Ah, maybe you will…
Jetskis in the surf. Oh they’re incomparable, even when the surf is four foot and below. No paddling. No dealing with messy takeoffs. No wave too steep. No crowd too thick to penetrate. In and Out. A happy cocoon where reality rarely penetrates.
Sometimes it does go awry. But what are you going to do? Once that little jet slips out of the water your machine is at the mercy of hydrodynamics.
Two days ago, the photographer Luke Workman, who is only sixteen, snatched this sequence of a jetski team pushing the limits (and commented upon by local shredder Brett Levingston on Instagram below).
https://www.instagram.com/p/BVjelaEjPMc/?taken-by=waterbubbla&hl=en
It’s a fine sequence. A flourish. A treasure.
As the photographer Luke Workman told the Gold Coast Bulletin this morning,
Everyone was just amazed and in shock after they fell, he got sucked backwards into the wave while his mate was in the barrel,” the Currumbin local said.
“They were on one of the smaller waves that came through as well.”
He said the pair managed to get back to their ski and continued surfing among boardriders using paddle power to battle the relentless northerly current, which speeds up in big swell on the Gold Coast.
Is there a happy ending?
Of course!
After a legion of comments on Brett Levingston’s IG saying things like “fucking kooks” and “what a fucking hazard” and “lucky no one died” and so forth, a man purporting to be the ski rider writes,
Hey mate I actually was going to find you and apologise for get angry at you. Was no need for this but. You don’t know me. Bit harsh in your comments but that’s your opinion.
To which, Levingston replies,
hey mate appreciate the apology , you were doing the wrong thing multiple times and had close calls with more than a few of my friends. I was only concerned for everyone’s safety and the potential for the fun to be ruined for everyone. Hope you get some waves, stay safe
Isn’t surfing one long happy journey!
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wait, what happened to all the australians who were talking big about how they’d have pounded the lippy grom at salt creek? surely these assholes are the more deserving candidates — why no slaps given??
yes
“anyway, there are my friends and we enjoy rolling in oil together” – said Warren Young
Was he not face to face the first time? Why call out on IG when you had the chance in the first place #weakaspiss
“Hey mate I actually was going to find you and apologise for get angry at you. Was no need for this but. You don’t know me. Bit harsh in your comments but that’s your opinion.”
My favourite piece of the story.
You might know me but you don’t know my story
What’s the proper term for road-head on a jet ski? That should be added to your list of exceptions to jet skis in lineups.
Was he trying to spell “geniuses?”
He wasn’t, he just really likes Phil Collins
towing while still an amateur is always frowned upon
Surely there’s an enforcable law in Qld. such as jet-skis need to be at least 50m. from swimmers/surfers, ffs?
Nice rock n roll floater to 360! You guys rippin
Knobs on jet skis on the Gold Coast is hardly news.
Surfers giving and accepting apologies like reasonable human beings is earth shattering.
I’m still not sure why ski’s aren’t banned at these spots on the Goldy.
They are. Everywhere but Currumbin Alley which is considered a seaway. Other spots are bathing reserves. Surfing PWCs are not permitted within 200m of paddling surfers or swimmers in Gold Coast bathing reserves.
That sucks, but it kinda makes sense. You still see a bunch of footage at other spots, I guess they need harsher penalties.
What about the superbank? Council laws just aren’t enforced?
see some stuff in here:
http://www.coastalwatch.com…
the RTA and waterways are now under the same legal roof
Skis are allowed on the Goldy as soon as the lifeguards close the beaches.
“Yes, we allow it to happen,” Warren Young, head of lifeguards told me two years ago. “As soon as we close the beaches the tow surfers are allowed in.”
However, they still have to abide by the Code Of Conduct which restricts speed to six knots when within 200 metres of surfers – a speed almost always exceeded when towing in.
The speed isn’t enforced because lifeguards are busy and under-resourced. “Their job is to manage the beaches and save lives. They have better things to be doing than policing PWCs,” said Warren Young.
The above pertains to local laws. Under State Government law – this shit gets confusing – tow surfers have to stay 60 metres away from surfers. However, that has to be enforced by Maritime Safety Queensland and they’re simply not on site the way the clubbies are.
So you’ve got one law that ostensibly wont be policed, and another that can’t be policed.
The result? Fire up the engines…
Link, spam, more info here: https://www.swellnet.com/ne…