Hi all,
I only sail at one location due to time and family constraints etc, only 5 minutes drive from my home at jimmy's Beach hawks nest on the NSW mid north coast. There is literally only 4 people who windsurf here now and we really don't get any visitors that come to windsurf anymore mainly due to a council decision about 10 years ago to eliminate parking near the beach and creating a long walk with all your gear if you can even get somewhere to park, which is impossible in peak tourist times. Since then we have resorted to driving on to the actual beach and setting up on the sand which is not ideal and it is a restricted area that you have to obtain a medical certificate to get a pass which is also not ideal and now we hear that council will be meeting soon to vote on shutting down this access which will make it almost impossible to windsurf here at times. I was wondering if we formed an official sailing club would that give us influence with council to gain some form of permanent access. I have no idea how to go about this, has anyone experienced this kind of thing before ?

I don't know that forming your own club would help in anyway with access.

Have you tried contacting the council directly? Or getting in touch with windsurfing NSW? They may be able to help you out. Maybe you've tried already, but if you haven't, sometimes polite formal discussion (write them a nice letter letting them know about your plight) can go a long way. The council might not even be "aware" that their actions are reducing public amenity to the area.

Don't highlight that only 4 people currently use the area, they'll just write it off. highlight how many people used to visit the area before they removed parking. It's also a lot of the time about finding the right council person to interact with. The person at the front desk won't give two hoots about some windsurfers that are about to lose access to some beach space. But someone that deals with how the councils public open space gets utilized will be.


after having some indirect interactions with councils (not saying all councils are on the same page) a lot of them now have a great interest in seeing more people visit and utilise their locale.

Hey Mob Dog, a whole bunch of used to love sailing at Jimmys years back and stopped coming up due to the restrictions .
If you decide to contact council/authorities then willing to give you back up. Rented a large house, visited local shops/restaurants etc so money in the local economy. Do miss those cranking nor-easters up at the sand spit.

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ka43 said..
Hey Mob Dog, a whole bunch of used to love sailing at Jimmys years back and stopped coming up due to the restrictions .
If you decide to contact council/authorities then willing to give you back up. Rented a large house, visited local shops/restaurants etc so money in the local economy. Do miss those cranking nor-easters up at the sand spit.

Yep it's certainly s premier location. There's a kitesurfing instruction school there now so you have to weave your way through them up there but they pretty much stay on the spit itself. It will be a tragedy if we're pushed out and it's left to them as they come over from nelson Bay by boat so no restrictions for them.

If you can't beat them join them.

Is the boat a good idea. I'd buy a $1k tinny. You can land and launch anywhere. Cars with trailers also get parking.

I have had success in the past by contacting the local councillor for local area. Got a fence modified to improve beach access. It may be they are unaware of the usage of the spot by windsurfers. They need to be told that there is a longstanding and ongoing use of the spot for a particular recreational activity.

All of us need to keep vigilant. Councils are stupid and will make decisions without remembering they are our employees. They will stuff things up for us without a second thought if they are not alerted to the fact there are people who use these places for purposes they can't really imagine. They need to know it's not all kids and dogs, cafes and swing sets.

i windsurfed there a few years back. we had no problem finding a park but we had to climb over hay bails and rig on top of them. is that anywhere near where you are referring to mob dog? Was a fun spot with good wind.

I am in the US so do not know if this is applicable for you, but when I have run into parking issues I went to a city council meeting and made a presentation about the problem including pictures, each of the public has 3 min. to talk about anything, does not need to be on meeting agenda, that worked for me. I would assume you can also talk to your council. Just need to practice your presentation, in front of friends would help, and use a timer to make sure you stay within the time limit. If you are not comfortable talking in public, type it up and just read off the paper without looking at anyone. And the more people that talk to the council the better, so get your friends to also say something however short of a statement, could just say " I support the same issue the speaker just talked about"

Hi all, Thanks for the input.
I am one of the last four men standing, at Jimmies.
Some used to say the spot is rated in the top 10 flat water places of the world.
And now there is just us.
Due to council restrictions. How sad.
But more tragic, i am just on the cusp of learning to turn! I just got one duck jibe and now we don't know if we can do it next year. Next year was the year for sure, carves and ducks, that is all i want to do with my life!
A real sailing tragic i am.
This dodgy drone vid shows the spot.

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Subsonic said..
a lot of them now have a great interest in seeing more people visit and utilise their locale.

Bang on. That is what is happening here.

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Gestalt said..
If you can't beat them join them.

Is the boat a good idea. I'd buy a $1k tinny. You can land and launch anywhere. Cars with trailers also get parking.

There might be ways to still go, but it is going to be nothing like it is now. Like when they restricted parking and that stopped the races, people just gave up here. We are battling on still, but another restriction making it impossible to do what we do now will probably see us quit, or move. Can any of the old crew give details on exactly what race events used to run here annually?

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Shifu said..
They need to know it's not all kids and dogs, cafes and swing sets.

