It is wonderful to find an idyllic and tranquil spot, with just the right amount of waves &/or wind, where everyone is enjoying the peace and quiet respecting each other, finally after rigging up and to be out in the water.
I enjoy my surfing/windsurfing trips up north, but there is just one thing that is becoming more prevalent which I find very distressing.
Jetski's.
Why oh why do they have to populate the National Parks, the "no powered vessels" and 4K speed limit areas, areas populated by families with young kids swimming, paddle-surfers and learn-to-surfers, marine park reserves, and built up areas??? I know there are certain rules but they defy all of them.
The frustration when along comes a hooning jetski rider to upset this tranquil picture, and to harass me in the water by riding in circles around me creating a mess of waves.
I try not to get angry, just jump in the water and not react and wait for them to get bored with their little game and go away. But the moment I get back up on my board, they are back again for another round.
And when it is a long weekend in a remote area where there is no mobile phone coverage, and they don't have their rego displayed, what is one to do?
Where do these people get off? Did they have deprived parenting during their emotional maturation, which stalled somewhere around age two? Do they feel threatened by a woman who has developed greater proficiency, skills and brainpower than them?? Do they feel deficient because of their small appendages???
It shocked me that they are actually permitted in the marine reserves (Arrawarra). I don't understand how they have the gaul to ride through water populated by swimmers in 4K limit zones when the flags are out (Trial Bay/SW Rocks) and National Parks (Seal Rocks, Diamond Head) and surfing reserves (Lennox.)
On the other hand, I really like Byron Bay. There is great Karma about the place, even the sharks have a laid back attitude eg a kiter came up to me in the water to check out if I was ok when I was taking a break from stinging eyes when out the back on my windsurfer. And I helped tow a German surfer's car out of a tricky sandbog. How cool is that?
Why can't all be a bit nicer to each other and have a bit of common sense?

Jetskiers do not deserve your anger, they deserve your pity.

You teach me well, oh wise master

NotWal said...


These are pretty effective.

You'd want to make sure the safety lock is on as you are sailing out, cos I think it could make a bit of a mess if you accidentally shot yourself in the foot. If I remember rightly, the way to stop water getting into the barrel and causing a jam is to put a franger over the end? Where can I get some big enough?

K Dog said...
what to do? can't cure it....

We have things in place for safe workplaces under occupational health and safety, so why shouldn't there be similar for playtime? Having a jetski buzz around you for 20 minutes at close quarters can be quite deafening.

From Worksafe practices:
"The loudness of noise is measured in decibels. Sensitivity to noise differs from one individual to the next, but experts believe that damage to hearing occurs when noise levels are higher than 85 decibels, which is about the loudness of heavy traffic.

The risk of hearing loss increases as the noise becomes louder. Length of exposure is important too. For example, it is not recommended to listen to noises of 109 decibels for any longer than two minutes at a time."

Could this be a bone-fide case for a damages claim? Maybe we could create some case law matter with this issue? I would think if they had deep enough pockets for that sort of equipment, they would for a legal assault also.

Mobydisc said...



What you need to realise is jetskiing becomes quite boring after the first half hour of riding one.

Sadly, this is only true for people of at least average intelligence.

K Dog said...

camera idea is the way to go! dudes doing burn outs have been busted over youtube.... second that idea!

Can't really cure those kind of people with laws... the have no regard for nature, serenity, the law, others and you.....

best to do the undercover camera sting operation lol....

Yep.You could try pointing a camera at them but then they might get nasty..I hate it when you travel hours to get to a so called national park and then have to listen to that type of stuff..Its pretty hard to get somewhere peaceful these days & then it only take one @##@ on a ski etc to wreck the peace for kms.[}:)].

Mobydisc said...

Where exactly did these incidents occur?

