I haven't been to Botany for some time, but yesterday decided to take the opportunity to travel from the north, to make the most of the noreaster yesterday afternoon. Unfortunately that decision was one that nearly cost me dearly. Whilst heading out from the beach in front of Gorden St or the Shell petrol station there, I saw a jet ski with two female riders pass directly in front of me. I would have been traveling at about 20plus knots as they then swerved to put up a bit of a spray. In the midst of that wash and water disturbance(which insolently and lucky as it turned out) slowed me down, they cycled round back in front of me and I ran nose first into the side of the ski. Just missing their legs & ankles & with an almightily crunch, I went over the top of the handle bars, cartwheeling into the water & collecting my hip and side as I headed into the water. The girls on the ski then tried to motor away before I jumped back onto my upturned board, yelling and swearing at them to return. With another tyrant of abuse and cursing, I let them know of my displeasure before they told me that I had run into them, whilst also attempting a half arsed apology. They then speed off again towards the beach and the gathering of other jet skis and power boats pulled up on the beach just north of Brighon Le Sands.

Surprised that my gear was actually still in tact and in my infinite wisdom, I decided to follow them to the beach to see if i could acquire the details of the ski, so as to file a thorough report on the incident. I sailed in, lifted my gear onto beach and then headed over to the gathering of skis. Not long into my stroll I was confronted by a shaven head, pumped up & potentially steroid filled gentleman, who assured me that I was not going any further than my current position and wouldn't be taking down any numbers of jet skis today. He asked me if I was a Copper and although it did cross my mind that now was possibly a good time to become a member of the NSW Police force, I also realised that impersonating an office(dispute the circumstances) might have an impact on future proceedings and so I answered no and took his advice to walk the other way. He did also point out that there were ten of them and one of me, which I thought was very observant of him. Admittedly I did arc up a little at being pushed in the back whilst walking away, but when I saw out of the corner of my eye, the aforementioned blokes come to their feet in response to my little protest, I hastened my travels back to my gear and made a very swift but ever so graceful, water start off into the bay. I should add that there were some cheers, laughter and hurls of abuse coming from my audience as I left, which added to the humbling atmosphere at the time.

Suffice to say ladies and gents, probably best this Summer to keep a very clear and long distance between yourselves and the jet skis on Botany. I have filed a police report on the matter and i have a witness also on board.

Sounds like you were lucky to get away without serious injury.
And good on you for reporting it.
The northern carpark is probably a safer launch spot and there are always people around which might deter some of the aggro behavior.
Let the commercial tv channels know.
ACA would probably love to do a story on jet ski hoons.

just glad you are all ok Ads, that's the main thing
I hope you get some result out of this and the witness can help in some way.
A cleansing ale sounds like the tonic you need

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AUS032 said..
. . . I was confronted by a shaven head, pumped up & potentially steroid filled gentleman, who assured me that I was not going any further than my current position and wouldn't be taking down any numbers of jet skis today. He asked me if I was a Copper . . .

Your story made my blood boil, especially this part. My sympathies to you.

Did you consider asking for a police presence? I know it's easy to be wise after the event, but I think that's what I would have done. Let's hope there's never a "next time".

Glad you're OK.

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slalomfreak said..
Sounds like you were lucky to get away without serious injury.
And good on you for reporting it.
The northern carpark is probably a safer launch spot and there are always people around which might deter some of the aggro behavior.
Let the commercial tv channels know.
ACA would probably love to do a story on jet ski hoons.

+1...

soon we will have the manditory action camera on us because of goons, not to show off our skills.

Thank you gents for the notes of support. Had a follow up phone call from the cops today and so I can only assume the matter is being looked into further. Have a contact at Maritime and so will put in a call to see if there is anything more that could be pursued at their end also.
Ta Rexy, I was shaken but not stirred yesterday; but yes, I then followed that up with a beer or two!

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BSN101 said..
soon we will have the manditory action camera on us because of goons, not to show off our skills.

And yes man, I so wished I had a camera on! It would have been perfect in this instance. A mate of mine had his on and so I need to check his footage to see if there's the ski in question captured either before or after the incident. Unfortunately I didn't get the number or the make/model of the bloody thing

that is really bad news to hear something like this happened, particularly the aggression on the beach. Good to hear you are in one piece, sounds like it could've been much worse.

