I was sailing yesterday at Melville Waters. It was fantastic.
I was planing over the sand bar, attempted a carve gype turned around and headed for shore. I saw the two poles and decided to go between them.
There was a gust of about 30knots and I was up on the plan and heading straight between the poles . Suddenly my fin hit the ground. My board came to a sudden stop and I was supermanning it across the shallows.
Mental note I think the poles mark a shallow section of the sand bar not a slalom gate. Keep to the right and left of these poles especially when its low tide.
After about 10minutes resting on the sandbar recovering, I assessed my injuries, a few bruises on the legs and no damage to the board or sail.
I continued sailing until the wind dropped. It was the best conditions for two weeks.
See you all on the water when the winds pick up again and do not go between the poles
CLASSIC!
I know the poles you are talking about.
You could learn the easy way by someone telling you, but that would be boring.........!
OR the hard way , which is alot more adrenaline pumping! 
awesome... this reminds of a friend many years ago on a lake in Germany.
It was the time when people used boards the size of aircraft carriers and doing a jibe needed about a weeks worth of careful planning.
Anyway, on said day my friend was heading towards the beach while a bunch of people were watching on. As he later told me he was going to show off and do a jibe but last second decided against it and wanted to go for a tack instead. Unfortunately he was a bit late and ended up shooting the beach... it was a good 3 meters before his board stopped. Why did it stop? Because to add injury to insult he ended up hitting the only small tree within 50 meters.
I'll never forget the sight of that many people rolling on the ground laughing their heads off.
That is a hard lesson to learn Maddog,but at least you had a clear run between the poles (no traffic)and no damage to speak of
They were indeed put in a few years ago to indicate the shallow part of the sandbar but I guess you found it anyway 
There has been some nasty injuries in the past with disagreements with the sandbar(myself included) so am glad you came away unscathed
The poles are a good idea, except I can't see them until I am on them. They need to be flouro painted conduit or something more substantial. Following some one elses line is a safe option, unless your following a free-styler.
The poles do mark the shallowest part of the sandbar. Some local sailors put them in some years back. Before they were put in many a sailor catapulted after grounding their fin at that spot (myself included). As I recall they used to have some of that orange plastic barrier webbing between them which helped visibility.
They are reasonably easy to see up close these days, but harder to spot from a distance when you are trying to work out where the sandbar is.
I agree more visibility would be advantageous.
Sorry to hear you misunderstood the purpose of the poles, Maddog. At high tide you can sail through there and "score a goal". For safety sake just make sure you unhook before you do. At very low tides (especially in spring) the surrounding sandbar is very shallow also and I recommend unhooking before you reach it just in case your fin is too long for the water depth.
I will have a look in the shed to see if I have any fluro paint or orange bunting or flags to tie on it.
Next time I sail out there I will see what I can do to make it more visible.
Hopefully people wont think it is a slalom gate like I thought.
However I would like to Thank the people that had the good sense to mark the shallow area.
I also like gybing or attempting to gybe around the float just before the poles.
Usually after falling off it is just a short swim to the shallows.
You would think after all the times I have walked on that sand bar I would have known better. 
I use to be a slalom pole 25kg ago.
What colour scheme should we use.
I was thinking Fluro green starboard side and fluro pink port side or should we go freestyle.
or should we go freestyle.
...Y gen 
...I'll say no more...
In a westerly storm they are almost gone , Very hard to see at 30+knts. In summer they are clear nearly every tide.
...Y gen ...I'll say no more...
...Y gen ...I'll say no more...
