Select to expand quoteRelapse said..
Hey WV who do we need to lobby to get Pookipa up as a shared spot? Swimming there should be strongly discouraged anyway given the proximity to the storm water outlet. Not sure its a big enough to safely launch or land a kite there so maybe they need a new 'Windsurfing' only catergory!!! Just like the real thing in Maui 
This and other areas were proposed with large amount of windsurfers and kiters (KBV). PV put swimmers first. When it came to Elwood, the local council wanted/wants to make the area in front of the sailing club swimmers only.
Can somone please explain to me how my safety is protected when it's blowing 25 knots and I'm sailing in from the 200 meter limit and I've had no opportunity to rest because it's too taxing to start and end each run at 5 knots and yet for the last run, when I'm completely stuffed, I'm expected to stand upright and adjust my sail so as to limit my speed to 5 knots?
Please don't let this get ugly. Please don't let there be a day when a couple of guys in a rubber duckie head out onto the water when it's blowing over 15 knots to lay down the law. Please let common sense prevail.
"The council wanted to make the area in front of the sailing club for swimmers only". Did they actually say that? I'm no rocket scientist but I would imagin that the existence of a sailing club at the beach would indicate that people are sailing there and have been doing it for a while. I could be wrong. My hope in relation to common sense is beginning to fade.
I give up. How much does a playstation cost?
Select to expand quotefabulon31 said..
"The council wanted to make the area in front of the sailing club for swimmers only". Did they actually say that? I'm no rocket scientist but I would imagin that the existence of a sailing club at the beach would indicate that people are sailing there and have been doing it for a while. I could be wrong. My hope in relation to common sense is beginning to fade.
I give up. How much does a playstation cost?
How on earth do the boffins at PV decide that the area in front of a sailing club should be for swimmers only? I mean seriously, what are these idiots thinking? If they had really done their research, the outcomes would be very different.
I haven't looked really closely at all the maps and allocated zones, but there are some really strange outcomes there.
One other thing, with a 200m exclusion zone, with onshore or cross/onshore winds, then much of the sailing at the north end of the bay will be illegal unless its under 5kts. That's pretty much most spots from Aspendale around to St Kilda.
You want to try sailing at Pookipa now Steve, its a joke. What was the consultation process with WV? Did you get adequate time to respond or did they just ignore the WV submission?
A couple of us are going to take things up with Parks Vic given they have just ruined one of Melbourne's best spots by rezoning the area north of the pole a 'Swim Only'.
No problem with the long standing 200m/5knot rule but it looks like windsurfing has been treated unfairly compared to kite boarding who have had their two main spots deemed a 'mixed' area. No reason why we can't all co exist but this is regulation gone wrong. I feel for the Dendy St sailors who look even worse off.
Its impossible to make the moved post without a tack and guys missing the mark on the way in were getting constantly harassed by the life savers.
Who have WV been dealing with on this issue? I will be good to know who to avoid as they clearly have NFI, oh wait the department has probably been recently/conveniently restructured in pursuit of improve efficiency LOL
D
Select to expand quoteRelapse said..
You want to try sailing at Pookipa now Steve, its a joke. What was the consultation process with WV? Did you get adequate time to respond or did they just ignore the WV submission?
A couple of us are going to take things up with Parks Vic given they have just ruined one of Melbourne's best spots by rezoning the area north of the pole a 'Swim Only'.
No problem with the long standing 200m/5knot rule but it looks like windsurfing has been treated unfairly compared to kite boarding who have had their two main spots deemed a 'mixed' area. No reason why we can't all co exist but this is regulation gone wrong. I feel for the Dendy St sailors who look even worse off.
Its impossible to make the moved post without a tack and guys missing the mark on the way in were getting constantly harassed by the life savers.
Who have WV been dealing with on this issue? I will be good to know who to avoid as they clearly have NFI, oh wait the department has probably been recently/conveniently restructured in pursuit of improve efficiency LOL
D
Pookipa was not mentioned as a proposed change area. We need to look at the proposed swimming zones that PV had advertised for many years. We too are contesting PV zones that deviated from the plans shown to WV.
The PV rep we dealt with left PV over a year ago and since then no one has taken ownership. WV requested PV ownership and continued communications with no luck.
It got serious yesterday at Dendy St with 2 of us getting a formal warning and one guy - prob had them waiting too long by staying out - getting a fine of a gentle $279 dollares!!!
The water police got called in again (they were at Dendy last Sun too) from the life saving club and recorded all us offenders on camera :-) ....
They told me there had been a incident last week where a swimmer was overrun by a sailor???? And 3 marks on the back (must be a thruster sailor lol)
Anyway, I feel for the fined guy...wet blanket on a nice afternoon's session
Be alerted!!!
