Crew heading over for the doctor Thursday night race enter on line for the sunset surf ski series lot easier than on the night and 5 bucks cheaper that's a beer at the city beach surf club at the Finnish .
WWW.SUNSETSURFSKISERIES.COM
Just a tasted of what's coming
Marcus Tardrew taking out race two
Nice left to the Finnish line
There will be local crew to help transport crew from the east and metro
Select to expand quotetightlines said..
I can't make this one unfortunately but the forecast is looking really good.
That's a shame can DC have a run on your dug out ?
Select to expand quotestimo said..tightlines said..
I can't make this one unfortunately but the forecast is looking really good.
That's a shame can DC have a run on your dug out ?
Yep no worries but you might have to come and get it unless someone from up this way is going.
Select to expand quotestimo said..
Marcus Tardrew taking out race two
Nice left to the Finnish line
There will be local crew to help transport crew from the east and metro
Got one of these coming in tonight all the way from out the back behind the marker buoy and then stepped off onto the sand.
I'll be at City Beach at 3.30 to do the run to the start with trailer for 15 boards, Van 8 boards / 3 seats and Cruiser 8 seats, so see you there if you want a lift.
Or leaving Osborne Park store at 3.10 and returning after presentations if that works better.
Already got a few East Coast boards organised in the van.
I'm pretty sure Derek will be there with trailer and Cruiser as well.
Should be a good run.
Select to expand quoteKieranr said..
All registered and pumped to get on that flight Thursday morning!!!!
I reckon you'll find the flying you will be doing on Thursday arvo will be more fun.
Blowing all ready see you all at 3.30 for board load ups at city beach don't forget the sponsors hat if you have one from the first two races
Should be an interesting finish line tonight. Tell the organisers to put the finish line a bit further north and the last buoy marker also, because last time there were a few skis in particular cutting through swimmers and others as they went for the beach.
Fun for the racers, less fun for the bodysurfers screaming in terror as half a dozen skis/sups at a time head towards them out of control.
Last time the marker buoy was in line with the end of the groyne 10m out and it was a crowded day anyway, so racers would round it and then head straight through the crowd. For some reason the skis seemed to cut a sharper corner. There were times the skis would bisect the crowd.
I reckon put the buoy 20m north and the finish line in line with the permanent clubbie swimmer's buoy, and there'd be no conflict at all.
At least it doesn't last long, you all finish in a relatively short time.
On another day during training I saw a clubbie on a paddle board catch a wave, bog a rail and then spear another clubbie right in the middle of the chest at full speed. Completely knocked her off her board, jousting style. I reckon she was lucky to escape injury.
Not sure which race you saw Legion, I only did the one last Thursday but there was one before that.
Last week the organisers said they had moved the marker buoy further North to try to avoid the conflict that had happened on the first race, so perhaps they are onto it already.
It was still fairly close the groyne but seemed to be North of the main crowd.
Full on carnage tonight snapped skis creased sup but hell it was good fun some big bombs out side all the way in for a few crew and some got fully smoked
Beau took it out with Marcus second Sam Parker 3 rd will lee 4 th easy money for the top 4
The Doctors looking great
Yeah, I don't remember.
But this week was nuts. They are very, very lucky no-one was injured or worse. Some of the participants have no business being on the water. Complete kooks with absolute terror in their eyes, verging on panicking. And even some of the front-runners, spearing through the crowd. There were some big wipeouts. The idiot on the jet ski came up to one guy who had fallen off his ski outside the breakers and was in difficulty, "You OK?" and held up the OK sign. "No, I can't get back on" he replied, and with that the ski roared off. WTF? Why was he out there if not to help? I tried to offer some advice but the guy was almost panicking and paid me no attention and was washed in eventually.
Same with a lot of the girls and some of the less confident guys. Instead of charging the beach, they hesitated once they realised how big the shorebreak was and lost momentum. Once that happened, sure disaster.
The whole exercise was entertaining but also highly distracting since you had to essentially play frogger with a bunch of kooks.
Very lucky.
Now I want them to move it another 100m north.
Also the clubbies - they tried to clear the beach of swimmers but only at the very last second. Suddenly skis were flying through. As if we were going to leave the water anyway.
Some good runs out there this evening. Good fun all the way.
