That's disturbing news. Not aware of any incidents that have caused a change in the rules down there. It is an area that many water birds use for nesting/feeding so that may be a factor; but the birds usually move when people are setting up; and people and dogs range freely there too. I also wonder how they'll enforce this in a practical sense - people launch and land at all times of the day and night and the sandspit is actually kilometers long (happy memories and running along the full extent on that magic big Easterly day - surely the council won't have a ranger stationed there all the time?

Picture of sign.. The " permit only " area is actually not directly in front of car park but next to it which is
behind the sand spit .? The graphics of the sign are not accurate in the actual position of the ever expanding sand
spit. Google earth the sand spit and look at its history over the last 6 or so years , it is moving along at a great rate.
In 10 years it will probably be at the pier.

I believe that the water high tide line to 200m out is under the jurisdiction of Parks Vic not council. Maybe someone should enlighten them.

Spoke with Council and they had no idea about the sign. Still waiting on a call back from the recreation department re: permit zone. Found below document from 2013 which seems to indicate?? The permit zone is the preferred area for commercial lessons/schools and does not restrict other users. There are also seperate signs and flagged areas, along the foreshore the length of apex park/grant reserve asking dog owners to leash dogs due to nesting birds. The area is hard for councill to manage as there is local council, melbourne water, the salt works/wetlands and bay authorities to deal with.... but a bit more info and clear signage would help.

www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.hobsonsbay.vic.gov.au/files/9fdc9522-7394-415a-914c-a4cd009eceb4/OCM_8_October_2013_Appendix_2_-_Commercial_Recreation_Activity_on_Foreshore_Land_Policy.pdf%3FstreamFile%3Dtrue&ved=0ahUKEwjq7aGxzrDNAhVGkJQKHRZJBw0QFgg1MAk&usg=AFQjCNGPW0X4xg7GN8-7HZj8lqRB9pqwmA&sig2=mjuCfLfKOloE-EqQTZ3_HA

They are now adding further restrictions to the kiting area at Altona beach. Now there is a sign about 20 m or so from the west end of the main beach and also at the end of the apex car park, with kiting indicated to stay between them.

Now I generally ok with rules if they make things safer but these rules are problematic for a number of reasons:
1. There is now no genuine area safe for beginners; only a narrow beach on the west end, or alternatively one is trying not to tangle with bushes at the east end. In addition if you cant go upwind you are going to drift into the non-kiting section quite easily. The way I see it this setup is only going to congest the kiting area with people learning to kite and bring them closer to hazards if things go wrong... trees, bushes, powers lines, fences etc.
2. In a Southwest wind which occurs probably 90% of the time it will actually he almost impossible to get off the beach in the east end of the area without going outside of the restricted area.
3. The widest part of an already very narrow beach at the west end near apex park is also outside of the area, making self launches and landings more dangerous.
4. When the wind is blowing very few people are actually using the beach except kiters, which begs the question why such narrow restrictions are required in the first place?
5. The sand bar was a perfect place for learners and safe launching and on all the years I've kited there Ive never seen any birds being disturbed by kiting.
6. What is the reason for not beimg allowed to kite west of the apex park sandbar when there is kilometers of water that no one ever uses?

All this tells me that whoever came up with these rules has absolutely no idea about kitsurfing and came up with something that looks nice on a map.

The other question I have is does kiteboarding Victoria know about this and have they had any dialog with the authorities to achieve a satisfactory outcome? I would like to think this is absolutely the issue when we as kiters need proper representation to stop such ridiculous rules that make things worse AND more dangerous for the sport.

I have to admit now that I have read the attached file links tje zones makes a lot more sense. Pardon ky ignorance. It's still a bit of a shame that the apex park sandbar is no longer available for launch and landing as it was a lot safer for beginners and it kept them away from other beach goers.

I'd post pictures of the signs bit I can't work out how to do it on this website using my phone. But basically it is a kitesurfer symbol with an arrow pointing in a particular direction east or west.

Does this mean the restrictions only apply to water traffic and not launching and landing areas on the beach (except the apex sandbar which is specifically mentioned in the parks vic sign)?

Also I notice in the parks vic documents it mentions kiters are supposed to be wearing a class 1, 2 or 3 pfd. Is this correct? I notoceost people don't...

With regards to launching and landing, as far as I'm aware you'll be able to launch and land where ever you are not explicitly prohibited. Just use common sense, although that seems to be lacking with some members of the kiting community these days.

If there are incidents, then it is possible for the local councils to place further restrictions on kiting. If you look at Adelaide, for an example, many spots actually require you to display your state or national kiting membership tag on your harness to kite there. Which isn't necessarily a bad idea.