Aloha
It's time to take some action and start lobbying to change these regulations. I suggest WV hold a special meeting ASAP to see who's keen to help and divide up the tasks so we have a unified approach in dealing with surf Lifesaving clubs, parks Victoria, local councils, members of parliament and the relevant ministers - whatever it takes to see commonsense prevail and our sport survive in the bay.
Fletch
Select to expand quoteFletcHuz said..
It's time to take some action and start lobbying to change these regulations. I suggest WV hold a special meeting ASAP to see who's keen to help and divide up the tasks so we have a unified approach in dealing with surf Lifesaving clubs, parks Victoria, local councils, members of parliament and the relevant ministers - whatever it takes to see commonsense prevail and our sport survive in the bay.
Fletch
Windsurfing Victoria will be hosting an open meeting with our fellow windsurfs and local stores to discuss the current PV changes, our concerns and propose a course of action with set tasks.
The meeting will be held at the Sandy Hotel Wednesday the 26th Feb 2014 from 7pm. Some of us will be there around 6pm for dinner if you would like to join us before hand.
Select to expand quoteWIndsurfVic said..FletcHuz said..
It's time to take some action and start lobbying to change these regulations. I suggest WV hold a special meeting ASAP to see who's keen to help and divide up the tasks so we have a unified approach in dealing with surf Lifesaving clubs, parks Victoria, local councils, members of parliament and the relevant ministers - whatever it takes to see commonsense prevail and our sport survive in the bay.
Fletch
Windsurfing Victoria will be hosting an open meeting with our fellow windsurfs and local stores to discuss the current PV changes, our concerns and propose a course of action with set tasks.
The meeting will be held at the Sandy Hotel Wednesday the 26th Feb 2014 from 7pm. Some of us will be there around 6pm for dinner if you would like to join us before hand.
Let's all get behind this - don't just sit back and think it'll be right! The police are shutting down the best windsurfing spots right now - we need to stand up and do something before it's too late or windsurfing will be totally off limits at:
- Elwood (Pookipa)
- Dendy St Brighton
- Ricketts Point
- Mentone
- Bonbeach
- Olivers Hill Frankston
and probably others but without the spots above windsurfing in the bay is over so stand up be counted and contribute
Fletch
SHQ Boardsports
it seems that PV don't listen to WV or KBV, or take their views seriously
are there any Melbourne 'identities' that Windsurf or Kite that could take up the Public Relations fight ?
thinking someone with already high profile, from business, media, or sport etc
Can't believe virtually all our best windsurfing spots are now no-go.
Swimming-only areas now disrupt most of our main spots: Pookipa, Dendy St, Ricketts, Frankston (Oliver's Hill), Williamstown and Altona!
We lost out big time here and certainly need to ramp up representation on this issue, but need to be fairly objective.
Having worked in public sector for almost a decade now, the key thing is to pull Parks Victoria up on breach of their own primary mission objectives (http://parkweb.vic.gov.au/about-us/who-we-are/vision,-purpose,-values):
One of their primary objectives is:
"To deliver better opportunities for people to use their parks and waterways"
While they may have had token intention to follow this, in creation of "Shared wind sports" areas, through a mix of inadequate planning and consultation from their part and also insufficient representation from windsurfers, the result is an outcome that actually breaches this objective.
A key thing that has been overlooked is that most of the "Shared Wind Sports" areas have been designated in popular kite-surfing areas and are highly un-safe for windsurfers due to over-crowding and shallow rocky reef (e.g. north of Dendy St). They're likely to push these Shared Wind sports areas as their argument, but as we've seen these are inadequate, restrictive and unsafe.
Another oversight, regarding Pookipa, is they've extended the Swimming Area to include the main drain, which is likely to promote significant public health and safety issues after heavy rain. It is quite rocky around the drain too. While they will say EPA Beach Reports cover this issue, I still think a planning decision to put a swimming zone in a stormwater outflow area is inappropriate.
Their main principles come into question:
We recognise the fundamental role of natural environments to human health
We plan and manage places to support use by all abilities and a diverse community
Their motto "Healthy Parks Healthy People"? Perhaps more "Restricted Parks Unhealthy People"
Hey Guys,
Involve KBV and kiting community - we are all affected by these zones. Strength in numbers.
Select to expand quotefrenijffels said..
It got serious yesterday at Dendy St with 2 of us getting a formal warning and one guy - prob had them waiting too long by staying out - getting a fine of a gentle $279 dollares!!!
were there swimmers in the water at the time?
Select to expand quoteSpaceCoyote said..
