i'm sure there was a cat in that bag somewhere ---- wheres it gone he he he....
very fond memories.
apart from when i jybed in front of you or windwarrior without looking,...whoops
forgot to mention Corronation Beach... not that great for actual waves riding (except maybe on the Northern end) but probably one of the beast jumping locations in Australia. It's like Sunset Beach in South Africa without the cold water and 10 million great whites in the ocean.
Oh... yeah, nearly forgot Hells Gate and Point Moore main break... God, I love this country.
Nice video - looks great but I still believe the best wave sailing spot is your local favourite when it goes off (even if infrequently) with a few of your mates around - or by yourself - and it doesnt matter where you live - we all get one from time to time!
Before I get lynched by my WA brethren... I'd like to point out he new where the place was before I took him there
You still dont go posting places on forums. Waves or no waves. Whether its your first time or 100th time. Its respect to the people who have been there long before you.
The point is SSSHHH!!!
No, the point is that a LOT of tourists go to the well known spots in WA, so some locals put in a LOT of effort to drive off the beaten track and find really good wave spots.
Somewhere you and a couple of mates can go and have fun and not get dropped in on , cut off and treated rudely.
For example Lancelin and Geraldton are really crowded at times and that is why locals look for the nice wave cross or crossoff spot nobody else knows about. You say there won't be an increase in tourists but it doesn't matter: if 10% of the ones who come each summer went to some of the secret spots on the way thru, that would be enough to ruin the experience. Not all waves are 1km long.......
If you have the pleasure of knowing where some of the spots are, it is polite to not tell the whole damn world! Telling a mate is different to telling anyone with a computer and the brains to type the place into google maps.
I am not so sure about those overrun spots...
... the reason why Lanceline is overrun is mainly due to it's proximity to Perth. Take Point Moore for example. It's a great wave but hardly overrun with people. I think the fact that it's pretty gnarly when it gets big could have something to do with it.
To be honest a lot of those really "secret" spots off the beaten path would be a no go for most tourists anyway... you either need a 4wd and even if you can get there by normal car, without local knowledge of exactly were it is safe to sail, it's mostly a suicide mission.
I remember asking people about Spot X way back... the usual answer was oh... Spot X... well it's kind of a locals secret.
Then someone announced that a port was to be build there essentially bringing an end to Spot X and that please fellow windsurfers support a petition to stop this from happening. Only problem was that most windsurfers had never actually been there let alone sailed the place and hence couldn't care less if the spot was destroyed or not.
Think about that for a second...
Rubbish. A lot of WA ppl signed the petition even though they had not sailed SpotX.
With regards to the place you identified:
I was going to answer your previous post but I didn't want to add to the google results from when people search for spots online and find the one you just "outed". I thought I'd just let it go as you sounded like an OK bloke . In fact I typed a reply but never posted it. Stuff it, I will now reply. To reduce the number of search engine hits I'll call it SpotY
(1) SpotY you mentioned is not 4WD only so don't use that excuse.
(2) It is not out of the way and not hard to find. Now that you mentioned it, anyone can look at Google maps.
(3) You reckon nobody will go there as the reef may be hard to find or it may be dangerous? People will go more often if it is outed, and all of a sudden the regulars spend more time rescuing than sailing. Great.
As an example, I have been to Cyclops and can tell you it is one dangerous wave. Since Billabong Odyssey covered it and even tried to keep the location quiet, there has been increasing accidents there. That is trying to not disclose the location, and more people are showing up, so how do you figure you can say "SpotY may be dangerous so, hey, no tourists will go there"
(4) I didn't discover it, but think about if you lived at Lano and were getting increasingly crowded in, so you spent days and days looking up and down the coast on calm days for perfect reefs, then on a windy day you checked it out, then you realised it needed more or less swell etc etc... and eventually you found it works on a certain swell and wind direction. Then you invite a few mates, and maybe 4 people sail it when it is just right. Then somebody posts it on a forum. Jeez mate...
I have a couple that would blow your mind but don't expect an invite.
1) delete my post which mentions the post... so Mark, now you are the only one with a post that mentioned it! hahaha... now the joke is on you.
2) FYI, there was a report about this place in a European mag ages ago. However, I found it simply by looking at Google Earth... that and a few other spots.
3) Lanceline croweded? Maybe the break up near the Caravan Park... Main break always seems to be empty or relatively empty.
4) "Rubbish. A lot of WA ppl signed the petition even though they had not sailed SpotX."
Yet when I talked to a European windsurf mag about it they had never even heard about the place and were reluctant to run an article on it. Get my drift...
Hey Mark, Bucket mouth has got you on his point 1. I think you should quickly edit your post and delete your point 3
Here's an exert from High Surf by Tim Baker and a chat with Aussie author Tim Winton.
It's about surfing but I believe a lot of it can be applied to windsurfing/wavesailing.
Quite topical at the moment especially the localism undertones and locals only mind set promoted by a few !
Regards
Kev
Thats all really beautiful Kev and brought a tear to my eye
I dont believe anyone from above has/had a problem with sharing a wave with a fellow sailor/surfer. Everyone's happy to say gooday and whoop em into a barrel etc. etc.
Its just that there is no need to blast the name of little used spots all over the net.
Word of mouth will guarantee that no spot remains a secret for very long, but there is no need to advertise when its not required
Well done for the post wind warrior.
A brilliant piece of writing from a great writer.
Hopefully it may change the ‘locals only’ attitude of few on here.
It’s a big state with lots of water, lots of sea and lots of wind and it would be near on impossible for some of these spots to get overrun with newbies.