Sailing on the river regularly and now also owning a reasonably large vessel (10m), my only advice would be DON'T ASSUME ANYTHING with power boaters. Forget right of way, power gives way to sail etc, yes most boaties do know this and generally apply some common sense, the ones that will hit you do not and more often don't know the rules or just ignore them or are just plainly demented - like the guy in the 18foot power boat that drove at 25knots straight through the kiters and beginners at Peli a few weeks back in the shallows at no more than a metre deep. Unbelievable he did not kill anyone or hit the sandbank.

I've driven my boat from the City back down river to Nedlands on a really windy day and funnily enough, went straight past Neil on the way and waved ! Driving back into the sun it is glarey and I must admit, it WAS harder to see than I expected which surprised me, even with polarised sunnies AND looking out for sailors knowing they were there. Also, at any speed over 15-20 knots, I noticed that the ability to react quickly on the boat was less. The boats covering a fair bit of ground at that pace.

So my take away is NEVER assume anything about what any boatie is going to do, can or can't see or has any knowledge of the rules or just pure common sense. Unfortunately that doesn't always mean accidents won't happen.

I was about to bear off on a portside speed run at Coodanup. There was a couple of blokes in a tinny heading straight into the wind. They were both looking straight ahead and I reckon there was plenty of wind noise and outboard noise so they had no idea I was heading for them. I slipped around behind them and I know they never noticed me at any stage.

Hope he has a speedy recovery. I don't think the speed limit needs to change in boating channels, I think we need to keep wind sports OUT of boating channels. There is plenty of water space without having to use boating channels.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery from Tasmania Neil.
With 45 years experience on the water in dinghy, big yacht, One Design Windsurfer, Wavesailing in addition to having, skippered boats in the Mediterranean and owned a trailer boat capable of over 50 Knots. I have seen some of the most
appalling lack of seamanship imaginable. Resulting with collisions, near misses and multiple loss of life.
The culprits predominantly are small powerboat, and PWC operators who either are unlicensed, forgotten navigational rules, just plainly unintelligent and most disturbingly deliberately ignore the rules taking the view "Might Has Right"
Not knowing the circumstances of Neil's incident I can't comment directly. However I believe no amount of regulation will cure low intelligence, stupidity or incompetence. Addopting the assumption that motor boats may not give way particularly tinnies, runabouts, PWC's and Gin Pallaces, always anticipate the possibility of having to take evasive action to avoid a collision. I have had to do this in all of the craft I have used over the years having avoided collisions.
I hope my thoughts provide a little clarity.

lotofwind said.. Hope he has a speedy recovery. I don't think the speed limit needs to change in boating channels, I think we need to keep wind sports OUT of boating channels. There is plenty of water space without having to use boating channels.

Are you serious?You're the bloke who just posted in another thread that the rules are outdated and as nobody knows them in your little part of the world so we should just ignore them

That pretty much rules your views as completely invalid on anything to do with ROW I reckon.

FYI there is channel within a couple hundred meters or less, in all directions from Pelican Pt, so you simply have to cross it.

Nic, my very best wishes to your Dad and the whole family for his full recovery, Neil is a living legend of windsurfing - and thank god for 1st world medical care!
Is this whole water safety issue getting worse?? My Summer has included 2 nasty incidents on Melb Bay - a speed boat mowed me down, miraculously only gear damage, very decent guy just failed completely with Nautical Rule #1 = "keep a proper lookout" - plus 2 jetskis lined me up as target practice
BTW both times I was foiling, which can make it even harder/slower to take evasive action....
And both times out alone .... we are safer in a peloton ... ????

Its definitely Channel 7 on the News tonight.

Get well soon!!

Someone post a link when it's online, um please.

Neil is going to be out of action for sometime. I have no idea how to set up a go fund me page but am happy to contribute.

Hey everyone,

Thank you all so much for the support you have given Dad over the last few days. The Aus windsurfing community's response has been nothing short of amazing.

As you can see from the video above, he is in high spirits, but is still at high risk of infection (from the river entering his deep tissue).

He'll be spending the next 7-10 days in hospital to rest, recover, and fight away all the risks. He has loved the hoards of visitors streaming to his bed, but going forward will need space to rest.

If you would like to visit, please do so when he is out of hospital and recovering at home (you can message here and I will help arrange a time). It will help him when he is out of the danger zone and on the long road to recovery.

For now, my focus will be on dad's recovery, and pushing for higher awareness & education, as well as potential legislation changes for recreational vessel usage on the swan river.

Thanks,

Nic

Yep, Im with you EvlPanda, when I cross the boaties channels up the goldie I have a damn good look before crossing, and if boats near by(which there always is there) my eye is on them cause we all know that everyone dosent know or follow rules.
Like what the Collision Regulations above states,
you must keep a good look out and be ready to give way to other vessels if necessary.
But we are all guilty of being off in our own little world sometimes and not keeping a good look out, like in all these windsurfers getting hit by boats while crossing the boat lane say they didn't even see the boat, and the boaties looking straight ahead, same as the windsurfers obviously must have been and not looking sideways ready to give way if necessary.

And before Markie starts popping a vein in his head and starts yelling lol, Im not saying who is at fault, but saying we must be aware of what is around us and be ready to avoid collisions.

I have my serious side lol
I guess that's where common sense kicks in, wide channel look more that once, be aware of your surroundings . Late arvo and cant see to avoid a collision then avoid that last few hours at that spot. Is that what happened with these windsurfers that got hit, they couldn't see what was coming down the boating channel before they crossed it because of the sun? There hasn't really been any details other than they didn't even see the boat till they collided .

The thing with windsurfers is also the sail, they do have windows, but are often scratched, covered in salt and hard to see through. So there's a significant blind spot. It takes a conscious effort to check whats behind it.

windsufering said..
I think that in shipping channels commercial has right of way
where is pelican point
speedy recovery

I don't think that applies just to commercial vessels. I think a power vessel with restricted manoeuvring ie in a channel, has right of way over a sailing vessel crossing the channel.

Lotofwinds example of the broadwater channels on the GC would be an occasion where windsurfers crossing the channel would be obligated to give way to power