Sad to see climate change may mean you SEQ sailors may have to think about sliding into a sexy lycra suit as part of your pre-sailing ritual.
The upside is that they are a hell of a lot easier to get in and out of than a wetsuit 
The downside is that one of these ferocious little critters can kill you if they hit your face, hand or foot, which generally are not covered by your run of the mill stinger suit. 
In all seriousness though, prior to this week, all Irukandji stings I'd heard about were around offshore Islands, not on beaches on the coast. But this week a friend of a friend was stung swimming at Airlie Beach, luckily not in the lagoon but in the ocean.
Saw these reports which are a definite concern. Irukandji syndrome- causing jellies have been around as far south as Agnes Waters for a long time but the Fraser Region stings seem to be becoming more prominent. Interestingly there is a really old report of what we would now call Irukandji Syndrome from the 1950s down near Hervey Bay, but the last few years seem to have a lot more of this happening that far south.
Lycra suits offer good protection to where they are covering and I add shoes/ boots. That leaves very little water-exposed skin for a windsurfer. If you don't want to wear the Phantom costume Lycra suit a long sleeve rashie and Lycra pants are a good option and I find more practical. But yep the era of suiting up further south is coming I think. In FNQ there are stings both on the coast and offshore- there's a lot still to learn but the big lesson is about avoiding getting stung in the first place as it's a pretty bloody miserable experience
Bonus of lycra is excellent sun protection, abrasion protection and less injury from fins in my experience!
Select to expand quoteevlPanda said..
Can I get a lycra suit with fake muscles painted on?
There's a market there!!!
Select to expand quoteevlPanda said..
Can I get a lycra suit with fake muscles painted on?
They do look better with real muscles though, IMHO.....
Two of my mates were admitted to hospital with Irukanji symptoms in the early eighties at Wellington point Brisbane when we were windsurfing mad....they have always been here......stop the worlds population exploding by 87 million human power hungry parasites a year and the warming may slow
There is a Moreton bay jelly that causes irukandji syndrome symptoms ( generally not as bad) nicknamed Morbakka ( for Moreton Bay Carybdeid). Yep it has been around for ages. There are heaps of species that cause irukandji syndrome which includes jellyfish from groups other than the carybdeids and there have been cases in cold places in the past which suggests it can happen with sone surprisingly unrelated jellies. Warming waters will likely increase the numbers of relevant jellies, away from the tropics...personally I have covered up as far south as Burrum in the past partly for the sun/ abrasion protection but also just to keep jellies off in general. The media is pretty worked up about the Fraser Island stings and will hype it to the max. If you want a perspective on how "deadly" the irukandji syndrome is, there have been two known deaths in over two and a half thousand known cases ( of the ones bad enough to come to hospital). It's genuinely miserable though, some people end up in ICU which is terrible, and in a percentage of folks there are longer term effects which can be debilitating. So it's bad and we all need to weigh up our risks where we live. Me? I'm about to sail off Magenetic Island. Suit and shoes and a board about 10l bigger than I'd otherwise choose so I can always uphaul if need be to minimise time in the water. In a warming world we will need to pay attention to these direct effects on our lifestyles, and hopefully this will jog our collective consciousnesses to take action on our impacts ( the many there are) on the world.
Select to expand quoteevlPanda said..
Can I get a lycra suit with fake muscles painted on?
Like this?
