After the banter regarding the 2008 Wave sailing titles and the lack of SA representation on the SA windsurfing organistaion I have to fish for some answers.

being relatively a newcomer to windsurfing (surfing since a kid) I am not really sure what happened to wavesailing.

1. what happened to the wave sailing side of windsurfing in SA?

2.Is there enough people interested in wave sailing to help organise and work together for a three or four round series in SA - send a true SA rep to the nationals.

3. Is there enough interest to have a start up meeting to see what we can do about it - or do we continue to sail recreationally - which is just fine - or should we look at trying to promote this side of windsurfing for all - especially juniors/womens/open.

4.Would we be just flogging a dead horse trying to get something together.

I am keen to get some discussions and maybe some action - as an SA wavesailor I feel that as the wave sailing forum stated - "we put up or shut up" re complaining about associations if no one is keen to get something happening.

What we don't want is the usual 3 people do the work for people that want the glory but aren't willing to help out.

The ball is in our court!

Hi Russ,
As I've said before on here, I'd be very interested in getting the Wavesailing thing going in SA. I've also had a few emails from Pete Boerma from Onboard which suggests that he's pretty keen to get something going as well.
I think we just have to accept that it will be the same few doing the work to get it happening.
In the past there was 'SAWSA - South Australian Wave Sailing Association' which I thought was great, but that eventually faded into oblivion when the key people involved dropped out of the sport. There was also a lot of the comps organized that had pretty ordinary conditions which didn't help.
I think we could definitely get a series going with pretty good conditions if a simplified and flexible approach was used.
There's also a lot of other things that could be organized if we had a group/association/whatever formed.
It'll be interesting to see how much interest you, as an 'independent' sailor gets as apposed to someone who is associated to a shop. Most people seem to have the view that if I'm trying to organize anything for windsurfing it must be so I can sell them more gear.
I'm sure that you would get the support of the shops... wouldn't it be awesome to have both shops involved together!!!
Cheers,
Muzza

I'm keen to help out, It'd be great to have a comp down the mid. There was some great wave sailing down Seaford last weekend I was thinking it would be great to have had a comp out there. We could have best trick, best wave, best stack awards etc.

Muzza - understand your comments - and realise that it may all be too hard - as many of the surfing club rallies I went on ended up with crap waves at the location the contest director preferred and everyone shot through if they didn't win their heats - same people did the work and ended up being the demise of the club.


Looks like to raise some interest we would have to almost survey the local spots and do a flyer under the windscreen wipers as there are a lot of crew that don't look at seabreeze or add to the forum.

Don't know why I am bothering really I was thinking more about some of the younger crew and getting juniors involved - with kids of my own who knows one day thay may want to beinvolved

It would just be good be able to watch some great wavesailing in a competative environment, help push the wave standard around here and partake in an old b**tards age group heats for a laugh.

Anyway - I am going to check seaford its blowin again - probably drop out like yesterday.

Any ideas anyone on moving this forward or should we just forget it and go sailin

Hey Russ,
I don't think you should forget it, I reckon we could get something going.
Maybe we should just set a date and a place to get anyone whos interested together and throw a few ideas around.
I'll give Pete a ring and see what he thinks.

Would be great to hear from everyone who's interested

I am keen as.....the only problem is that the wave conditions in SA are very inconsistent but I am sure there would be other sailors out there who don't read this forum who would also be keen.

one off weekend comps are the go. october long weekend?

Hey Scotty,
I'd be keen to have several individual comps through the year.
Where were you thinking for the October w/e.
What about having individual comps but have them all make up an overall series as well?
I spoke to Pete and he's super keen to do something, so there's no reason why we shouldn't be moving forward with things.

Muzza

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Scotty Mac said...

one off weekend comps are the go. october long weekend?

I think this is where it starts getting tricky - October long weekend - Location would be the key point here unless you could tie it in with the speed weekend at Beachport or something or do you go to VH - Robe or west coast - yorkes and cross your fingers

The only psositive for a mid winter comp is the likely hood of Northerlies/nwlies and possibly seaford/triggs or day street.

