Is Motorboarding the new SUP ?
What's the legal precedent? I mean, it's a powered craft which distinguishes it from a SUP and puts it closer to a PWC. I would've thought PWC laws would then apply to the motor board (or whatever it's called).
In Qld if a boat is under 4 hp it doesnt need to be registered and no license is required to operate it. Is this the wavejet thing your talking about?
Well that sure read like a sly advertisement.
"Sure I have heard all the pros for them great for the handicapped, rescue board, surf exploration vehicle, but the rider of this craft was using it solely for a very positive wave count."
"I know you are saying at their price point it wont be a problem but think of how many $2000 logs or SUPs are in the car park. People think nothing of putting down 4 grand for a carbon fibre italian special road bike that they use to ride to the cafe latte stand on Sundays. For slightly more than double you can completely dominate a line up. There is even a motor SUP."
Evolution of the fittest or fattest? Either way it spells greed.
These shit-buckets are advertised on a local surf retailers website. I checked the link and opened the youtube video. The video shows a mal version of the shit-bucket being "surfed" at a gutless wave and it spruiks the benefits mostly emphasising wave count.
Interesting, there is a 10' gun version .... love to see some fat prick take one out to the bombies.
Anyway, there has been endless discussions on this website about the legal rights blah blah of surfers V SUPs and here we go again.
Any talk about legal rights or wrongs is just that until some-one takes a mindless dickhead to court and it sticks. That's how SUP riders in the surf went the gutter crawlers to respectability and it will be repeated with these motorised shit-buckets if enough pensioners hand over the cash.
Never seen them but sound like the suck.
Little off topic but does anyone remember in the 90,s how much the surf mags hated jet skis? enemy number one and now there part of surfing even jet ski related adds in surf mags.
Geez Benski that did read like an add I was just trying to alert crew to the issue and was anticipating what the defenders of them would say. Hopefully PWC laws will apply although that has not stopped PWCs where I sometime surf had them trying to wash me off a wave after I pointed out the law and had one almost land on my head once. Hopefully we can nip these motorboards in the bud.
Interesting point indo about jet skis. Call me old school but I still hate them in all situations other than towing in guys at off-shore bombies. There are lots of stories up and down the coast of guys being towed into waves now when once it was a paddle. Not a positive chapter in the story called surfing in my book. But hey, as I said I'm old school.
In SA if i stick a motor even if its an electric on my fishing kayak i have to register it as a motorised vehicle and pay rego fees and sticker it up as a motor boat.
so i think in SA we will be safe from these.. if they do appear i would be very interested to see what Fisheries say about them...
Turns out motor boards in Vic are classified as a vessel under power so the user must have a licence, they must be registered and all boating laws apply...... so off to the outer bombies with you motor boarders
"Vessel registration
Any boat with an engine capable of being used for propulsion in Victorian waters must be registered and in a seaworthy condition. Registration must be renewed every 12 months.
This page provides information about how to register your boat, registration numbers, fees and vessels exempt from registration.
To register the boat you must:
make an appointment with VicRoads
provide identifying details of the boat and the owner
pay the fee.
A boat can be registered in the name of a person who is fourteen years old or more, or in the name of a corporation or incorporated body. Joint names or unincorporated bodies are not acceptable.
You will need to complete a Vessel Registration form, available from VicRoads, and supply the following details:
vessel type, make and model
construction material, length, breadth and colour
manufacture date
type and make of any engines or motors used for propulsion
serial number and total horsepower of any engines or motors
type of fuel required to operate the vessel
any registration number previously assigned to the vessel
number of hulls and Hull Identification Number, where fitted
hether an Australian Builders Plate has been affixed to the vessel.
Contact Vicroads for more information about applying for vessel registration.
VicRoads website
Phone: 13 11 71
Boat registration number
Once you have paid the registration fee you will receive a certificate and label with the boat registration number.
The boat registration number, or identification mark, must be displayed in appropriate characters on each side of the hull forward of the beam. The highest part of the digits must start no more than 75mm (25mm for personal watercraft) below the gunwale.
‘Appropriate characters’ are letters and numbers no less than 150mm high (100mm for personal watercraft), in proportionate breadth, and coloured in contrast to the surface on which they are displayed.
Fees
Your fee will depend on the length of the boat. There are two categories:
boats 4 metres in length or less
boats over 4 metres in length.
did i tip you off into some research Legless??? ;) wonder how many users actually realise they need a boat license to go surfing now!
Never mind the suckers stupid enough to buy one lets focus of the shonky operators selling these shitbuckets. I would have thought there would be a legal responsibility on the seller to highlight this shortfall i.e. you can't use them as intended amongst other surfers.
