www.perthnow.com.au/news/nsw/water-a-war-zone-as-surfers-battle-for-space-in-overcrowded-surf-ng-24c7c07887225d42f40fbdc85ab65726

That's the one Ted.

Sunday saw some of the best waves for a while long rides from LM to the G the flags set up right in the middle as per standard.So do you flick off when the flags come into play which is the law or keep going,everyone keeps going just like any other day.The clubbies should move the flags to the southern corner out of harms way.

It was cold and pissing down on Sunday and only a couple of swimmers in the water.
The flag set up is a massive problem and has been for years.

Two sides to every story,the surfer involved was no kook and is often out there.The guy who got hit was pointing the finger and going off at the surfer who tried to see if he was ok but the victim was not too happy which is understandable it was very nasty.A guy told the surfer to move on because he could see trouble brewing from what another guy told me.
50 stitches is not good in anyone's book and I'm glad he was not more serious like eye sight loss or nerve damage

Did the mal rider have a leggie on? It would be even more dangerous if he didn't.
Also, can you imagine putting the flags up at The Pass? The clubbies put up their flags in front or close to the clubhouse, because thats where they always go.
Surely the quieter spot would make more sense.
Still, gotter feel for the poor bugger. How many times have you had close calls?

62mac said...
Leg rope was on,the clubhouse is about 300 meters from where they set up the flags,they should go back towards their clubhouse in the far south corner imo.

That would make more sense.

Be interesting to find out from a legal point if you run over someone in the flags and injure them whether your goose is cooked !! probably?
There was a guy in the states suing channel islands surfboards at one stage because of damage to himself from the fins although i never heard the end result of that
There has been a law of the surf (1&2) forum conducted at southern cross uni
if you have the hour or 2 to read them ....2nd one has a bit of surf history and some interesting viewpoints too!
it appears that no-one has as yet successfully sued another surfer for damages


1
docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:Efc8_v5gVuEJ:eprints.qut.edu.au/9114/01/9114.pdf+swimmers+legal+rights+between+flags&hl=en&gl=au&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESjRAv0uqVKSO20mg3FZ31H_pO86bPc0xF4s5i6AJTUsfOMYLlwt7Ywr80kZcHm0WnB-UrCsl_TsMcHfTELJ1VIo03B5tuCFbbi9rLSa85lKs9fV_FrP64Q_bMl3JBLIfuTPPJw_&sig=AHIEtbSINlfhjfcw9MfJh_vZOPG-BeceTQ

2
docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:bLQwXEVu_sQJ:www.scu.edu.au/schools/law/download.php?doc_id%3D676%26site_id%3D63+law+of+the+surf&hl=en&gl=au&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEEShCWQPdceJnfFjVEF4RTm69wlYU8rs4xrsJbJCP6SqGccIn4C8CR4KxLX48PAuhmMnUavqy058wQZ9eHzU6_78_qD6sGIttbGZWVSfnQp6Rlq5QUquV8v1jShn0Vgnbk-7YBxQp&sig=AHIEtbRKs_VFDf0TpWs3W-twGL3CWjXz9w

Hey fellas, well I was quite angered when I read this article as I was standing no more than 3-5m from the incident and I can tell you it is full of bs- which has prompted me to finally make the step from lurking on here to register…

If you are familiar with Rainbow Bay, if you can picture where the first big rock that sticks out of the water at the back when looking from the flags towards the clubhouse is- a few metres to the left of that rock is where it happened. Nowhere near the flags- they are at least 30-40m away.

The waves were breaking very close to the rock, around 1.5-2m out, so most surfers were pulling out before they got to it, and a few of the more experienced/ballsy ones were squeezing through. As it was a bit crowded that day with a few collisions, 4-5 people on the same wave at times, some young kids catching every wave that came through and with me being quite new to the sport, I had found myself in that particular spot catching the waves whenever someone jumped off before the rock, and riding them down to just before the flags where the wave would fizzle out. There was another girl doing the same thing nearby, the surf school with about 5 learners 10m behind me (towards the beach), and this fellow who got run over, who was dragging his young kid around on a surfboard and pushing him onto waves (obviously not something done between the flags). He was standing a few meters to the left of the rock and had been there at the very least 15 minutes.

