From Cottesloe Council Minutes for meeting held 23 August 2004

12.1.2 COUNCIL RESOLUTION
That Council, in accordance with provisions of the Beach Policy and Beach Reserves Local Law, approve the application made by WAKSA, subject to the following conditions:

(1) All shore based activities conducted by WAKSA and/or its members
be restricted to beach areas between Rosendo Street and the Town’s
southern boundary;

(2) WAKSA to be incorporated under the Association’s Incorporations
Act, to maintain this status and to provide Council with evidence of
its incorporation;

(3) WAKSA to compile a risk management plan and provide Council with
a copy;

(4) Public liability insurance cover of at least $10,000,000 be maintained at all times by WAKSA;

(5) WAKSA members to display identification that Council staff can
readily identify at a distance; and

(6) Appropriate signage to be installed.

Carried 9 to 0

quote:

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Originally posted by Andris



(5) WAKSA members to display identification that Council staff can
readily identify at a distance; and

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how are you going to achieve this, I am a member and have no probs with this however I,m just asking the question ?

pain is temporary, glory is for ever !

ok, good job ( although I haven't followed much ) , but got one question:
Does this mean that it is now a beach for WAKSA kitesurfers only?

i dont kite at cott at the moment so this doesnt really affect me that much but playing the devils advocate.[}:)]
This may already have been brought up on another thread but still

Anyway, was thinking that now cottesloe is only kitable by waksa members i wonder how equitable this is. I get the insurance and liability bizzo, but at the end of the day public open space is exactly that an area for the public to do whatever they want to do in within the realms of legalslation.

Now the introduction of local by-laws that discriminate against a group who are not affiliated to a "commercial organisation" (WAKSA) to my mind doesn't seem quite right. It would be like saying that people who are not members of cottelsoe surf life saving club are not allowed to surf at cottelsoe.

Whilst i respect what WAKSA does this latest predicament just doesnt seem to sit right with me as its not equitable, and if you want to kite at a certian place then you have to be a member of a particular organisation.

Does this make sense????

HI Leski

Please make your concerns more clear and we can try answer

Why do you see it as bizarre - its a simple response to council requests for an easy method to identify those who have insurance (something we should all have - period)this is where the councils main concerns lie - Public liability

I am unsure what you mean by weird vibes and business??

QUOTE I could foresee a good business coming up for Waksa, if all the councils follow up...
I know the Waksa guys are doing a good job on the ground,
but I start to feel some weird vibes about the business.

No beaches are private in Australia (I think) its all common property

ok sorry if my point is unclear,
but I guess it is because the title "Kiting allowed at Cott for Waksa members " for me is unclear

First, as I mentionned earlier I haven't followed all the recent threads about kiting at Cott, so I might not be aware of the full story, might have to do a search on the forum.
I simply don't understand why a Personal Public liability ( from any insurrance ) wouldn't be sufficient. I was myself WAKSA member last year and still thinking of taking the membership for this year. As far as I understand being a WAKSA member provide you an insurrance etc...but this doesn't say whether you are a "safe kiter" or a "nutter" . So then maybe you could explain, why Cottesloe Council is only happy to allow WAKSA members and not others kiters? What happen to a tourist Kiter visiting australia?
When I am saying weird/bizarre it is just that for me it sounded as if suddenly Cott council decide that only RAC insurrance members could drive their car in Cottesloe!

Anyway,
If the idea is that anyone could kite there providing they've got a Public liability ( from any insurance company), and the Waksa coloured tag is just a simple & easy way to check that you've got a Waksa insurance and you don't need to get out of the water to show you paper stuff to the rangers. Then that makes sense to me and you could ignore everything I said and all the questions.
But if it is the case, then make the title clearer, as from what I gather I am not the only one confused.
thanks

dont get me wrong i am not knocking WAKSA at all i agree totally with what they have achieved.

However as i said before it is not equitable or fair that in order to kite in a particular spot you have to be a WAKSA member.

And as others have said just because you are a member of WAKSA does not mean that you are of a good enough standard to kite at Cott.

what the hell are u going on about
Just go kiting have fun and get a life.

good job by the WAKSA boyz and locals for working this out, they have done a stirling job

however I dont kite there

I'll stick to my search

pain is temporary, glory is for ever !

SORRY BUT I AM ON POOR RELATIVES SIDE.

SOON WILL WE NEED TO BECOME A WAKSA MEMBER TO KITE ANYWHERE???

SOUNDS LIKE A GREAT WAY TO INCREASE THOSE NUMBERS.....

AFTER ALL THE BICKERING, IT STILL COMES DOWN TO THE FACT THAT IT IS A FREE UNOWNED BEACH, THAT EVERYONE SHOULD BE ABLE TO USE. BUT UNFORTUNATELY OUR SOCIETY JUST DOESNT ALLOW THE FREEDOM WE USED TO HAVE.

GUESS IT KEEPS THOSE COTT BOYS HAPPY IN THAT THEY DONT HAVE TO DRIVE TO GET A KITE IN.

quote:

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SOON WILL WE NEED TO BECOME A WAKSA MEMBER TO KITE ANYWHERE???

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No, but you will need public indemnity insurance.

Have been a member of AKSA. Does this cover me to kite at Cottesloe? If not, how do I join WAKSA? The WAKSA website does not really seem to help. If I am a member of AKSA and can kite there, where do I get the ear tag?

AKSA members who live in WA are already members of WAKSA by default, membership to your state organisation is included in the yearly fee, you probably just didn't realise it.

The ID tags will be sent out when you renew your membership this month, if you haven't heard from AKSA or WAKSA let me know and I'll send you a form.

Gav

quote:

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Originally posted by jm

Have been a member of AKSA. Does this cover me to kite at Cottesloe? If not, how do I join WAKSA? The WAKSA website does not really seem to help. If I am a member of AKSA and can kite there, where do I get the ear tag?

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The AKSA is a non profit organization isn't it, not commercial as was said earlier in the thread?

There must be other beaches in Australia that are only available to AKSA members? The Gold coast (curumbin) gets a lot more crowded with swimmers than anything I have seen over here and I heard parts of melbourne get crowded too. How does it work for them? Do they use streamers and what do they do in summer when all the tourists come to kite?

tempting

It seems to me all the cott council are worried about is that a kiter goes to cott does something dull and hurts,maims or kills an unsuspecting person on the beach and they are lumbered with the pending law suit.

Now what i would say is that just because you have WAKSA insurance, does not de-indemnify cott council. I would suggest that a lawsuit could entail that cott council permitted kiting in Cott and as such they are liable for any untoward events for the only reason that they are allowing kiting in cott. Maybe this point shoots evreyone in the foot.
I would also say that the fact that Cott council have met with WAKSA and have drafted resolution that Cott council recognises that kiting is potentially dangerous to the public again opening themselves to lawsuits.
Surely if cott council erected such signs to warn the public of the dangers of venturing in the designated kiting area that would in part take the responsibility for compensation away from cott council. Just like the signs on the groyne that say no diving.

Another point i would like to make is that just because you have WAKSA membership does not mean that you are not irrisponsible, and/or not of a standard to kite at cott.

I think it was suggested before that locals would police the nutters, how would that work. In the realm of legalities surely thats a mine field.

Also how would it be policed. I know if i was a tourist coming to WA for a kiting holiday, saw cott looking good and went in only to have my gear confiscated at the end of a session i would be less than pleased.

Whatever the arguments are, i think it is really sad that you are only allowed to kite at this beach if you are affilliated to a particular organisation, regardless if you have indemnity insurance through another organisation. It stinks in fact and not only that it sets a precedent for all the other local councils.