I'm sorry to read your misfortune yet with another jet skier.l was down at Ramsgate yesterday around noon.I Did notice a couple of them out flying along. I ALSO saw they were less than 50 mtrs.from the swimmers.not good .its only a matter of time someone in the water is going to get hit.hope not. l say ban them between the six groynes from the southern end right up to Bestic st.

Well done on making the police report....
I was hit badly in 2000 at Kyeemagh and had the same experience, i.e being surrounded by thugs on the beach etc...Didn't make a police report and have regretted it everyday since.

One of the only locations in the world that Jetskis run wild....Crazy...you can't drive on the street like that, so why on water?

Feel sorry for you , but we here on Gold Coast past the accidental stage already.After very serious collision with jet ski that left one of our windsurfer lady in hospital , then jet boat a year ago crushing another windsurfer, we entered completely new era already.
The stage when actually boaties run on you on purpose, not by accident. With propellers screaming full speed.
Now the penalty for sailboarders infringing peaceful consuming accelerants and mind stimulants on anchored boats could be revenge.
Now boaties are free to jump on their horses and chase you on the water, till that could ram you.
Since we have more motor boats here then Western Australia sharks, the risk becomes very real.

Mongrels. Lacking any sort of decency and respect for others. Petition and write maritime to get them banned. They are extremely dangerous to themselves and the rest of the beachgoers. Already 1 death this year down there.

Adam, good to see you survived intact, although the board is a little the worse for wear.
In hindsight any of the jetski regos would have done, anything to give the cops a lead.
I was thinking dashcam too or maybe binoculars from a safe distance.
Lucky you got that practice fixing my board, you'll be warmed up ready to go again.
Hope Xmas and the New Year are a little kinder to you.
Cheers

Glad you're ok Adam, sounds pretty full on. You should have said "don't you know who I am!" Sounds like WindsurfingNSW is about to get a lot more involved in the issue. They messed with the wrong guy.

Is there some sort of collective effort we could make to fix this issue? The behaviour on the water is bad enough, but the threats of physical violence on the shore can't be left unaddressed.

What if every one of us made a report to the police or RMS every time we saw jet skis breaching the rules. The avalanche of reports would add to the statistics, which ultimately are what drives government policy.

I'd say I see the 200m rule being broken almost every time I am on the bay, and you could probably guarantee that the girls driving the jet ski weren't even licensed. Actually, 'irregular driving' within 200m of the shore seems to be the main idea of owning a jet ski from what I have observed.

PWC restriction zones
PWC restriction zone means the waters (including any tributaries) of ....... Botany Bay, ........ Cooks River, ....... Georges River, ......Port Hacking, ...... and Woronora River (but does not include any open waters).

PWCs are not permitted to be used for 'irregular driving' within 200 metres of a river bank or shore when operating in the restriction zones. Penalties apply.

Examples of irregular driving are:

- Driving in a circle or other pattern;
- weaving or diverting;
- surfing down or jumping over or across, any swell, wave or wash.

This means that PWCs must be operated generally in a straight line within 200 metres of the shoreline.

NSW Water Police (Botany Bay) - 9529 8140
RMS (Incident reports & on-water boating concerns) - 13 12 36

www.rms.nsw.gov.au/maritime/using-waterways/restrictions-closures/personal-watercraft-operating-areas.html
https://www.whitepages.com.au/police-nsw-10010432/botany-bay-10497311B
www.rms.nsw.gov.au/contact-us/phone-contacts.html

Good idea Harrow. The rms PWC rules also quote, for when riding a PWC:

"Keep your distance
Stay under 10 knots (about 18.5kph) when:
60m from people, canoes/kayaks, surf or swimming zones
30m from other vessels, objects, structures or shore."

...so that's another simple one we could report them on...

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Macroscien said..
Feel sorry for you , but we here on Gold Coast past the accidental stage already.After very serious collision with jet ski that left one of our windsurfer lady in hospital , then jet boat a year ago crushing another windsurfer, we entered completely new era already.
The stage when actually boaties run on you on purpose, not by accident. With propellers screaming full speed.
Now the penalty for sailboarders infringing peaceful consuming accelerants and mind stimulants on anchored boats could be revenge.
Now boaties are free to jump on their horses and chase you on the water, till that could ram you.
Since we have more motor boats here then Western Australia sharks, the risk becomes very real.