My guess is that they will argue that these boards are not "boats" and more like personal propulsion devices such as the Sea Bob(http://www.gizmag.com/go/7148/).What regulations apply to these things?
is a sit on top kayak a boat? its nothing but a big moulded plastic board... similar to a surf board/wave ski etc.
could get interesting.. but to me i think yes the law would imply that these are a boat..
Thanks Del went and saw the boating dudes at Park Vic if its got a motor or propulsion from a motorized source its a boat/vessel and needs a licence/registration and all boat rules apply so if you run someone over non licence/unregistered you could be in deep.
Which ones are we talking about exactly here?
The jet type boards?
Or the ones with a prop incorporated inside the fin tube like a modern ships prop with the electric motor, or by the sound of it this 'vessel' has a combustion engine...?
Ban the fucking things from the line-up I say no matter which type.
Jet skis are a no go within 100m of swimmers or surfers in Qld, so should any motorized craft.
The guy selling the boards with electric motor and props is from up my way on the Sunnycoast.
He's having them built in China and the engine and props installed up at Biggsy's at Cure Composites in Yandina, or was last time I spoke with the guy.
They have their place in flat water or in open beaches or as mentioned for the handicapped, but adding these things to our already overcrowded points may signal the final nail in the coffin that was surfing...
Is nothing sacred?
damo-b
saw 2 of these in the water on Sunday. I was a fair distance away watching the line up from the carpark of a well known Vic longboard spot. At first I thought the guys were going out in the rip until I realised they were 20+ meters from shore, not paddling and still going.They then proceeded to try and take every swell over 1 ft coming through. WTF is wrong with these people?
update on the legalities
"Thank you for your questions regarding the legalities around the use of boards using the Wavejet product.
To answer your questions;
1. Yes they are classified as a personal watercraft (PWC)
2. Yes they are required to be registered and display registration numbers.
3. Yes the operator is required to have a marine licence with a PWC endorsement and wear a personal flotation device (PFD)
4. Yes these craft are subject to laws governing the use of a PWC- speed and distance rules and safety gear carriage.
The Marine Safety Act 2010 definition of a personal watercraft (PWC) is:
Personal watercraft means any recreational vessel that is of a kind that is required by or under this Act to be registered and that-
(a) has an engine that is used for propulsion;
(b) has a fully enclosed hull; and
(c) does not retain water on it if it capsizes;
(d) is designed to be operated by a person standing, sitting astride or kneeling on the vessel but not seated within the vessel.
Please note that there are general exemptions that may be exercised in the future to deal with new types of vessels should they be able to demonstrate that risks to the safety of the vessel's passengers and others can be appropriately managed. However, I can confirm that no exemptions currently apply to this type of vessel. "
Regards
Maritime Safety Officer
Maritime Safety
Transport Safety Victoria
Just watched ABC1 and seen a quadriplegic riding waves at Namotu Fiji on one of these.
Good on him.
I don't find that a threat in the waves?
mmmmmmmm.........
Saw the same story .... heart warming. They will be great for the disabled in safe and controlled conditions.
But that is a different from able-bodied surfers using them amongst other surfers and that is how they are being (falsely) advertised.
Sure helped Garrett McNamara:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YN5470EDFYM
Good on him for having a crack though.
@rattle, I couldn't agree more with you, for the disabled in a controlled environment.
Not for surfers?
Well the first motorboards have appeared in the water locally and not as you would expect at an outer bombie or a sharky rivermouth or unsurfed reef break but one of the softest, easiest, closest to the shore waves in Australia.
Sure I have heard all the pros for them great for the handicapped, rescue board, surf exploration vehicle, but the rider of this craft was using it solely for a very positive wave count. The noise of the said vehicle is very off putting putt.....putt.....putt and for those surfers on the relaxing mellow end of the surfing scale of balance will find it annoying at the least.
Be interesting to see if they turn up in crowded conditions imagine the legal fest then. It begs the question are they legal ?
No doubt they will because when SUPs first came out everyone was going to ride them at an outer bombie or a sharky rivermouth or unsurfed reef break or glide endlessly down turquoise rivers but they have appeared in every line up including the afore mentioned softest, easiest, closest to the shore waves in Australia.
What are we going to call these things ?
It is not surfing. So is it Motor boarding, Stand up whipper snippering, Motor mals ?
I know you are saying at their price point it wont be a problem but think of how many $2000 logs or SUPs are in the car park.
People think nothing of putting down 4 grand for a carbon fibre italian special road bike that they use to ride to the cafe latte stand on Sundays. For slightly more than double you can completely dominate a line up.
There is even a motor SUP.