Out in the harsh Stadlandet, the kilometre-long Erviksanden has the reputation of being the cleanest beach in the south with all sand. A lovely destination for surfers and tourists from all over the world. This winter there were strong winds and strong waves that washed the sand away. And with that there were only pebbles left. But now the sea has washed the sand away again. When the sand disappeared from the beach in winter, Jon Albertsen from the Institute of Marine Research explained why the sand disappeared from the beach. – Beaches that are exposed to a lot of wind, big waves and high sea levels can get the changes you see here, the researcher explained at the time. But Albertsen was optimistic that the beach would return to its proper form. – The normal weather must be given time to rebuild the beach, the researcher said then. There was a lot of sand waiting Until June, it was still the large pebbles that dominated the beach. But then something happened. – When we were surfing, we gradually began to see that the sandbars began to creep towards the beach, says Magnus Bettum. He runs Ervik Surfshop, which is close to the beach, and is constantly out on the water to surf. – We saw quite early on that there was a lot of sand lying around waiting to come up. This is how the beach looked on March 14 this year. Although there are a lot of rocks, the surfers don’t care about it. Photo: Helle Frogner Could have been a trap Even if the beach on the way back was as it was, the whole thing could have been a tourist trap for the tourists. The German tourist Carlos Baumann had no idea that the beach he visits was not there just a month ago. – In our turboka it says that this should be a completely normal beach, he says, as he takes a dip in the water. But even if the sand on the beach is there now, it may be that he will disappear again. Waiting for the big storm Because the powerful winter storms that ravage the Stadhavet have a tendency to drag away the sand. And although the beach returns in the summer, Erviksanden is smaller than it was just a few years ago. Magnus Bettum from Ervik Surfshop says that there is less sand on the beach now than there was before the extreme weather Dagmar hit in Christmas 2011. Such extreme weather tends to come around every ten years. – We are actually just waiting for such a big storm to come again, says Bettum. There are still stones on the beach waiting to be covered by sand. Photo: Kasper Valestrand/news
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“Sydenstranda”, which disappeared in the storm, is now back – news Vestland
