GoPro and No Tow
As the southern states move into the winter swell season the mechanically minded have begun tuning their PWC's and gearing up to hit the reefs. In recent years the number of PWC's, and hence tow surfers, has grown sharply and it's led to a corresponding increase in crowds at the known spots.
Antagonism between tow and paddle surfers, which threatened to boil over a few years back, appears to have cooled somewhat. One reason for this is that an understanding between paddlers and tow surfers has been reached at popular tow waves such as Cape Solander and Shipsterns Bluff. Yet the primary reason is that, at many other waves where no agreements have been reached, paddle surfers are forced to suffer in silence.
When tow surfers break the law paddle surfers are helpless to do anything about it. Ring the local authority? By the time they arrive – if they arrive - the crime has long been committed and it's one word against another. Relying upon the authorities has become an exercise in futility so the paddlers reluctantly concede the territory while tow surfers get away with what they can.
Recently however, advances in technology are helping the cause of the paddle surfer yet many still aren't aware of it yet.
In the last five years GoPro cameras have proliferated amongst surfers. Whether it be hand-held or affixed to the deck surfers are using the portable waterproof cameras to capture their waves on video for later playback.
In February the Sydney Morning Herald ran a story about cyclists using GoPro cameras to charge motorists who infringed upon them. The cyclists were affixing the camera to their helmets, filming their commute and, if necessary, downloading any offending footage. They'd then send it to the police who confirmed that they would take action.
I asked Neil Patchett, spokesperson for NSW Maritime, who police NSW's waterways, about using GoPro footage as evidence in cases of PWC violations. "It's important for frustrated paddle surfers to know that with a GoPro they are armed with the tools to charge tow surfers breaking the law", said Patchett.
When it comes to incidents on the water, Patchett says PWC's are vastly over-represented and take up a lot of NSW Maritime's resources. Due to the disproportionate numbers they are very keen to see tow surfers who break the law brought to justice. They also reserve increased fines and punishment for PWC riders, including criminal actions.
I also approached spokespeople for Transport Safety Victoria and Maritime Safety Queensland and they each gave a similar answer: Yes, they would accept video evidence of tow surfers committing transgressions. They were equally as keen to see video footage used this way. The only requirement being that the registration number is visible. Of course, it didn't have to be GoPro footage, people filming from rocks or boats could also submit video footage as evidence.
Unfortunately for the paddle surfer bent on vengeance, submitting video evidence is not enough to charge a tow surfer acting recklessly. Depending upon the magnitude of the crime the person submitting the evidence is also required to supply their own details, file a statutory declaration, or in the worst cases, attend court. The last option being something many surfers would be reluctant to do.
Yet even if surfers aren't prepared to take further action, Neil Patchett encourages surfers to send in their footage. "Each incident" he says "adds to the body of evidence against negligent PWC riders".
According to Patchett the potential exists for more PWC exclusion zones in NSW. At present PWC's are not allowed to be ridden anywhere within Sydney Harbour and they are also restricted in many waterways in NSW. If transgressions continue NSW Maritime will consider expanding these zones to cover PWC hotspots.
None of the states mentioned above allow tow surfing when there are paddle surfers in the water. There are no exceptions to this rule. Incidents can be reported at:
Maritime NSW Maritime Safety Queensland (call 3120 7496) Transport Safety Victoria (call 9883 5330)
Comments
Sure will be interesting to see how this plays out.
Round here there's a fairly solid gentlemens agreement that Tow guys stay away from paddle surfers.
Little but of mutual respect goes a hellova long way.
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Encouraging people to film and rat on each other is not a positive step.
I imagine this is a genuine issue in some parts of the country, but why bring pigs and snitching into the equation? That's not the sort of community I would want anything to do with.
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For those that maybe interested I understand that the maritime peoples have a particular interest with the activities of paddle surfers and PWC movements around Bass Point atm. And from what I’m hearing the maritime authority has no interest in any made agreements with anyone involved..
That's excellent news Rangoon. Now they just need to monitor the boat ramps on the swells. Redsands gets down right dangerous... and heated.
I personally don't like PWCs. They are noisy, they smell and mostly driven poorly. I seriously wonder about the enjoyment threshold; how many times can you fly over your own wake before it becomes just plain boring?
I can see their purpose in surfing to get to outer bombies or waves under cliff faces but that's where it ends.
Only one rule is needed .... (1a.) If the wave has previously been surfed by paddling in it should be off limits to PWCs. Unless, (1b.) its so big no surfers can paddle out into the line up. If its big and paddle in surfers are in the line up no PWCs permitted.