Hey Guys,
Involve KBV and kiting community - we are all affected by these zones. Strength in numbers.
Hello all. I'm sure the kiting community will support any petition / campaign to keep these areas accessible to wind sports. Let me/us know!
Thanks.
I'm absolutely gutted about this and so sorry to hear that someone was fined. I'll definitely be there on Wednesday night.
If anyone wants to know who I am, I'm the hack windsurfer with the Tabou Twister twin fin who plods along dreaming of doing better things. I'm looking forward to meeting you all.
Let's not underestimate our influence.
Fifty windsurfers carrying boards and rigs down Bourke street to the state parliament in a simple protest about not being asked, would not be without impact.....
In the meantime, let's focus on the process they followed and how they evidence that they performed a consultation.
Has anything actually changed at Dendy St? The 'swimming only' area is just the old 'no boating zone' - which in theory everyone should have been avoiding (admittedly harder to do if it's more of a SW than S wind). It seems the issue now is that they're policing it. At least in the short term to accompany the rollout campaign!
The 'wind sport' zone to the north is just a Kite zone - which is what they were always intended to be. I can't see windsurfers getting any value out of either it or the St Kilda zone. St.Kilda zone doesn't really work as windsurfers launch from near the groin at Langridge St and the predominant wind is onshore so you're straight into a 5 knot zone.
I don't know what the answer is, but PV have little clue when it comes to understanding the physics of a windsurfer, both in terms of speed and reliance on wind direction (and their susceptibility to getting pushed downwind). The only realistic thing I can think of is some sort of marked off channels/lanes where you can launch and land from. They have this a lot on beaches in France. It would be a bit like the boating only area at St Kilda Marina.
Can I suggest we make an interactive map (even power point) indicating the most popular windsurfing spots on the Bay(s) and Coasts which show the predominant wind directions and conditions and the various directions windsurfers will travel.
Change.org . Let's launch a petition. But it needs to be thought through and not simply windsurfer centric.
I think it would be difficult to say we weren't consulted....I attended some of the early meetings along with WV and IWC members.
It's also not a new issue...Some background context-
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Windsurfing/Victoria/Parks-Victoria/
Theres a history of representation for windsurfing at the initial PV consultations going back before 2010. There were also formal meetings, where the dynamics of windsurfing were explained to PV. There was also discussions about specific windsurfing zones - where the group went around the Bay and highlighted the most popular windsurf beaches.
This should be on record somewhere in Parks Vic because considerable time was spent looking at the location of the wind sports zones... If I am to be honest, I can't see many differences in the current zones, from what was discussed in those initial meetings...maybe some of the other attendees can refresh my memory if I've got that wrong.
It was three years ago and there hasn't been much communication since....and whilst we can certainly make some noise, I wouldn't think we'd have enough support or interest to get a change quickly....it's gonna be a long fight.
Mick.
The process needs to be complete. Consultation is more than having meetings. They need to show that our input was incorporated and part of the decision...not "we met with the windsurfers, they talked a lot and we did what we wanted to anyway"
its such a joke. i was a windsurfer in williamstown and the council decided in their wisdom 10 years ago to make it a swimming zone. They left us no access to the water except over the rocks. They are doing it every where now. I should have sued the council way back for all the injury's and damage they caused me. I dont think there are any windsurfers except grubby left over there. Its stupid stupid stupid
Good discussion !
WV, IWC, KBV and some of the local shops where consulted before 2010. We also attended a few of these meetings.
The problem is PV is already quite far in the process of rolling out these new zone's. It will be very difficult to convince them to change the zones to shared windsports zones in favour of swimming-only areas. The obvious problem is the windsurf community is very small compared to the amount of other beach /water users. Let's not try to separate windsurfing from kiteboarding as together we will more than double our numbers and have a much bigger influence. Let's get together wednesday night and discuss the options !
Paul
The ZU Boardsports
Select to expand quoteTheZu said..
Good discussion !
WV, IWC, KBV and some of the local shops where consulted before 2010. We also attended a few of these meetings.
The problem is PV is already quite far in the process of rolling out these new zone's. It will be very difficult to convince them to change the zones to shared windsports zones in favour of swimming-only areas. The obvious problem is the windsurf community is very small compared to the amount of other beach /water users. Let's not try to separate windsurfing from kiteboarding as together we will more than double our numbers and have a much bigger influence. Let's get together wednesday night and discuss the options !
Paul
The ZU Boardsports
Paul,
I am convinced they have made mistakes. Why set up a shared wind sports area a few hundred metres away from a yacht club but a swimming only zone in front of it? Surely someone has marked the wrong area on the map?
