Jet skis ruining Straddie
The situation has gotten ridiculous - guys are driving through the crowd to do step offs and even the crews who think they're being respectful are still operating within 50m of paddlers.
This prevents the paddling crowd from spreading out up the beach, ruins waves due to the wake, not to mention the very real danger of someone being killed or seriously injured by a ski.
These skis are surfing the wave wrong - the best part of surfing straddie is paddling into a late drop, straight into the barrel. You can't do that doing a step-off. They are showing zero respect to paddlers, polluting the line-up and stealing waves.
If you really need to launch a ski with all your mates (which takes a lot longer than parking and paddling straight over) to surf straddie, park it on the beach or out the back and paddle with the rest of us. Or fuck off at least 200m from the nearest paddler.
Does anyone have any suggestions about how to police these idiots?
totally agree Kevin. they are a bunch or morons.
Contact Marine Safety Queensland, ask for Anthony Alback, and if you get put through explain what's been happening in a calm and reasoned way.
If you get his email then write a thorough description of what's been happening, again in a calm and reasoned way.
I've dealt with Anthony many times and he's a good guy, though constrained by limited resources and a large jurisdiction. Whatever can be done to help him will, ultimately, also help you and the other paddlers at Straddie.
Thanks Stu, will get in contact with him...
Try and sell it like speeding fines, skis doing the wrong thing could be the biggest revenue raiser.
When good men fail to act…
If all else fails you could look at getting ABF Marine Unit uniforms and badges made up in somewhere like Thailand and have them sent over.
Round up a few of your mates and equip with some fake IDs, pepperspray and a 26 inch telescopic police baton.
Find out where they are launching from and commence to seize the personal watercraft employed in behavior inconsistent with established regulations.
Should your plan fail and you get caught; at least the stage will be set for you to voice publicly, and to a current affair media your frustrations regarding their obscene behaviour, either way we see victory as yours,
Kev, self-regulation is the only way.
We've found that if you're in a group with at least 3 blokes, yelling profanities at the top of your lungs usually moves them along...unless they are a special kind of knob...which is unfortunately all too common amongst surfers.
Over the last few years the lineup at South Straddie has been overrun by jet ski crew doing step-offs near paddlers.