Of course what I suggest will not happen nor will proper (any?) enforcement of existing law occur. Surfers will use PWCs out of self interest and existing laws will not be enforced because that costs money and we live in a country where we all want super government services but are not willing to pay the taxes that they cost.
For those paddling in surfers who mix it with PWCs I wish you luck.
@floyd "I can see their purpose in surfing to get to outer bombies or waves under cliff faces but that's where it ends."
I agree, I recently saw some guys towing into some full 6ft waves at Avoca on a crowded Saturday, what a joke!!
they have their uses, like at certain asp events to keep the action going, bells is a good example. then places like jaws and cortes bank go for it. apart from that they are a joke.
If they're towing at a spot where there are paddle surfers they're breaking the law - simple as that.
As stated, they get away with it because they can. Simple solution, show them the same respect that they show others in the lineup i.e, just drop in on them.
Seriously - fuck that shit.
Yep; should be pretty simple really. If there's blokes paddling don't tow. We used to get these cowboys come over to the beach I grew up at & jump waves on their jetski's. One of the boys got hit & had his heels all smashed. It was all on in the carpark. Their skis ended up looking like Swiss cheese & we never saw them again. I'm not condoning violence, just telling a story.
Here's another - surfing at Granite Bay at Noosa a while back - 4-6' and a bit wild and side-shore, with a small crowd - nothing flash or big. This bloke turns up on a jet ski towing (I guess) his teenage son, and with (I guess) his young daughter (early teens) on the back - and then nearly runs a couple of surfers over. I wave at him to move a bit wider and get this abusive spray of choice 4 letter words as he races past, which was definately out of place in front of the young girl on the back. I could do nothing about it, unfortunately, and so the Go Pro idea has some merit. I think quite a few of these jet ski riders either do not know the law or deliberately choose to ignore it, knowing there is little likelihood of them getting busted.
Why is encouraging people to film and rat on each other not a positive step? I think it is called standing up for yourself, if you get forced out of the water by a tow-in crew and retaliate by confiscating all the valves from there car and trailer or confronting them at the boat ramp, they are at the cop shop like a rat up a drain pipe. These people are vermin and should be treated as such.
I guess my perspective Sean is we're all adults. If you're old enough to drive a ski, you're old enough to know better and deserve what you get when you put people's safety at risk. Alerting the authorities isn't exactly sticking up for yourself, but I get your point.
The coast guard, water patrol and police do nothing about it in the Shellharbour area. They eat lunch at the Rock daily and show up in numbers to watch the Rock on a swell. I've not seen nor heard of any authority doing anything to stop them launching. Even despite their recent 'interest in water craft activity around bass point' Humbug!
Education or a show of non violent force is more effective. 15 guys blocking the line up and telling 4 blokes to go in IS intimidating. That said I have never seen any violence. It must work because not one ski has come anywhere near the point and that holds 15ft! Way outside my realm.. but guys give it a nudge and I love watching.
I don't know what it's like for people in other areas or how they deal with it. I no longer surf at Albion Park Rail Beach Park (redsands) that's how I deal with it. If ski's even look like coming on the points, they are met with aggression and numbers > but not violence.
I don't know anybody that can paddle as fast as a ski to beat somebody up anyway :)
There's been some friction between standups and ski's in the past few years in S.A. some of which has ended up in the courts!
A chick from Elliston sued a guy from Streaky for coming into contact with her with his ski while she was surfing. It wasnt sucsessful due to lack of evidence but i believe he pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of operating a jetski at speed within 200 metres of a swimmer! It was reported in Adelaide's main paper The Advertiser.
An enviromental group over that way also had an area of coast declared a jetski free zone due to the noise of the ski's disturbing the nests of the rare Osprey sea eagle. The area is also home to some world class waves. Not long after some Ospreys were found shot in the area! Many down here have suspisions a well known surfer/tow surfer was responsible but nothing can be proved!
Im originally from SA and loved Yorkes trips. There were some epic waves! We used to stay in little corrugated huts in the national park (one week during a 40 degree heatwave) and the flies, burnt feet from the sand and sunburn were all worth it! Had a man in a grey suit circle us at West Cape. Beautiful and rugged coastline!
