yep, i have been blessed with euro accent so "me no understand english mr ranger i like windsurfing here very nice yes hi 5!"
Keep up the emails everyone. I got a response from Cr. Proud this morning, who I have dealt a lot with on other matters over the past few years. She said they have been receiving many emails about it recently, and it will be forwarded to the officers for their considered response. She also said she has learnt a lot about windsurfing due to all the action.
I think if education is part of the protest, it will make it a lot easier for the wind surfing opinion to be taken seriously. So, call/email/snail mail your councilors! It's election time here in Stirling, the best time to get action!
Interesting development.
Response from John Snook, CoS Beach Services Co-ordinator.
In part:
"The City recognises that windsurfing is an activity that has long been enjoyed at Scarborough Beach, particularly the southern end of the beach, and has no intention of banning this activity. Rather, for the period October to April when beach usage is at its heaviest, it is proposed to create an area where beach users are made clearly aware that if they choose to enter the water within the designated area they do so knowing that windsurfing occurs within it."
Now, to me that reads like there is no ban, no zone. You can windsurf where you like and the swimmers will be warned that windsurfers frequent the area.
Thoughts?
Unless it's for the areas outside the no go zone where they are warning people about the hazards
^^^ maybe I am reading this wrong but it seems pretty plain: they say windsurfing is not to be banned (ie: you can go wherever you want and there is no legally enforcable penalty)
and that all they are doing is picking an area which will have signs to warn swimmers
and that is GOLD 
I hope that's right.
Just another thought if there are zones imposed, what if someone ends up extremely underpowered and/or breaks things? I've had a number of instances where I've had to come ashore 100m downwind from my starting point. It's hardly dangerous to slog back in off the plane, but this is probably the sort of thing they would police.
The don't say "create an area where windsurfers will be allowed and beach users are made clearly aware etc etc"
They just say windsurfing will not be banned and there will be an area where other users are warned (presumably this area is pretty anywhere ppl swim)
I wouldn't get your hopes up, to me, reading the other proposal and this response still reads that they will have the exclusion zones, and then outside the zones, warning signs of kitesurfers and windsurfers. A bit like swim between the flags.
An interesting incident happened yesterday while sailing Scabs.
I was swimming my gear while in the shorebreak trying to get it into position to waterstart. Experience while sailing this place has taught me to always check behind you to see if there's any waves or other watercraft coming your way.
Lucky I did.
Right in front of my face was the fin of a surf lifesaving kayak. I was lucky enough to duck under and miss it with a nano second to spare. Unfortunately, due to this guy having absolutely no control over his kayak which is completely bouyant, went straight over my gear.
Even with no-one out, this guy had the ability to find the only person in the water to run over, but what really ticked me off in light of this exclusion zone business is the fact the guy didn't even say sorry or ask if I was OK. Even after getting eye contact after the incident, he literally went straight into the beach and walked up to the SLSC.
If this incident was reciprocated, with a windsurfer running over a clubby and his kayak. Windsurfing would definitely be banned from Scabs.
Kayaking in the surf zone (Medium Conflict) my ass..!!!
I'll never forget the day on a decent swell when the clubbie d1cks were zooming in and out in the zodiac being heros with no one to save.
They went over a decent set and both clubbies fell out. The zodiac did circle work through the lineup for the next 20mins until it ran into the sand on the shore. No one could stop it, just waaay too dangerous. Everyone had to exit the water.
Nice one SSLSC....safe as!
Default and Sheeny hope you are emailing those incidents to City of Stirling and asking for the clubbies to be controlled not us
This has probably already been asked but has a petition been formalised? As someone stated in the thread, council members rely on votes and get nervous when public sentiment turns against them. A well signed petition accompanied by a letter that summarises the key points made in this thread could be very powerful.
Also, a mass meeting at Scabs carpark with a couple of journos present would also be good.
So lets recap,
You guys are now pointing out to council the dangers of the SLSC,"yeah,make sure you send those complaining emails Sheeny and Default against the surfclub.WTF" and are fighting to be exempt from martime rules of keeping min of 60m from swimmers?
Bagging out the surf club to try and get your way with council,,,,good luck with that.
Then again,senior citizens vote in record numbers.
and endless letters and email.
lets keep on track.
last time i went out sailing at Brighton - last Sunday - i had kite lines dumped on my head - AGAIN.
This guy gybed his twin tip in front of a wave , got eaten and had the tension pulled out of his lines so the kite lines were now in freefall onto my head. Down i go into the water and then eaten by the end section of the same wave. Thankfully this time i didnt get wrapped in the lines like the fun incident last year.
When he came up from the wave he explained to me how terrible it was that his foot got twisted in the strap. I felt very sorry for him.
The session a few days before that it was a guy on a flysurfer with a super slow kite that kept flying into the water (not enough turning speed / larger bar required) - and twice right in front of me so i had to take evasive action.
And then he was in the break clogging up the place - and then after relaunching he had a twisted whirling out of control foil kite that would not behave or correspond to his control inputs on the bar - not a good look.
Then another guy plonks his kite in the break just as i was launching- about 10 ft in front of me. Wait for the attempted relaunch - inevitable wave wash and swim in with drowned soggy kite/ lines in a mess.
I would love not to have to Windsurf with kites anymore as all these incidents just add up to 1 big pain in the ass footprint. As usual Most of the good guys i have no issues with - the problem is that the kooks and learners then follow.
All they have done is forward my emails onto the Beach Services Manager (amazing effort!) to whom I have liaised with.
Interesting, might have happened twice!! because the day I saw the incident Im sure the zodiac wasnt stopped, it ran aground!
But yes, it would have been a couple of years ago.
I had lines dropped on me when I was sailing my Hobbie 18 at Pinnaroo was a very scary situation would hate to be in a tangle and sudden tension on my arms or around the neck. The winkir abused me ! Was going to cross his way????
Is there an exclusion zone of let say...... 50 m around idiots kiting????
I have bought a small rope cutter and I carry it attached to my harness! Drop your lines on me and I will cut myself free![}:)]
^^^^^See,,winddancers are "high risk"
Serously though,
complaining to council that the surf lifesaving clubs are "high risk" will be opening up a big can of worms which will end negativly to you.
The surf club has a lot more power than a couple of windsurfers.
^^^especially since the dude managing the whole exclusion zone thing is a member of SSLSC.
To be fair, I dont think anyone is planning to write to the CoS complaining about the clubbies and their f-ups or trying to have them deemed as high risk.
