Had an awesome session in Brighton today but I am not sure if I was hallucinating because of the stoke or not. I have never seen jellyfish of that size, was too busy having fun but I would be interested to know what these are? Has anyone an idea?
Thanks!

I had a ** session at Brighton yesterday. Not enough skill, lots and lots of people, not much room to manoeuvre. I'm surprised I didn't get stung on the dong (my dong, not The Dong) to cap it off.

I was thinking the same, I swallowed a lot of water so thought I was just seeing clouds in the water- but they were ****in hooge!!

Kazan said...
Guys. Take it from me. All jellyfish have potential to sting. Take a bottle of vinegar with you to the beach. You never know what out there will rub past you.

Yep, good tip, you never know when you fancy fish and chips...

guys i really dont think they are an issue... at worst maybe u get off the beach with an itch..ive seen them a lot there and havent had or heard any issues but hey i could be wrong.. in fact im usually wrong
to be honest i think port phillip bay water is probably worse... but hey i could be wrong
understandable for the guys up north to worry cos the jellies up there can spread bigger than the kite and are loaded up with electric barb wire

Ouch,... that sucks for him. Nearly did that with my brand new kite weekend before last at St. K... Was so gusty and it dropped as I was passing the marker...

They would be Blue Blubber jellyfish, and yes they do sting, so best kited over rather than dunk in the water near them.

More info: www.greenlivingpedia.org/Blue_Blubber_jellyfish

djdojo said...
"The poor lad!" What a load of crap.

The lad encroached on a no boating zone and has surely done nothing for the reputation of kiters. (And if your skills and the conditions mean you can't guarantee that you and your kite can pass safely outside the exclusion markers and other obstacles every time, stay the hell away from them - they're there to keep you away in the first place!)

To the no doubt well intentioned rescuer who dodgily self-landed his rebel maybe 5m upwind of a toddler and mum (having just kited in through the same no boating zone!) - you came close to making an unfortunate situation a whole lot worse. Why not walk the few metres downwind of the people? There was no hurry so far as I could see. But why land on that section of the beach at all? Anywhere in front of or South of the SLSC is a no go zone for us.

North are the new Cabs, and I'm sick of clowns making kiters look like a bunch of endlessly entitled toss bags.

ill try not to take that personally mate as i fly a north at brighton and i always do my best to respect the sport and people around it....
let me know if im wrong but the guy with the rebel "blue rebel" has been kiting brighton longer than most... id say its safe to say he knew what he was doing... if u disagree then let him know your thoughts as that will be entertaining

Yellow markers are no boating zones. Kiters are classified as vessels so we aren't supposed/allowed to kite between the markers and the shore (if you hit a swimmer in such a zone any insurance would be void and you'd have the book well and truly thrown at you.). At Brighton this means roughly a rectangle from the lifesaving club south and out to the two markers. People swim here even in winter. The windsurfers launch south of this rectangle and I have never seen one of them transgress it.

It's an informal though very sensible rule that windsurfers shall have the launching area closer to Green Point to themselves. It's gustier close to shore than kite beach and more frequented by kids etc so far less suitable for kiters - especially when we have been allocated the widest beach in town just a few hundred metres away.

In a westerly you can kite anywhere you can kite in other directions (north to the baths and yacht club is fine, but if it goes to sh!t up there the landing options aren't great.). Kiters without the skills to get upwind and stay upwind by using the legitimate zones shouldn't be out - rock groynes and the like don't refrain from killing you just because you plead ignorance or beginner status.

As for the North thing - no need to take it personally - I was a Cab rider back when Cabs had the reputation and I didn't take it personally. For whatever reason, a massively increased proportion of dodgy incidents at the beaches I most often kite - Brighton and Altona - have involved North kites over the past year or two. Why this should be the case I have no idea, but I ain't the only one to have noticed.

The sketchy self-land I referred to was not a blue rebel. It was a green/white rebel, and not a kiter I recognised (though I was a fair way up the grass - otherwise I would have intervened, diplomatically as ever).

Dong, come and say hi some time. I'm the tall skinny guy on Ozone Catalysts and a 50fifty.

Yellow markers with "No boating" on them outside Life Saving clubs mark out an areas that is definately a no go zones for any boat or sailing craft (including windsurfers and kites).

Flags on surf beaches perform a similar function, although there is usually no marker in the water. The no go zone for water craft and surfers is the region between the flags.

However, be aware that yellow marker bouys are also used for other marine purposes (e.g. hazard/obstacle offshore). They may have the hazard marked on them. You will see some of these near the mussel farm off Ricketts Point.