I just read your post 3 times and most of it still doesn't make sense. Do you actually read back what you write before you hit post?

Adam glad you are ok shame your board is not but at least its quicker to fix than you.
You have done the best thing and reported shame you couldnt get the number but you did the best thing mate.
If there is anything at all we can do to help please ask more than happy to help.

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sick_em_rex said...

Macroscien said..
Feel sorry for you , but we here on Gold Coast past the accidental stage already.After very serious collision with jet ski that left one of our windsurfer lady in hospital , then jet boat a year ago crushing another windsurfer, we entered completely new era already.
The stage when actually boaties run on you on purpose, not by accident. With propellers screaming full speed.
Now the penalty for sailboarders infringing peaceful consuming accelerants and mind stimulants on anchored boats could be revenge.
Now boaties are free to jump on their horses and chase you on the water, till that could ram you.
Since we have more motor boats here then Western Australia sharks, the risk becomes very real.

I just read your post 3 times and most of it still doesn't make sense. Do you actually read back what you write before you hit post?

Sick_ em_ Rex what a shame we don't have your intellectual prowess, the point that was being made is that here on the Gold Coast we have had quite a few serious incidents between boats and windsurfing one incident putting a fellow sailor out of sailing for the rest of her life and the other incidents scaring the **** out of the people involved and making them question if they want to stay in the sport. If you don't like the way someone has written their posts suck it up there's no need to be rude. Macro is one of the nicest guys you could ever meet on walk off the water
Aus032 sorry to hear about your accident and I hope you don't have to deal with anything like that again

Nothing to do with intellectual prowess, his post just flat out doesn't make sense. And I would guess by the anount of green thumbs I have I am not the only one who noticed. I wasn't being rude or casting any aspersions as to the character of the man, just merely pointing out that maybe he read his own comments to make sure they are coherent before he posts.
Merry Xmas!

I takes a small amount of intelligence to sail, ride a windsurfer, surf, and dare i say it kitesurf. You have to take into account wind direction, strength current, ect. But ride a jetski one brain cell will do grip and go...

the problem lies here: 'infringing peaceful consuming accelerants and mind stimulants', you need to understand that it was ironic and it meant 'peaceful idiots consuming accelerants and mind stimulants'. Was it so difficult that required being rude to a fellow windsurfer ?

And now lets be friends again and move on to another 3 days of wonderful NEasters !!!

Perhaps just like a dash cam helps in the "he said/she said" discussion after a traffic accident, using Go Pros when sailing at Kyeemagh could help make people more responsible for their actions.

Just wondering if it's worth making the effort today?! Being a Public holiday I'm sure The bay will be filled with Skis. Im still new to the sport and can't water start it kinda Freaks me out.

On the other hand Santa did buy me a new GPS

Well I am always quick to bad mouth jet skiers, but had to eat my words yesterday after, having dislocated my shoulder after being catapulted near the runway about 3.30, it was one of those guys that saw me sitting on my board with one arm raised and went and got the police....
after a boat ride, ambulance trip and hospital visit it was a pretty long day. Worst of all is looking at the forecast now with my arm in a bloody sling, and my brand new Xmas present to self sail lying idle for a while.

Just to follow up on this, a huge thanks to Josh and Karen of the San Souci water police who got me back ashore and sorted an ambulance. The larger water police boat also recovered my gear and I picked it up undamaged from their compound yesterday. This was my first outing on a new Naish Sprint 6.4 I had just bought so I was extremely grateful.
They could not have been more helpful !

Good to see your OK cs66 and a thumbs up to the water police!!!!

Must of been a wicked catapult cs66 good to hear your ok.dislocated shoulder is rare.it happens to the best of us.l went over the falls last season bruised ribs.ouch.sandbar ran out in front of me.

Alls well that ends well cs66.
The water police have been very vigilant over the past week and there have been two police boats at times patrolling the area and stopping jet skis to check licenses. Barks said he saw a cop patrolling on a jet ski today.Now thats innovation.
Jet ski traffic ,although still out of control,was not as bad as its been in the past and the water police presence has definitely helped.
Also the fair that sets up south of the car park ,is not there this year and thats probably helped control the crowd numbers in the car park.