If it was a summer based - plenty wind - bugger all swell locally. Maybe like the UK - a freewave contest - freestyle if the waves are non existent and wave sail if there is enough at Sellicks or the mid - might help in getting us all to start doing some flicky jumpy stuff.

I am starting to see some of the barriers that can get in the way of a regular wave sailing series of events.

Still keen to be involved in some way though.

Beachport has a fair chance of a good westerly (cross shore) and swell in october, further south down carpenters rocks way would be better, also the big wind farm down here are actually sponsering some community and sporting events locally, wouldn't winsurfing or kiting be a good tie in with them as we both use the wind.

Yeah windsurfing would be great to tie in with their sponsorship.

Sounds like a good idea - I think we have restricted ourselves to the same locations all the time.

I look at Berry bay and dust bowl at yorkes on a nthly and think of the possibilities (except the walk down the hill)

Who is the big energy company down Beachport way?

I have surfed around Pt Mac but havn't surfed carpenters but heard a few good reports - probably attract a few vicco's as well if you held something down that way.

October getting a bit close for this year though.

we have 2 different companys running the wind farms, one with 99 tubines (babcock and brown) the other Canunda power (international power) has 23 . i will find out what i can next week as i know a few guys working there. we should fit into there green image they are always trying to present. i know Pete so will catch up with him what i can find out.

exert from the local paper

the canunda power grants are for eligible projects and events which involve enviromental improvement initiatives, the promotion of alertative energy sources and active comminity participation in healthy lifestyle activitys.

surely we would be in the last one.

too much typing i need a bundy.

The big energy company is Energy Australia or something like that. I have been doing lots of work down there on the lake that is right next to the wind farm. My experience is that the wind farm does not give up much for nothing. Eg: we wanted wind speed and direction data to put into a m0odel of the lake in order to rehabilitate it and they saw this as a threat to their company. Ins tead of just saying no they wont give us the data they put (allegedly) an error into the data so that when we used it, it was wrong. This is a government agency too not like we are a competitor!

But being in a tinny on Lake Bonney for hours on end it would be a GREAT place to sail. 20-25kts EVERY day and relatively flat water. No good for waves but freestyle would rock. Just watch out for the logs.

i work at the paper mills close by, over the years and still all waste water flows into lake bonney, i would not even sail there and it is 5 mins from home.

ah thats better the bundy tastes good.

Why not decide the location on the wed before the weekend, then the correct location can be chosen. It there is totally no chance of wind, the event could be cancelled.

Scotty,
That's along the same lines as I was thinking, but instead of canceling it just move it to the following weekend...etc.
For example, if we set a date for a comp on the first weekend in September on the Mid-coast with Middleton (and anywhere else within reason) as an alternative and the conditions didn't look promising a few days in advance, then we roll the date over to the second weekend in September... etc, etc...

Russ,
I don't think its too late to do something on the October weekend. It's not going to be another Robe Classic first time round, but we could certainly have something to get things rolling.

Does it really matter if its only say a dozen sailors going through some man on man heats and a final with maybe an expression session thrown in at the end?
I'd be happy with that.

Muzza

So whats the next step!

There's been a few people showing interest on here, and I know there's quite a few of the local's who don't write on the forum but could be just as keen as the rest of us.
I'd say the next step is for EVERYONE who's interested in being involved in (at least) the intial stages of getting it off the ground should show their intentions on here. If you know of anyone who is interested but doesn't write on seabreeze, then maybe put their name down (check with them first).
Even if there's non-sailors who are keen to be involved in things (such as partner's, rellies etc), that'd be awesome.
Just indicate if you are interested in organising, competing or both!

Muzza

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jimbob SA said...

i work at the paper mills close by, over the years and still all waste water flows into lake bonney, i would not even sail there and it is 5 mins from home.

ah thats better the bundy tastes good.

I dont want to hijack the thread but I am an environmental scientist working on rehabilitating Lake Bonney and I would sail there. Again just watch out for the logs. Water quality has improved an extreme amount. I am stunned. A phrase keeps coming to mind "No matter how much we rape mother nature she can return" give it another decade and the lake will be great (it may result in pea soup for a few years until the mills start reducing what they put into the lake).

