preferably formed into tube or pipes with an inner diameter of4 to 12 inches and wall thickness of approximately 0 25 to 0 5 inches wider tubes would be more susceptible to erosion as the soil plug is kept in place by friction between soil particles and the tube other cross sectional shapes such as rectangular pentagonal hexagonal or ovoid can be used however flat surfaces tend to reflect energy and corners are susceptible to increased scour if in direct contact with waves an ovoid cross section would be acceptable but is not currently mass produced pilings 1 with round cross sections are widely available have equal energy transfer no matter which direction the wave energy comes from and are therefor preferred lower ends 14 of pilings 1 are anchored into water body bottom 2 preferably lower ends 14 are driven to a depth consistent with the anticipated wave energy to be absorbed by pilings 1 typically pilings 1 must be driven to a minimum depth equal to eight times the tube diameter e g a six inch diameter piling 1 would be driven 48 inches into water body bottom 2 upper ends 10 protrude a short distance above the water body bottom 2 adjacent the shoreline typically upper ends 10 are either approximately flush or protrude above water body bottom 2 up to a height equal to the diameter of piling 1 pilings 1 are stacked a distance w outwardly from shoreline typically distance w is 3 3 times the height difference d rounded to the nearest piling diameter where height d is equal to the difference in elevation between water body bottom 2 and stable soil 18 once embedded into the bottom 2 pilings are filled with soil 4.