This seems to be making the swimming area bigger...

http://www.parkweb.vic.gov.au/resources/mresources/haveyoursay/zones/FinalRecommendationMaps_LowRes.pdf

Go to page 15. It seems coming ashore even slightly downwind of the toilet block means that you're in the swimming zone.

I can't help thinking the fact that the full extent of the swimming area is only used by the life saving club for lap practice is a bit.... well .. self serving

Please don't follow this post with angry swearing because we may need to appeal to parks victoria and it might be good to look like reasonable people in this situation

YEAH VERY messy and looks like it is only pushed by SLSC to Parks. Place i grew up sailing and windsurfing on page 27 (and still sail now). McCrae Yacht Club....no boating just outside yacht club.....hmmmm.. surf club went up about 3 years ago. Yacht club been their >40yrs.... go figure. NO baoting zone in front of a yacht club. Lucky they have a bar.

Politics.

Dendy st, Ricketts and many other sailing spots at risk here. Understand needs to be some safety for swimmers but that is what the flags are for in these lifesaving spots. Maybe SLSC can put out bouys out to see a little and not automatically acquire several hundred mtrs either side of their grains of sand.

Disappointed

I wonder whether burning around doing donuts in a rubber ducky constitutes no boating! The hypocracy of the Middle Brighton SLSC is frustrating. I'm pretty sure I have more control of my windsurfer than people catching waves on big surf skis.

I don't really think it changes too much though - there are only swimmers in the water about 5 times a year so on those days I'll stay upwind of the markers. I imagine it would be a legal nightmare if you hit a swimmer in a no boating zone so better to be careful when there's swimmers around.

Maybe someone should take parks Victoria to VCAT - windsurfers are clearly being ignored in these changes - kitesurfing seem to have dedicated areas which coincide with places that it's good for kiting. It's annoying that all the good windsurf spots are now off limits - when this was happening I was told Windsurfing Victoria had it under control - well... I guess we've still got Green Point (or 200m offshore at least) - but Middle Park, Elwood, Dendy St, Hampton Beach, Ricketts Pt, Parkdale, Gnotuck and Olivers Hill Frankston are all off limits! These are the best windsurf spots in the bay so the new zones are fairly unworkable for windsurfers. I'm sure the argument would be "go windsurf in an unrestricted area" which just illustrates the lack of understanding for the sport in the community. Luckily at these ideal windsurf spots when it's good for windsurfing it's not great for swimming... just make sure you don't hit someone!

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FletcHuz said...

I wonder whether burning around doing donuts in a rubber ducky constitutes no boating! The hypocracy of the Middle Brighton SLSC is frustrating. I'm pretty sure I have more control of my windsurfer than people catching waves on big surf skis.

I feel your frustration. At Mornington the swimming zone is well clear of ideal sailing area but I do get annoyed with the lifesavers doing donuts in or close to the swimming area. They are also mostly funded by donations at the busy intersection of Mornington by the public who I am sure would not be impressed at the petrol wastage, not to mention the potential to roll over a swimmer. On the other hand they do offer a safe area for families to swim, I just wish they would show the same consideration they expect from others.

It is the senior clubbies whose main accomplishment in life is to stand partially naked, chaffed, in wet red underpants under the delusion of authority that I just dont get. That said, I hear they actually do a lot of good for nippers programs etc. Other thing I've noticed at Dendy St is more kiters coming upwind - lets watch this. The clubbies in their ducky seam to hassle us say 5 days a year so it is no big deal. slsc is a massive power base / org unit so I think we should all just enjoy taking the P**S from them. I've never been hassled when its honking (never see them??) and I've seen more rescues done by windsurfers than our fearless clubbies. Can anyone remember last summer when a father and son sailing team washed up in about 25 knots?. We got the kid out after ditching gear to swim over, we got the boat to shore, we warmed the kid up and sent dad down to the club to use their phone. lets just laugh at this for what it is, and blame water in our ears and salt in our eyes when attempted authority comes our way. Or simply say go forth and multiply.

As I was rigging up at Dendy St this arvo a big beefy clubbie came up a bit cranky as he reckoned that a windsurfer had hit a swimmer in the swim zone just city side of the boundary marker post. Apparently the swimmer was a bit shocked and bruised but not major injuries.

The clubbie said that he had called the coppers who were likely to turn up and that all of the windsurfers sailing city side of the boundary post (most of them) would be liable to get fined.

I warned a couple of others and stayed in the boating area. Didn't see the fuzz though.

Interestingly, the windsurf area was infested with kites today who all seemed to have sailed up from their beach. Not sure why they do this when they have heaps of room in their area.

Still, lucky the swimmer wasn't seriously hurt, it would be a very bad look for us. The swimmers are often really hard to see.

Was there last Sunday when some idiot swimmer was swimming across from the lifesaving club to the southern boundary post - there were about ten windsurfers out and the idiot swam right across the sailing area at least twice.

Swimmer had a swim hat and fins on, and the lifesaving boat was buzzing around in the area. Just a stupid place to swim with the low sun angle.

Moron.

At least we're civilised enough to run a forum...

http://www.slsa.com.au/default.aspx?s=discussionforum

I'm going to draft a letter to parks victoria on this.

Main points will be

Ask them to underline who they have consulted on the Dendy street enlargement
Ascertain whether it is too late to put forward a counter proposal
Find out whether they have sought to separate the lifesaving requirements for lifesavers as sportsmen versus lifesavers as public servants - ie are club members the only people who use the outer reaches or is it the public that club members seek to protect that use the area?
Ascertain whether it is possible to enforce the proposed no boating requirement on several days of the year eg Saturday's and Sunday afternoons in Dec/Jan
Ask that we be allowed to formulate a joint approach with the life saving club

Lastly to suggest another possible option for Dendy namely

1 Reduce the size of the current swimming area. Suggest that the upwind pole be removed and that the swimming area be triangular.

> It is too large for the life savers to patrol. They spend an inordinate amount of resource patrolling the perimeter using a boat to ensure that windsurfers do not enter it. This would enable them to reduce their costs and provide a better service to the public. We are also concerned that their use of the boat within the boating area, while permitted, is a potential hazard to swimmers because it has less visibility than a windsurfing board.
> The outer limits are only used for lifesaving training and this in itself is outside the mandate of their public service obligations.

2 Point out the prevailing wind direction and the upwind rocks. Argue that pushing windsurfing further upwind would result in conflict and injury. Cite Darren's broken ankle as an example of the sort of injury that occurs if windsurfers are pushed closer to the reef. If neccessary ask that they consult with other agencies responsible for marine safety.

3 We would need to point out that this would affect lap times and other measures that they use to benchmark their lifesaving performance. Suggest possible alternatives to this.