it opens up alot of possibility for theBusselton council tojump on board.”

Mr Bottegal willlaunch an online crowdfunding campaign onAugust 18 with the goalof raising $200,000 forhis idea.

Artificial surfingreef idea floated t Chloe Fraser and Kate

Fielding

Dunsborough restau-rant Yarri has beennamed as the best Con-temporary Australianrestaurant in WA at the2018 Gourmet Godfa-ther awards.

Announced in Perthon Monday, the awardsrecognise the best res-taurants across WA in arange of dining catego-ries.

Yarri was up againstJuniper and Bay andWill’s Domain, but man-aged to nab the top plac-ing.

Margaret River’sMiki’s Open Kitchenalso earned a top place,winning the Trendingor Innovative Food cate-gory.

Settlers Tavern was afinalist in the Bars,Taverns and Pubs cate-gory.

Top gongfor localrestaurant

The Busselton Cham-ber of Commerce andDunsborough Yallin-gup Chamber of Com-merce are calling fornominations for theinaugural BusinessExcellence Awards.

The awards will cele-

brate the efforts andsuccess of businesses inthe region, with 13 cate-gories open for nomina-tion.

Applications close onFriday, August 31.

Busselton Chamberof Commerce chief

executive Jo Richardssaid the awards pro-gram was designed toshowcase the achieve-ments of businesseslocated in the City ofBusselton.

She said the awardswould also help identify

areas for support andoffer opportunities forgrowth, training and de-velopment. Award win-ners will be announcedat a gala presentationnight at the City of Bus-selton Undalup Roomon Saturday, October 13.

Busselton Chamber of Commerce chief executive Jo Richards. Picture: Chloe Fraser

Nominations sought for business awards