I have been on the SBWC committee for a number of years and can shed some light on the issue of the Safety Bay Marathon and other club events.

The biggest issue that our club (and all sporting clubs these days) face is the one of liability. For a club to hold an event we are required to have a risk management plan, for us this means ensuring we have rescue boats. For a windsurfing event to be successful we need wind, which means that we need flexible dates. However, the volunteer sea rescue guys require at least a week’s notice if we want them to attend an event; and the wind forecast is not reliable enough a week in advance. This means that we can go to a huge amount of trouble to organise an event on a date fixed at least a week in advance and have insufficient wind on the day, so all the organisation is a complete waste of time. This has happened often enough to us at SBWC that members are disillusioned about organising future events. In fact, it is now a rule, that SBWC club days never have enough wind to sail (unless your name is Tom, in which case you can sail fast in a 8 knot easterly).

To hold a successful event we need flexible dates; I can see 2 possible solutions to this: (1) races or marathons are not SBWC or WWA events, they are just a group of friends sailing together, so the liability issues do not apply and therefore we do not need rescue boats and dates can be flexible (as suggested by HF); or (2) we find some competent people who have jet-skis or IRBs or some other craft from which it is safe to rescue windsurfers in strong winds and rough seas, who are willing to be on stand-by for flexible dates, then we can do it as an official club event and still meet our responsibilities wrt risk management.

A lot of people are really keen to be involved in these sort of events, we just need to be creative about how we do it, to keep ahead of the bureaucrats, and without being irresponsible or breaking the law.

GPS did nothing but help windsurfing in the last 7 years!

Heaps of people have come back to it & heaps have bought race gear to compete, these people would never have bought that type of gear previously.

Some people have lives & jobs outside of windsurfing which prohibits them from competing on weekdays or even weekends.

The reason racing died in Perth was the lack of people willing to get involved with the organising & the lack of sponsorship or acceptance of offered sponsorship.

Hopefully things can change for the better on the race scene.

GPS is here to stay so either get on-board or do your own thing, it doesn't really matter which

Some great positive responses from the GPS crew about the social aspects of GPS

so how about incorporating GPS with some of the events

For example you could have a trophy for fastest 2 second peak or 500 meters GPS result within the Ledge to lancelin race.

So while you may not be able to do planing gybes consistently (or at all) or not fall off in chop at least you could have your own race within a race to bag the GPS top speed trophy when you do find that nice bit of flat water.

This could do a good job of bringing the positives of the GPS scene into play in the big events.

We should be trying to use the best of all the energy in the various "scenes" out there to make for the biggest after party possible.

As for the Safety Bay event- i feel for the organisers
- its a sad indictment of the merry jig the insurance companies and lawyers have us all dancing.

Pete do you wear glasses

barn said..
My biggest gripe with GPS sailors is this one thread on Seabreeze, I made this Gif series showing my new invention..

Wile. E builds a slingshot on his Gath and uses it to shoot the GPS forward to increase his 2 second peak, finally topping his PB, only 2 knots behind The RoadRunner!!




He even has two hooks on his spreader bar, which was something I once saw down in sandy point.. This is a funny on many levels..

I didn't even manage 3 green thumbs, the humour of GPS sailors is almost as flat as the water they use!!

Not sure the Red lacka will last long

Slalom at leighton. We destroyed that place in the 90s. And surprised quite a few of the visiting PBA crew who oiften joined us. It was our daily ritual. The crazy floaters we all got into on the windy days. Byron marsh was king for that. The crooked stick that was the outside mark. Fig 8 going non stop. Causual racing, join in and drag your mates. Practice, jump, fang offwind whatever. Gold. We all had loads of time for it.

Now the gear is better so its fun to sail in the gusty river. We've all (well most of us) taken on more commitments that compete or simply surpass the place windsurfing has in our lives. The afternoon traffic is shocking and you cant speed any more, and most of us are nailed to a desk until its too late to choose where to sail if we are lucky enough to get out. Then theres the obvious side that as we get older we generally take on more responsibility. All this competing for the cruisy afternoon waiting for the wind or our next heat.

GPS. Well, its pretty simple. If you love going fast (thats me) and want to improve (thats me too), then without a GPS you are just using your imagination. Sailing alongside someone doesnt make you faster. You just have to play a whole lot of extra variables and make it a game competing against the other guy. Thats a very different game to going as fast as you can.

I love slalom racing. Its loads of fun. Challenging, intense, difficult to do well in a competent field, and a whole lot of variables thrown in.

I prefer going fast.

And I prefer wave sailing to slalom if there are uncrowded decent waves. Yes. Its true.

Freestyle? Waaaaaaay too old and crusty for that but it looks ace.

All of these things are wonderful things to do- especially when the conditions suit.

Do I have time to pursue all of these great things?

Sadly (in some ways), no. That's the reality for most of us.

All up, if you dont have time for all of it, pick practical.

Peli Pt slalom on a Wed is awesome. If I could get there, race and be home by 6pm it would be feasible. But practically, it would require a time machine.

slowboat said..
Slalom at leighton. We destroyed that place in the 90s. And surprised quite a few of the visiting PBA crew who oiften joined us. It was our daily ritual. The crazy floaters we all got into on the windy days. Byron marsh was king for that. The crooked stick that was the outside mark. Fig 8 going non stop. Causual racing, join in and drag your mates. Practice, jump, fang offwind whatever. Gold. We all had loads of time for it.

Now the gear is better so its fun to sail in the gusty river. We've all (well most of us) taken on more commitments that compete or simply surpass the place windsurfing has in our lives. The afternoon traffic is shocking and you cant speed any more, and most of us are nailed to a desk until its too late to choose where to sail if we are lucky enough to get out. Then theres the obvious side that as we get older we generally take on more responsibility. All this competing for the cruisy afternoon waiting for the wind or our next heat.

GPS. Well, its pretty simple. If you love going fast (thats me) and want to improve (thats me too), then without a GPS you are just using your imagination. Sailing alongside someone doesnt make you faster. You just have to play a whole lot of extra variables and make it a game competing against the other guy. Thats a very different game to going as fast as you can.

I love slalom racing. Its loads of fun. Challenging, intense, difficult to do well in a competent field, and a whole lot of variables thrown in.

I prefer going fast.

And I prefer wave sailing to slalom if there are uncrowded decent waves. Yes. Its true.

Freestyle? Waaaaaaay too old and crusty for that but it looks ace.

All of these things are wonderful things to do- especially when the conditions suit.

Do I have time to pursue all of these great things?

Sadly (in some ways), no. That's the reality for most of us.

All up, if you dont have time for all of it, pick practical.

Peli Pt slalom on a Wed is awesome. If I could get there, race and be home by 6pm it would be feasible. But practically, it would require a time machine.

+1+1 for what Slowly and Pointman said. Plenty of people around to have a drag with if you're in the right place at the right time. GPS has improved my sailing because of the analysis that it provides. That said, it also eventually has it's limitations, when other commitments (of which I have many and Slowly is coming to appreciate as a new dad ), get in the way and you can't perhaps make the most of it. So Wednesday slalom racing is a great option for time poor individuals like me, you get to race with and meet lots of new people with the same passion. Just get into it if you what a drag.

But as I've also come to appreciate, you're never too old to learn new tricks either. I sailed Gnaraloo last year for the first time - and this is after not having wavesailed ever before. Sailed it again this October and had a blast. I'm no guru but it gave me a great appreciation for the variety the sport has to offer. If you had told me two years ago I would be wavesailing Gnaraloo and actually riding waves there, I would have LMFAO ! And, I'm 45 !