The finish was sketchy. I paused outside the break to ask the guy on the ski the best way in as it seemed that the only way in was through surfers and body boarders. Not really an option in my mind, especially when on a 13kg 14' potentially lethal weapon.
I tried to avoid the main cluster of surfers and stay wide, falling in in the process and then getting well and truly worked in the shorey while trying to hang on to my board and not hurt anyone else.
Ended up with a nice crease on the rail. There is nothing more distracting than seeing surfers/body boarders/swimmers inside you when attempting to land a race board.
We'll done to those ski paddlers and SUP paddlers that successfully negotiated that shorey.
E.g.:
Swimmers, surfers, guy fallen off ski about to get mowed down and in the way. There were 30+ surfers and 20+ swimmers within about 50m when the racers started coming in and the finish line was right in the middle of them. Sure, a picture doesn't tell the whole story, but the guy has his back turned to the wave when he should probably be looking at what's about to happen in 1 second. Unless maybe he's looking at the kids playing in the shorebreak that he's about to decapitate. Also, I don't like his ski's chances seeing as that wave is lining up the tail of it pretty accurately.
It's not my photo and I stand corrected. Not big on race sups so didn't ID it.
I don't know about the guy on the left, but the guy on the right is very accomplished and will be perfectly in control.
The main issue is this is arguably the most popular beach in the state for afternoon activities and the race finishes right in the middle. I get that the surf club sponsors it and wants to promote itself and finish on its doorstep. Maybe they also want to promote their triage skills when something goes wrong.
Here's a photo from an earlier race. Summer afternoon, swimmers, ski within 5m. I'm not a ski expert but I don't like his chances of making this wave. You can be sure there were plenty of swimmers further in to shore.
Possibly for another forum, but at one stage yesterday a kiter thought he'd pass inshore of some skis heading for the finish. He underestimated their speed and ended up having to go closer and closer to shore to get past and then had to weave between beachgoers. Great move.
Here's a video from their facebook page from last year. Obviously lessons weren't learnt from then.
www.facebook.com/john.osullivan.733/videos/4574269473165/
I'd be happy to come in more to the North and I'm always surprised that they haven't cleared the line. You really can't see where to get through from the time you commit.There are still surfers and swimmers out to the north and they just look at you but continue to paddle across you narrowing your options when you've got waves coming in to clean you up so the analogy to to Frogger is pretty apt. Once off the board you're done for so it is very hard to turn sideways and thread through them at any point and I'd rather fall off once I'm past them ie straight through to the beach seems the safest option for all.The waves before the groyne are already picking you up so once past it you just grin and bear it. I'd rather play Frogger with surfers though than some if the kids and swimmers more North that won't see it coming.
Sunset serries is what three or four races a year, three afternoons over 1-2 hours where you might have to share the ocean. Agree that the landing zone needs to be cleared for the duration that racers are finishing.
Legion have you sent your concerns to the organizers or just bitched on here?
Just bitched on here, of course.
The organisers would have to be aware if they have any sense at all.
Given it was the best day of the summer and it took about 45 minutes from the first to the last paddlers, closing the beach would go down well.
Do you know him? I also reckon he still thinks he is 15 and can surf a 6'2". I hope I feel the same way when I reach his age. Most state level 15 year old surfers probably think so too, having seen him competing and placing in state rounds for many years.
As entertaining as it is to see people negotiate some of the worlds finest close outs with a surf craft that's the surfing equivalent of a semi trailer. Legion your right that we don't want to see someone get hurt. I'm not sure what point your trying to prove about the poor guy on a 14 ft sup that trying to head to the finish line that been set for the race. Even if he's Kelly stater he's not duck diving it or weaving it through 30 surfers & 50 swimmers looking for the 1 out of 100 waves that don't close out on a 30 knott sea breeze. Someone as accomplished in the water as yourself would naturally realised this when the skis & sups started coming in. Unfortunately not everyone realised & stayed in the path.We all share the ocean. Carnage it was but highly amusing. It make sense to protect both the skis , sups , surfers & swimmers incase the super bank appears during any event involving large surf craft. I'm sure I'm one of many who would love to hear more about how you go with your efforts to make sporting events safer on our beaches in the future.
