Kiters may recall the previous post advising that the ISAF Sailing World Championships - Perth2011 commences this weekend and runs from December 3 - 18 2011.
It is an Olympic qualifying event and has significant government involvement & sponsorship.
The Department of Transport has closed the waters between Woodman Point & Leighton for the duration of the event. The closure of these waters includes kiters. WAKSA is taking this opportunity to remind all kiters of the closures.
For more information, go to this site: www.transport.wa.gov.au/imarine/23475.
Hi WAKSA, thanks for the reminder. Can we have an idea of where the northern border of the Leighton restricted area is in relation to the overpass please?
Keep an eye out for unaware kiters people!! or we may all get blamed
Also if anyone is coming further north to kite, please check out:
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Kitesurfing/General/Guidelines-Scarb-City-Beach-NOV-2011-onwards/
and the local guidelines at other spots:
www.seabreeze.com.au/Articles/Kitesurfing/Riding-in-Perth-WA-What-you-need-to-know_4578814.aspx
Thanks!
I just looked up the coordinates on Google earth and it shows that the exclusion zone extends all the way to the South end of the golf course at Cott!
"what about the 4th of dec WAKSA race in Leighton?http://www.waksa.org.au/kitesurfing-events/course-racing/event/12-course-racing
is it still on?"
That is a good point Eneour will check it out and get back to you.
We are supper keen to run the race this weekend so we will see what we can do.
The main problem will be the Teuros at Woodies. Most locals will know about the restriction, but the Teuros will see the north side without anyone out and think they have died and gone to heaven. Sven will not give a rats ar$e, and not listen to the locals. How's it being enforced?
Despite requests to DoT to inform the kiting and windsurfing communities through SB, it has fallen to us to remind kiters of the closures.
DoT & Perth2011 organisers have previously advised that they will have signage & DoT officers present to advise beach users.
As to how many DoT officers and how much signage and where it will be place, no idea.
Damo northern end of exclusion zone looks to be where marine parade joins curtin ave at the roundabout. co-ordinates on my version of google earth match that location.
Exclusion zone is only 8am til sunset. I reckon that gives you about 30 minutes between sunset and last light for a quick session if you are desperate?
Such a great event for Perth,Fremantle and WA.
Wonder where the windsurfing races are taking place?
I hope that dickheads that are not aware of the exclusion zones will not ruin it and give our sport a bad image!
At the next world championship kitesurfing (racing) might be on the table...
If you like it or not.
I say kite where you like. kite hard, but do it safely.
A few kiters out at Leighton are not going to get in the way of the sailing. If the sailors are any good they should be able to integrate and work with the local conditions including the local traffic.
If you are any sort of a kiter you should be able to kite safely without getting near their racing.
lowkite as your your comment - "I hope that dickheads that are not aware of the exclusion zones will not ruin it and give our sport a bad image". Merely because someone is not aware of the exclusion zone does not make them a "dickhead". It makes the DOT and ISAF look bad for not making the exclusion zones clearer. Quit your whinging.
Get on the water people - it is our ocean to.
++++4 an olympic event is their guys whole life, and you want to potentially screw it up for them, what aboout consideration??? the same guys batting off, dont give startboard tack and are blind in their ignorance. its 3 weeks and due to La Nina you aint gonna get much chance anyway. Cant you respect they are sailors and much better than anyone else since its the WORLDS. We have so much coastline, if your a Knob, go and infect the pond, as its already infected.
Pathetic responses from kitesurfers who shouldnt be driving, yet alone kitesurfing, due their IQ being smaller than their collar size on a shirt
StinkyPete - not sure how people like me hav "fuct" our sport. I kite whenever it is windy and love it. It is not at fuct sport. Sorry you feel that way about this great sport.
Agent 554 - completely agree with your comment "they deserve their race track to be free from other water users so the racing can be as fair as possible". go have a look at where they are sailing - you wont see any kiters in their way - it is waaaaaaaay out the back and there is pleeeeennty of ocean out there. The kiters can easily avoid the area where the sailing is. Your comparison to bathurst is pathetic and completely different.
Dave.... see comment above to Agent 554. Kiting well away from the sailors is not going to screw it up for them at all. The "exclusion zone" is too big and is unnecessary. I am going to ignore it but I am not going to go anywhere near where the racing is taking place and have no intention of "screwing it up" for the sailors.
Perhaps they put these rules in place for kiters like Agent 554 and StinkyPete who probably have the kiting ability to keep away from the sailing race. The exclusion zone needs to be 1000 times larger than the race course so there is no risk of those kooks going through it.
I can picture these blokes screaming out of control through the fleet as they were unable to control their kites or burn off speed.
Skillful kiters will do the right thing and stay out of the way.
I'm with Kiter80.....plenty of ocean for us all. I am a big voluptuous man and I say that....have fun on the couch for two weeks nancy boys, bet you all sat in the front row at school.
the exclusion zone at leightons seems to be large and unnessesary, its obviously there as a blanket ban to all water users, not just kites who dont venture very far offshore, but is it really that hard to drive the extra 5 minutes somewhere past the zone, along the same length of coast?
as to the beach 3 closure at woodies the 49ers that are racing on that course can do over 25 knots on a windy day, so if someone to inconsiderate to follow the rules crashes there kite and for some reason cant re launch, they will drift strait though the course, and on a boat like that it is very easy to miss a little man in the water and the kite his attached to.
so aside from the whole ruining the dream thing, been hit by one of these boats would hurt, alot.
for the next 2 weeks just get on a boat and enjoy the worlds best sailors racing so close to home
to be fair the zone seems a bit big ,33 sq km some countries are smaller than that. gotta love wa though only here in the world would they even think of having an exclusion zone that big .its all over soon so i wouldnt sweat it too much
OOOoooooohhhhhh i just had the best idea.
GET OVER IT!
Go kite somewhere else for the next ten days and enjoy it!
Or, stay at your computer and cry about how you dont get to kite the same place you kite for 345 days of 2011 so there's less of you to dodge on the water.
Yeah, i like that idea
Thanks for your support Phatman.
I tend to look at the silver lining on this - less kiters on the water because a number of the people below are content to sit on the beach and watch the sailing which is 1km off shore. BOOOOOOOOORING.
I work closely with the organisers for this event, Although it may look like the boats are miles away the marks are quite close to the beach (particularly at Leighton) and as already mentioned some of these boats move quickly when racing, suddenly you could have 30+ boats close to shore.
Please don't be a fool and try to kite with these guys. They are fighting for Olympic places. If you need a kiting fix go up to Scarbs or down to the pond, there is loads of space there