Yes, its pure evil. They want the people of the world in boxes. Work, live in a box, holiday, in a box. I actually think they want systematic killing off of healthy, nature based communities built through powerful activities with god (like windsurfing). They have been doing it for a few hundred years now.

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Haircut said..
i windsurfed there a few years back. we had no problem finding a park but we had to climb over hay bails and rig on top of them. is that anywhere near where you are referring to mob dog? Was a fun spot with good wind.

Oh yeah, thats the place.
Some guys still sail from down there, we mostly go up the eastern end of the bay, right behind the sand spit.

The area you are referring to, Winda Whoppa, is a whole other story when it comes to council circus acts.
They chopped all the vegetation off dunes which were eroding.
Now they continually pump sand into the bay to hold it there, and put hay bales up on the road.
In addition to this, the reduction of parking down by the caravan park, where there are toilets, shower, shade, off-street parking, good beach access and a kids park, is now severely not enough, so all the people that can't fit in those 10 car spots now, go up to winda woppa and poop out front of the prestige houses, parked on the street, to climb over hay bales and get to the water.

This weekend some locals had a kids party, guess what, no parking.
Lots of informal parking used to be there. It is where the race events used to set up.
Councils solution was to simply remove that massive area of informal parking down under the trees by the caravan park entry and provide no more.

Here is some more Jimmies action.
No idea what the maritime boat was doing, he just came and sat in the sailing line, and went mad on us for coming to close. Very strange.
See my spinout approaching brother mobdog, who always says "windsurfing is a controlled crash". Well mine is not so controlled just yet.
Back on topic, of particular interest is that surf row boat. Our close allies. My Dad started an informal swim club at Jimmies years ago, they have since branched out to the Mullets row division. Those guys are pushing for the same thing. Access.
They have formed a club and allegedly are applying for a grant for Australia's first ever aquatic mens shed. When locals hear about the plans of council to restrict beach access more, the common phrase is 'but thats my life'. Life in this town is going to look way different if council keep blocking healthy activities.

I have a gps camera that films me. Got tons of footage.
One day there will be a vlog, its either going to be a sad one or happy one. A windsurfers progression on learn to turn and burn, or another lost sailor to poor town planning.

hat guy needs to go to windsurfingtv for spot the bail on send it sunday

Beautiful footage. Looks like paradise

Beautiful spot you have.

I think there will be a few people who can relate. In qld there are at least 2 spots i dont sail at anymore due to parking and crowds. I can only sail my local every 2nd weekend typically due to tides so i travel a lot to other spots and regularly sail with only 2-3 other people on the water.

One spot i started taking a trailer to gain closer parking but eventually the boat traffic forced me away.

There are a few local spots that only get access by boat.

Fimgers crossed you win back dome room. Id also suggest approaching your councillors direct, go to their offices. Make it crystal clear you are not a kiter. Your average punter has no clue and in my experience clarifying this can make a huge difference to the conversation.

Beautiful spot you have.

I think there will be a few people who can relate. In qld there are at least 2 spots i dont sail at anymore due to parking and crowds. I can only sail my local every 2nd weekend typically due to tides so i travel a lot to other spots and regularly sail with only 2-3 other people on the water.

One spot i started taking a trailer to gain closer parking but eventually the boat traffic forced me away.

There are a few local spots that only get access by boat.

Fingers crossed you win back some space. Id also suggest approaching you're councillors direct. go to their offices. Make it crystal clear you are not a kiter. Your average punter has no clue and in my experience clarifying this can make a huge difference to the conversation.

What is council proposing to do? Are they planning to stop 4WD'ing on the beach? That will upset half of hawks nest who go out there fishing in their old suzuki's. Surely not just restricting windsurfing access?

Yep word is council will be discussing shutting down access altogether. During holiday periods there is people hooning up and down and getting bogged all over the place so I guess councils answer is to stop access to prevent this behaviour. In other words a few people are going to f!#k it up for us all.

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jamesf said..
What is council proposing to do? Are they planning to stop 4WD'ing on the beach? That will upset half of hawks nest who go out there fishing in their old suzuki's. Surely not just restricting windsurfing access?

It is good you know that James.
Yes, there are multiple beach community groups that live here, for the beach culture lifestyle. All reliant on 4x4 access. Fishing club, rowing club, board-riders club - all dead if they can't get there, because the places are just too far without a car.
Seems they want us all in the pub on the piss or jail. These types of people are not going to adapt well to changes like this.
They will never be into cappuccinos and bathing only in designated areas. There will be bugger all area for them to fish from beach.

Also, council control access on the main beach side south of the national park, i'd say they will stop 4x4 access there too.
Afterall, they sold it to gangsters (see vid)
www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-08/obeid-inc:-the-secret-deals-making-the-obeid/13622070

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mob dog said..
In other words a few people are going to f!#k it up for us all.

It is not the people, i'd do that too if i was a young bloke and knew that there is zero policing.

The wrong people are being policed.