Warrnambool boat ramp upgrade on track as council considers harbor options

The new boat ramp is on track for replacement works to begin at the end of the year, but talks have also turned to how to hamper the long wave which has long caused problems for boats trying to launch into the bay.

Deputy mayor Richard Ziegeler, who is on the council's harbor reference group, said nothing had been set in concrete when it came to addressing the wave surge.

At the group's recent meeting with representatives from Better Boating Victoria, who is funding the new boat ramp, three options to address the wave surge were discussed.

These included a wave surge protector which Cr Ziegeler described as "some kind of a wall" but said at this stage it would be "pure conjecture" to say what it was made of.

"I don't think it is a rock wall. I think it is an artificial structure...it was just one of the options that was thrown up," he said.

The other option put forward was a stand-alone rock wall in Lady Bay, but that option was likely to be very costly.

Creating a spur off the end of the breakwater was also talked about.

"It's that long wave that we're battling. The long wave that everyone talks about which we've got to find a way to quieten it down so that the boat ramp is particularly safe," Cr Ziegeler said.

"A deflecting wall, or a spur or an enclosed marina, it's all part of the same discussion.

"There's an element of trepidation because we don't know what's going to work."

Cr Ziegeler said that while it had all been discussed, he stressed no decisions had been made.

He said the council was concentrating on getting the boat ramp upgraded first, and then it would look more closely at the options for the breakwater.

"The options are all very interesting and there's been nothing concrete decided," Cr Ziegeler said.

"The ideas have been coming thick and fast, and half the difficulty is we are all a bit tentative because there is so much that is unknown about human intervention in the natural circumstance."

Cr Ziegeler said there had been lots of research and anecdotes from people who had lived here for a long time but "you've got to find a balance".

He said the boat ramp works were on track to start by the end of the year. "It's terrific that we've got the money for it, Better Boating Victoria get the gold star from me," he said.

The state government announced $3.5 million in its May budget to replace the boat ramp which was labelled the worst in the state.

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