So he had just successfully pushed the kid onto a wave and was sitting there watching him with his back to the ocean with only his head bobbing out of the water. I had noticed this because this is the first time he almost got run over… a wave came along with a girl in her teens on a short board who made it past the rock and spotted him in the nick of time and managed to do a sharp turn and bail out over the top of the wave. The man was still focused on the kid and seemed all the unaware.

He did not move, and the next wave came along, with the longboard rider cruising across the face of the wave. He also just made it past the rock and at that point saw the dude's head in the middle of the road. He didn't seem like an inexperienced surfer to me at all. At this stage the wave was steep, around shoulder high to the surfer and he had nowhere to go, so in a panic he maneuvered to try and avoid him and jumped off the back of the wave as it crashed down.

The two emerged from the whitewash, they were about a board + legrope length away from each other (yes, he had a legrope, and from what I could tell he was riding an all-white 9' approx McTavish), with the guy who got run over closer to shore. It was a nasty site, I thought he had his ear taken off because there was skin hanging off the side of his face. The guy who got run over wasted no time to abuse the surfer, to the tune of “you f-ing dickhead, you cut my nerve, I can't feel the left side of my face” and a few more expletives thrown in. The surfer was more in shock than this guy and trying to apologise but he wouldn't have a bar of it and kept on abusing his until he swam off, bloodied, to fetch his kid, who ironically had finished his ride smack bang between the flags some 30-40 meters away. He was remarkably calm through the whole ordeal.

He grabbed the kid and headed into shore. As this was happening, the surf instructor was calling out to the lifeguards, and the surfer who hit him went straight into shore to the lifeguards.

I then saw (from the water) the surfer walk away from the lifeguard station once the 'victim' was being tended to. After the abuse and aggression he was copping from the guy, I think anyone would have walked away by that stage.

So anyway that's the truth to what actually happened.

Agreed, though I can understand how he'd want to keep an eye on his young kid and do feel for him for the injuries however it wasn't right to go to the paper and blatantly lie- this poor surfer probably already feels like $hit and now he's being publicly shamed and accused of something he didn't do

look i've seen this type of scene before. people swimming in surfboard zone thinking they are cool to be where the surfers are. i know this guy was pushing his kid into waves but it the same situation


they just don't realise how much danger they put them selves in.

all of a sudden a head pops up metres away from your surfing line. a few years ago i was out at 6ft or so kirra just getting in a barrel so your not going to see much when this guys head appeared with a dumb look on his face- man i **** myself. god knows what would have happen if i had hit him. i'm thinking wtf are you doing here and if you knew what you were doing you wouldn't be right here. i managed to straighten out and go lip bounced on the tail of my board then a darn good flogging

i've also see people wallowing around in the impact zone with a board facing lenght ways with them facing the shore- geez.


as for this guy i'm glad he's ok but i've seen this type of situation were dads take there kids out into the main break and paying attention to nothing else but their kid.


even pushing kids onto waves people are going down the line on already.

that's just being reckless and endangering their children. you would also be the biggest bastard in the world if you were that surfer going down the line and hit the kid.


i was there to surf on that day but it was too crowded for a 666 little lone a 12'6 so i canned it.

there were lots of kids and dads in the water, lots of multi wave take off and a bloody lot of people in the way for guys surfing.

i'm astounded that more accident don't happen.

hate to see it but i reckon there will be fatality at snapper/ rainbow/ dbar one day

Well done Dave. Thanks for the facts.
Should send that to the local paper.

all good and great to teach your kids to surf. but the fathers at this joint are ****ing arrogant. they believe that because they have lived there one day longer than the next fella. that they are the local[}:)] and again i will say what sort off dumb arse
teaches their groms and such a packed place?

laceys lane said...
.....
i'm astounded that more accident don't happen.

......

Me too

Long term solution, wave pools for noobs and occasional surfers, and premium natural spots for super cool heros like us


Well OK, I will be in the wave pool

there was a comp there today so i surfed elsewhere