I'm not trying to make an example of that one guy, I just happened to come across that photo as an example of what the finish area was like. He wasn't alone. I'd reckon fully half of the participants had difficulty of varying degrees. E.g. that vid of last year shows a guy sanding back his ski along the rocks on the way in in milder conditions, struggling heavily.
As I mentioned a couple of times, it would be great to not finish where it does. However, I don't really see a solution because the organisers would probably prefer the current location with the natural viewing platform and the (un)natural finish area leading straight to the facilities.
100m further north would work. As would southsides, but then they risk competitors being pushed into the rocks and a much dumpier shore break. And I get the impression that the organisers might like the difficult finish spectacle. Everyone loves a demolition derby.
I don't think closing the beach would be a solution, because as mentioned it's the most popular beach on summer evenings and particularly that 50m area. Also, non-mandatory beach closures don't work. I've been there a few times during shark alarms and people ignore the lifeguards. Unless it's a council by-law and some consequence will be enacted, people will still swim. Particularly if it's a rare 3' summer swell.
Someone's suggestion of a water finish wasn't bad. I'm not sure if that's a palatable solution. You could water finish in line with the end of the rocks and then people come in further north at their ability level. Maybe send out some of the clubbie kids who were gathering skis to escort them in. Seriously, a lot of the participants had no business negotiating the waves. Whites of the eyes showing, panicking.
Here's another photo that I find more concerning:
Obviously the situation was of no concern to someone as accomplished as me (although it was highly annoying and distracting). But here are four little kids directly in the finish area where race craft were plowing into the beach sideways, only one kid supervised. Again, there were plenty of other swimmers and kids with no awareness of the consequences of heavy craft getting smashed in 2-3' double and triple ups. Many foreign tourists use this beach and have no water sense and it's impossible to teach it. I often offer advice to little kids playing unsupervised next to rips and I've often seen tourists washed out around the rocks. Frequently they don't speak English and just look at you blankly. How can you explain to them to watch out for the boats? On the plus side I guess they'd respect a closure, although the lifeguards did sort-of close the beach when the racers came in. But then it was knock-off time and their duty-of-care was over and everyone kept swimming.
Maybe they also need to survey who is taking part. I heard at least a couple of foreign accents (English). Could it be the case that these people weren't brought up at the beach and don't have the experience to handle these conditions? Then maybe they need to re-evaluate their participation themselves. I know that there is an unusually large participation rate at SLSCs these days from migrants and no offence, I think that maybe SLSC is a great activity to tell your friends back home about but they just don't have the experience that an Aussie kid growing up in the water has.
My two bob's worth...
The present exit chute as selected by the organisers is the optimal area to exit the ocean.
Two factors reinforce this fact:
1. The flags are located there
2. Surfers want to be in that section
A temporary closure of that section is the obvious solution.
A water finish will not address the safety issue.
In fact, I'd suggest that risk of accidents would increase.
Participants still need to exit the water; and doing so over a wider section of surf without 'eyes on the water' would be a step backwards.
Although it remains problematic, I'd suggest the event organisers make more of an effort to communicate what is happening to beach goers.
Better signage and regular announcements using a clear PA system (multiple loud hailers) over the period of the finish would be a good start.
Some of the beach goers are oblivious to the fact an event is being run and if aware, would do "the right thing".
Notwithstanding the above, this thread attests to the fact that others are well aware of the event and choose to ignore it; loitering directly in the path of incoming participants.
Not much can be done about this group.
However, I'd wager they'd be the first to squeal should something karmic come their way?
Imo, the hypocrisy required to be aware of the event, ignore it, then complain about the participants being a nuisance is breathtaking.
Participants in these events comply with all safety requirements, attend pre-race briefings and pay an entrance fee.
They deserve the respect of others for the short time required to safely execute these events.
The closure of a small (50m) section of beach for 1-2 hours a few times over summer will go along way to respecting the rights of all stakeholders to the safe use of a central beach in a major metropolitan area.
Thanks for listening.
DJ
Would Legion please be able to comment on this shot because I am a full on sup kook did that surfer drop in on me
IMO crew who hide behind there site name with no detail of who they are should not be able to post crap on here .
stimo...
Hoot mate!!
Excellent form...both craft control and comment.
Outstanding!!
DJ
