having our first tow surfers meeting in OZ

General Discussion
21

Taking sides is a lot less progressive than effecting sensisible management, but doing that is a mighty touchy process. Being proactive is damn important cause the environment is really all we have anyway. Ask Peter Mel, he’s a pretty sensible fellow, but being a tow-in surfer is like having some kind of tatoo that marks you as a target for activists. Believe that (real) tow in surfers know more about and care more about how they affect the evironment than most people can imagine. Here in California the Tow-In surfer sit on there personal water craft and try to dodge the constant strafing runs made by the ten thousand special interest groups and so called environmentalists. Don’t get me started on what has happened to the natural environment below the surface of the water here in Monterey Bay. With this said, I’d only like to add that having PWCs running all over the place willy-nilly would be crazy and because we have lots of lunatics out there we have to put limits on how, where and when they can be used. There will be arguments but without them we can’t have progress.

Good Luck Cheyne. I know you have the best interests of all at heart.

Mahalo, Rich

22

I find this issue is over complicated quite a bit…

yes, jetskis are not environmentally friendly but neither are surfboard or anything else we do for that matter.

i don’t support tow surfing, nor do i plan to ever tow surf…i do like surfing big waves though

if you want to surf tow cortez bank, fine. Mavericks when its breaking outside the main bowl and virtually not-paddleable, fine. Ghost trees, fine. Shipsterns, when there isn’t anyone paddling, fine.

If anyone is surfing, without tow assistance…tow surfers shouldn’t be allowed to do their thing…to me its that simple, sorry if they loose out on the costs they put into the session

use jet skis to get accesibility to waves that paddle surfers cannot get to.

Does anyone remember that terrible video posted a while back from ireland i though where a group of tow surfers where slinging right through the paddle pack, causing the waves to break prematurely and dump on the paddle in surfers, not cool, those guys shoulda been thrown in jail…

Halcyon, as a santa cruzer, i respect pete mel and his father is a great shaper and a super nice guy. He seems like a cool dude and he has mellowed out a lot on the tow thing, but its what got him where he is today, and there were some major indescretions early on…

23

Surfers are all generally environmentally friendly…until it comes to stoppijg them from surfing…then we break all the rules of the environment…namely what our boards are made from…why this isnt already fixed …i dont have the solution I wish I did…I keep my boards for 10-20 years thats the best i can do…The meeting went well today…surfers in agreement…we all have broken the rules…we dont want to do it any more…we are paddle surfers…and we know not to surf when there are paddlers in the water…tow surfing is about finding remote spots…so we set down some rules everyone agreed …basically same as hawaii…and doing it in small surf is frowned upon…

Rich…your a champ…if you were goin for president…Id make sure the whole of surfing supported you…it is a touchie subject and lots of people who don’t tow surf have there right argument…and they are right…and we are wrong for spreading oil in the ocean…but we are no worse then people driving cars and killing everyone slowly and our next generations…look at the color of the air …some places its brown…people in glass houses…

I hope to see a solar generation with hemp oil…biodegaradable…imagine… houses ,buildings ,skyscapers that grow food with lights and watered by computer all powered by solar, with housing for everyone, and food a plenty, all from the sun with no-one having to work just do want you want…Cars run by solar…surfboards made from hemp…Im not alone…this is the solution to all world problems …give people food and shelter…they have what they need… i just may die before it happens…but energy follows thought and I know we can do it by solar not nuclear…for our kids…survival to to the next millinum is in our hands…aloha

24

I had a dream last night .

A couple of guys were on a jetski , one driving , one on the back [I guess how the authorities would have it?]

They were towing a guy into a massive empty wave . There was no-one else around.

Suddenly , the guy on the back of the ski fell off, bounced down the face , straight into the path of the oncoming “towee” . They both went over the falls . The driver , looking around , was sucked up and over with the lip, still holding onto the jetski.

I woke up with a start .

…it seemed to me , thinking about that worst-case scenario, that three people had died …

scary dream

I hope it never comes true.