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I can understand towing into the hard to find, hard to get to, hard to paddle into big stuff but on beaches where there are other surfers, swimmers, general beach goers around its just plain rude. Firstly its bloody dangerous if people don't use the jet ski/ropes properly and secondly its a great way of turning a really nice quiet surf into a noisy and aggravating experience. A couple of years back we drove into the National Park south of Sydney. We hiked around a headland with all of our camping gear to a beautiful secluded spot and camped overnight. In the morning the conditions were small but great. Ten minutes in a buzzing comes around the corner and sure enough there is a jet ski and three young surfers who proceeded to tow into every wave. It was 2ft max. They clearly weren't experienced because they almost cleaned me up a couple of times. I ended up getting out pretty quickly because I didn't want to put the boxing gloves on and that was the way it was going. I think unless the jet ski is necessary, the beach is empty and the waves are too hard to paddle into the motorbikes of the sea should stay in the shed!
Qld maritime state that 3 PWC breaches [towing within 200mts @ more than 6 knts] can result in licence loss or suspension ..........so last week at Kirra deems all those ski drivers licence suspended....at a guess 30 waves towed illegally per session but probably more ?
And in QLD if you lose your PWC/boat licence, you lose you vehicle licence also.
Yorksurfer i dont think that has really stopped tow surfing near that place you mentioned.
No it hasn't caml, if anything this towing through surfers crap seems to be getting worse.
Earlier this year I had a frustrating surf at a certain wave near my home which is becoming increasingly frequented by skis. It's a fickle wave and breaks a long paddle out to sea but on its day can be the best wave down here and is a favourite of mine.
The surf was around 6 to 8ft and some of the uglier ones weren't paddlable so I held my tongue at the crew that were towing as I know them and didn't want to rock the boat.
Some of the big ones could of been paddled into but when you have a ski and tow surfer barreling down at you at speed it's hard to call 'em off.
They offered to tow me into a few or give me a lift back out after waves but I declined as I prefer to do things under my own steam.
However when they offered me some chocolate I succumbed and ate some of their offerings.
A month or so later a nice medium swell was brewing and I could see it was gonna be 6ft and definitely in the paddle range so I flicked a friendly text to the guy(from Adelaide) who owns the ski asking if he was coming down? I said it was only gonna be 6ft so bring your paddle boards down if you do and have a surf with us. I've known him for 20 years and I didn't want it to sound like I was hassling him.
He send me a text back saying him and his mates were only looking to have fun and get their share. Reading between the lines he sounded a bit wounded?
Later that night I received a text from an unknown number paying me out, calling me a cunt and that I'm fucking people over? There was also a threat that if I keep things up something might happen?
I immediately rung the number but the person wouldn't answer so I rung the ski owners' number and he wouldn't answer either?
Then a text came through from the unknown number saying something about a possible hacked phone and that they were blocking or deleting my number?
It was all very amusing?
I haven't seen the ski owner since but I know sooner or later I will run into him.
Should be an interesting conversation when I do........
Sounds like a normal interaction with the infamous " sunsilk tow team" as they are known on the west coast of sa. Chasing blue and green blobs and towing nothing but paddle waves. Absolute chumps AB, Steve and grub is who they are and love to pump themselves up!
I am sure your not that distressed about a possible run in yorky!
For all people illegally towing this is the reality when things go wrong .
" http://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/angry-scenes-outside-melbourne-c...
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Cheers for the link Southey;)
Good things come of an idiot eh..........
Angry type of a lad to say the least, justice was due.
I think it was his brother lashing out .
This video is fucking madness.
some guys getting runover by a speed boat. they jumped outta the boat by a whisker to save their lives no doubt.
Go pro footage!
http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/wtf/fishermen-takes-legal-act...
How's the response from the driver? What a cockhead.
I like seeing good waves ridden some can not be paddled (too big too heavy). No doubt you clean up on the ski wave count wise. But if you are greedy and take every perfect peak that comes in while crew are paddling you look so selfish. No ski gives you this right. You are assuming your authority over every other wave user in the line up. Some who have been charging harder through the years than you realise.
If you step off or tow in to paddleable waves you miss some of the best part of the ride. anticipation, positioning and the drop, let alone the set up from human effort. Riding bigger pits is harder than just stepping off onto a forming lump. If you race the length of a beach to take waves off crew you deserve hammer holes in your hulls or sand in your fuel. Some of the better waves in Sa have turned into a shit fight. So un south Australian.
Some tow surfers are outrunning the heaviest bit of the wave in places that really should be left to more experienced surfers. If you got a ski out for day you should be risking life and limb.
Ride a bigger board... charge harder and you will be respected more. Just because you towed a 6 footer beachie or rarely surfed bombie and made the best wave of your life doesn't give you the right to be greedy anywhere but may impress your girl or groupies. The wake from your ski has stuffed up a fair few paddle surfers waves, some who have been waiting half and hour or more to snag a wave off you. If its a circus it looks so Lame.
No point being nice in the pub but pricks to surf with when shit hits the fan.