One of the incidents happened at Trial Bay and South West Rocks about 3 weeks ago. There were three (separate) jetskis. One was zooming along the shore between SWR and Trial Bay repeatedly, from where the kiddies at TB were paddling and back along halfway to the Rocks, the other was setup next to the SWR surf patrol blue flag area and kept going out and back between the surfers, and the other one was the one harassing me in the same area. The lone surfboard rider who was sharing the waves with me packed up and went home after only a couple of minutes in the water. There were a lot of people swimming outside the flags where the jetski was speeding and doing "wheelies." I thought it very odd that they were so close to (and sometimes inside) the blue flags.
I didn't have a problem with another who was packing up to go from the boat launch area of Arrawarra Headland, but I was shocked to find that they are permitted in a Marine Park, and would have left myself if they were staying around.
I broke a mast at Tuncurry when I got caught in a savage dumping crash zone with my longboard windsurfer (I normally steer clear of the break zone) trying to avoid a jetskier who was wavejumping amongst a group of swimmers and surfers and over the top of some dolphins who were surfing also. I had to leave half my gear on the beach and paddle back to Forster to collect the car and rest of the gear back in Tuncurry.
Also at Crowdy Head southside, about a month ago, a jetski was wavejumping out on the bommie, making it quite dangerous for me to windsurf, at such incredibly close quarters, where, as usual, I jumped in the water and floated around waiting for them to leave, but risked having my sail torn to shreds in the process.
Then there is the obligatory jetski who passes in close proximity leaving a nasty wake in their trail, but that I can live with. However, everytime I am in a National Park or Marine Park (as in the last week in Diamond Head or Lennox Head) there are the noisy machines, which I guess is breaking no law, but is just not in keeping with the intent of these places.
I have thought about the camera thing, but in the "name and shame" department. they may look to payback,and see me as an easy target.

you could always let there tyres down on the trailers maybe with a sharp pointy object & keep repeating until they get the message

noise pollution....

lets face it, the best thing Jetski's are for is:
-tow in surfing on serious waves
-Towing wakeboards over ramps etc
or rescuing people in the surf.

I hate to see such a purpose built machine used for pussying around in flat water. boring.

over population.... get used to it

The problem is obviously widespread, may be worthwhile raising it as an issue at your local council meeting.

I'm pleased to say that in my local spot the council and police have cracked down on the renegades. Recnently we've had regular police patrols on the beach spotting offenders and calling in water water police to take care of the recalcitrants.

Some of those machines are rented.

In one occasion, I took down details of the machine and called the operator to rat out on the idiot that was ramming his jetski into the shallows.

sboardcrazy said...

I heard a story where there were 2 jetskiers out with the ute & trailer on the beach.The first guy decided to run his ski up onto the beach & his mate thougt he'd have a go & went straight up & crashed into the back of the ute.. says a lot for the IQ..

Whilst we are sharing the love.......

Last summer some young adults (read early 20s) took what I assume to be mum/dads car (from memory late model LR Discovery) onto my local sailing/surfing beach to launch their jet ski straight into the surf. Car was backed into the surf - looked a little bit deep for my liking with the water lapping mid way up the back wheels. I am assuming at this point it must have definately been mum/dads car - either that or money is no object, or more likely, as you will read on, common sense and experience lacking.

The surf was not large that day, but still there was surf. Driver jumps out of car with mates in tow to get the jet ski off the trailer. Locals stop and watch from a distance as we dont normally see launches like this on the beach, well especially this beach.

Opps, set waves come, neither driver or hangers on notice as they are tending to said jetski......waves wash around the car, none are quick enough to close the drivers door to stop the flood, let alone jump in and drive out. Water washed through front of the car, not deep, but enough to get real sloshy. Panic sets in!!!!! Sand is immediately washed away from back wheels which are now in deeper water. Front wheels are sitting in slushy sand.....BOGGED! For 1/2 an hour locals tried to help dig and push this guy out with a rising tide. 30 mins is not much, but when a beach has a steep incline, and as witnessed, it can get pretty wet inside of an expensive car with waves slopping halfway up the passenger doors. Anyway, someone with a 4wd worked pretty hard to successfully tow this guy out.

He made the paper, not that mum or dad had to read the paper to see that their legend son had drowned their car in salt water. Felt sorry for the guy despite his poor taste in selected moronic marine pass times.

upwind said...

I am sure there are some genuine people who own jetskisKITES, but in my experience, most of them are into attention getting behaviour, they have to be in close so that spectators can see what heroes they are (not) I have a theory that the same ones are absolutely the same on the roads,what is needed is for their vehicles to be impounded when they come flying in around swimmers etc at 40 -50 K's, unfortunately the cops never seem to be around when they do this stuff.

ha! theres kiters saying exactly these sorts of things about their OWN kind at St Kilda!