Q:

does the extra weight of another person on the back of the ski slow the ski down sufficiently for a big wave to mow them down , Cheyne ?

cheers

ben

p.s. - so, the meeting …what was the decision made ?

25

hey cheyne,

i think its cool what you do mate

there more pressing environmental issues than the odd 4 stroke jet ski

poo pipes for one.

no. its just the noize and disturbance that bugs me

and the fact that i cant get away from idiot revheads

even when im out in the ocean

i feel the same way about ski boats

its never been a tow surfer that has annoyed me in the water

cuz im never out in those sort of conditions

its usually some dickhead weekend warrior

which im sure youve experienced countless times yourself

26

I hope you weren’t trying to be funny again Ben…

27

4th of July here last week 1,500,000 people descended upon the LA county beaches’

the next morning the tractors combed rubbish from the sand and smoothed over the footprints……the past 6 days… plastic bags, styro cup baby dummies, burnt out sky rockets, junkies picks and even condoms have been floating about the linup in volumes not seen the previous week.

Man its all to much I need some solitude… I’m going fishing in mex,

Now where is my check list……

Gotta drive to San Deigo to catch the boat, SUV need a service.

14 liters of oil in da sump, better do the dif… 6 liters,

power steering top off… brake fliud… transmission…… another 2 liters

60 liters of gas in the tank to get me there 60 to get me back

change of clothes, me made in china rods and reels… plastic lures…… $1000 to cover the boat and bar tab… the skipper got the fuel covered….now I wonder how much that would be?..

2 x 600hp GM turbo diesels… 20 liters / hour each…. over 3 days…

2800 liters……… if the weather in good…… mmmm thirsty beast.

Might throw my board in an surf trestles on the way back…while its still there.

6’6” 3 year old PU…… feel a bit guilty about that….2 liters of reacted TDI / polol mix 1.5 liters of resin, ….geeezs that’s 1.166 liters of chemicals per year of surf time I’m responsible for… …but hey I’m going to mex… they have a sustainable eco friendly policy on catch nos…… 5 fish I think…… That makes me feel real warm and fuzzie

“TAKE ONLY PHOTOS LEAVE ONLY FOOTPRINTS”

Silverback, please don’t be offended at my attempt at sarcastic humor, it is not directed at you, nor it is directed at Cheyne…whadau do for relaxion Cheyne?.. (that was) As much as many of us try, It is just impossible to get away from leaving a larger footprint on the environment in which we live than we should.

I once read that the US consumes 60% of the worlds energy and with 300 million people makes up 5% of the worlds population. (sorry I cannot find the reference.) However even if that is close to being true the US with its vast technological resources could be doing a better job at leading this planet into a sustainable future.

With the development of China and other nations consumption increasing, this proportion will undoubtedly change….the scale of the problem will only get larger.

As individuals, we who live in democratic societies, can do something about the size of the footprint we leave to future generations…………collectively let our decision makers know how we feel………. vote

Check this story out http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5524918

a starting point for discussion with you local member of the house of representatives!

Cheyne, good luck. I support the development of a rational policy; appropriate training/ licensing of the operators and strict enforcement for non compliance while Tow Surfing… and please come back and let us know what transpires… chip has promised no more jokes, yeh right

swaylocks, according to the oxford dictionary: Cross between an Encyclopedia of surfing and Monty Python

28

Nik - I like your reply - you are of course right and your facts and figures stack up…but when you talk about an oil change on your car - do you dump it straight into the ocean…?..doubt even the least environmentally aware chav jetskier would do such a thing…

That’s what jetskiers do everytime they go out to enjoy their noisy dangerous and stinky pastime

Regarding your board - sure the stuff that makes it is unfriendly…but do you dump it straight into the ocean - nah you’d never consider it

Yes - whatever we do has some kind of effect somewhere…but jetskiing has a direct result on the habitat that we call waves…disrupting plankton growth and therefore curtailing the marine food chain amongst other negatives

I think as surfers we have a direct responsibility to care for the environment that gives us a focus for aour life

29

Hey Silverback,

im on your page,…we are writing the same story,… our plot just has different villains.

walk lightly… leave small footprints