Back to an SA wave sailing assoc. I think its a great idea but cant put any time into it so I do not want to comment to much as I hate people who whinge but dont put in, so I will try not to be that person.

Sorry forgot to add a disclaimer, Trabsport SA have stated that lake Bonney is closed to all water activities due to the danger presented by the half submerged logs in the lake. The logs need to be removed before it would be safe to sail.

End of community announcement...

Re: Wavesailing events
Is it possible to use a system similar to Chris Dimond's speed/slalom series where the venue and day are decided a few days before the scheduled event, based on the forecast? If weather is unsuitable, postpone the event. Communication, Communication, etc.

Re: A Wavesailing Association
It's possible that WindsurfingSA could have a wavesailing subgroup (rather than reforming the SAWSA). As members, you would be covered by the national thirdparty insurance. The other subgroups (speed/slalom and onedesign) work fairly autonimously, but all are members. The fees contributed to us being able to purchase buoys, etc.

Re: Shop influence
If you don't want shop influence, you don't vote them onto committees. BUT, that would be a mistake. If the shop representative has the drive to push any aspect of our sport they should have our support. It seems to me that the presence of shop representatives on association committees is desirable, especially while membership numbers are low-ish.

Extras:
Lower Lakes tides (still going out)
www.windsurfing.org/files/A3_Bathymetry_Lower_Lakes.pdf (2mb)
Wallpapers
http://windsurfingsa.org.au/2008/08/01/windsurfing-mag-online-jul08/

John Rohde
WindsurfingSA
windsurfingsa.org.au
www.windsurfing.org/sa.htm

Thanks for the thoughts John. I think we need to organise a gathering get the word out and make a few decisions on whether this is viable.

I will discuss with some crew today if they are sailing and see if there is some general interest - might need a flyer with a meeting date or dates - one south one north or something - unless a brewer of fine ales would like to sponsor a meeting at my place or somewhere central!

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Scotty Mac said...

Why not decide the location on the wed before the weekend, then the correct location can be chosen. It there is totally no chance of wind, the event could be cancelled.

You thinking of coming over Scotty?

Wave comp.....I would give it a go, basic turns are probably all I could do, but keen for a squirt. Mid coast would get more people out in my opinion (what would the locals think though ie surfers etc, they surf in some pretty **** conditions sometimes)

Also, judging? Who, How, anyone know how to judge properly? I know a fella that judges wave contests in Maui, Giampaolo from Mauisurf blog, he could give us a few tips.....

I reckon we could have at least 10-15 fellas and 4 girls at least in this comp.

I,ve got a copy of the PWA wave sailing scoring system - not sure if it's changed.

Forgot to ask the crew on Sunday after sailing at U's - Doh!

Still keen to get something happening - look at the NSW Birubi contest - sounds like they have all bases covered if there is no wind as well.

Next step - some sort of meeting/survey to guage interest.

anyone got any other ideas on how to move from here.

I didnt get it? Do you mean am I going o Maui? Not his winter. Definately Hawaii next winter and definately WA this summer.

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Scotty Mac said...

I didnt get it? Do you mean am I going o Maui? Not his winter. Definately Hawaii next winter and definately WA this summer.

Nah mate, we are back from Maui, got back Sunday night, I was meaning, did you think you would make it to the SA wave sailing comps?

:)

I dare ya!

Divaldo , check scottys profile he is from north haven mate. top sailer as well.

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jimbob SA said...

Divaldo , check scottys profile he is from north haven mate. top sailer as well.

count me in!!! wave comps more often then once a year would be sick!!

I will try and "Russell" up a bit of feedback today/tomorrow - will see if some crew want to leave some contact details (email/phone etc) and get some rough numbers - If you speak to any one thats interested drop me a PM and I'll start compiling a list of possibles.

Might see if we can do a flyer with a contact adderess/number and hang it in the windsurf shops if Onboard and Glascraft would be happy with this.

If you think I am wasting my time - tell me now cause I really don't need another headache.

Just from those that sail around the coast and from what I can recall about 20-25 crew that wave sail would bethe approx numbers that may be possible.