Welcome to 1984.
Imagine having bonked your head six weeks ago and falling into a coma from which you just woke. Asking for a newspaper you realize that martial law has gripped hold of the entire world, life is now an odd reflection of Blade Runner and police officers are using surf cams in New Zealand to identify and arrest surfers who dared paddle out into the water.
It’d be enough to knock you right out again.
To be quite honest, I’ve never trusted surf cams and to learn of their early adoption by law enforcement surprises very little but let’s go to New Zealand’s Stuff for more. The piece begins as all “surfing in the time of Coronavirus” do these days…
Surfers took to the waves in Raglan in spite of the coronavirus lockdown and calls from locals that no-one should be surfing.
Police spoke to surfers at Manu Bay on Thursday about how they got there, as driving to surf was not considered essential travel, acting Waikato District Commander Inspector Andrew Mortimore told Stuff.
Surfing – even solo – is a no-no while New Zealand is at alert level four and Raglan Point Boardriders chairperson Luke Hughes said they were asking people not to surf at Raglan.
Before veering wildly into dystopian totalitarianism…
Surf2Surf, which provides live cameras of New Zealand surf reports and swell forecasts, said police and NZ Coastguard are now using their cameras.
They were tweaking and adding some camera views for them and would be stopping their camera imagery to the public, as well as reports and forecasting.
And does this turn surprise you? That surf cams would be used for evil so quickly? Again, it doesn’t me. I’ve never trusted them or liked them and I think that Surfline should do the world a favor and shutter its website before American jackboots can be heard outside its Huntington Beach door.
I think the whole idea of “surf cams” should be revisited once this damned Chinese Surprise has run its course.
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That’s weird because there’s a newspaper site – https://www.nzherald.co.nz/… which says it’s ok to surf and even has a photo of a surfer,
In that case, self isolated, die alone – problem solved. To break your back in the shower takes real fucking effort, neck? easy… but back?!
That’s the society we live in. Feel free to shift the the darkest corners of Asian or the Middle East where life has no value.
“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” -Benjamin Franklin
It’s been a bit of a journey forming a position on this one. I started off thinking as long we all stick to our isolation ‘bubbles’ (e.g. family) we’re playing our part to stop the spread of this thing. So go surf a bank on your own, sneak out in the boat for a quiet fish etc (Jacinda’s 4-week lockdown could be fun!). But my thinking has changed. As small as it may be, there is risk around these activities. A fin gash, an engine failure…whatever. Our coastguard rescues 3000 boats a year. I wouldn’t have a clue how many surf injuries or rescues there are, but it would be a fair number I expect. Then there is the driving to get to the beach, the bach, the boat or whatever.
Sure you don’t consider that just yourself doing these things has any impact, but then if EVERYONE does these things then accidents will occur and rescue service people will need to be called out of their isolation bubbles and medical staff have to deal with you which is placing extra demands on the medical system when it needs to be testing or treating the virus.
So then I get to thinking, pretty selfish and arrogant for me to do these things, but no-one else. Plus, if I do it, someone sees or hears, so they do it, and so on and so on. Now I’m as selfish as the next surfer but this thing is so big it has me over-riding those natural instincts for the sake of my business, my family, the older people who could die from this and the thousands in the community who have or will loose their livelihoods. I want to do the right thing. I want to set a good example because shit, the stakes so fuckin’ high.
It’s also a matter of strategy. Australia are hedging their bets with a half-way house strategy, stay at home but hey, you can still work and go get a haircut (ffs!). The US similar. I’ve learned in business these ‘try to please everyone’ ‘have your cake and eat it’ strategies seldom work. You go hard or go home on one direction or the other. So I support our government going hard out, black and white (not grey) and enforcing isolation and distancing to a pretty extreme degree. Time will tell if it is right. But I’m all in behind it, and wanna look back one day and know I played my part, and also have my kids remember that I did too.
I guy in his late 60’s I surf with summed it up the other day when were chatting (not in the surf). He said ‘you know, this thing is teaching me to be a better person’.
The Carona Virus scare is all FAKE. A big fraud put on by FAKE NEWS and Hollywood and directed by the Swamp. You people can’t be this stupid.
And no option to comment either? Stab has already been taken over by Big Brother (or is it big elo) . Pretty lame
Stuff.co.nz is a right wing rag. You can surf, if you live by the beach. Most are choosing not to, which I think is actually a pretty good articulation of the community in NZ – most people give a fuck about each other. This isn’t 1984, by any means. Cops killing fun isn’t new. The Gov’t in NZ are paying a weekly wage to those who have lost their jobs, pausing mortgage repayments for up to 6 months and giving out clear, factual information to the wider public. NZ cops don’t carry hand guns on them, they haven’t arrested anyone for surfing. Theres a handful of cams, 99.9% of the countrys coasts don’t have them. Take a look at the barrel you are staring down America, you’re fucking up, and you voted that clown in who’s putting corporations before people lives. Regrettably, it’s time to lay in the bed you made.
Lots of locals choosing not to surf at Muriwai at the moment, but probs because it’s 8 feet and a screaming southerly. Still there were three people out this morning. It will be interesting to see what happens when the swell drops and the winds go offshore next week.
It was Stephy I was worried for..
(i thought she only cuddled cunt, no cocks allowed)
The rules are that if you can walk to the beach with your board you are a local and can surf but driving to the beach is a non essential activity so you cannot surf. This seems fair enough. But car and campervan loads of tourists heading to surf spots is not on yet some seem to think they have landed in this paradise and don’t give an excrement.
Off course if anyone could surf then everyone would surf (the constant weekend effect) and we might as well say that any activity is OK as long as you are careful. Well careful aint something folks is good at…
In actual fact we don’t have enough police here to much at all let alone patrol beaches.
Shutting down the cams is probably a decent idea(pat yourself on the back for that Chas) except then we cannot even drooool. Dammit we just caint win.
FYI Google says it would take me 9hrs to walk to my nearest break, add 4 hours or longboard windage, another 4 for food and rest stops. Then on the way back I’ll be tired as but will bury my board at the beach, so about the same time home. So 34hrs of hard graft for 2hrs surf on the tide(my luck the breeze would have unpredictably swung onshore on my arrival) is a bit is a poor return on investment.
Incorrect.
From the horses mouth below on Covid19.govt.nz
Everything else is just opinion or personal interpretation.
Recreation or exercise
You can go for a walk, run, or bike ride. Exercise is good for people’s mental health.
If you do, it must be solitary, or with those you live with.
Keep a 2 metre distance.
However, if you are unwell, do NOT go outside.
DOC has closed all its campsites and huts.
Do not go hunting or hiking, and especially not on overnight trips.
Serious question-Why shouldn’t I go hunting by myself? That seems like real self isolation. And if I stay overnight by myself in my own tent, in the middle of the forest or jungle, that’s two days of self isolation. In Hawaii they have said people can still hunt or fish for subsistence, not recreation. They let us exercise with hiking or surfing too, as long as you are not with other people. But last 2 days, I’ve seen the surfers crowding certain popular spots, because the surf is so good there compared with the lesser quality spots. But the solo hunters stay alone, and even if there is an area with plenty game, most hunters try to stay away from other hunters for safety, and also just to not be a cunt by crowding other guys and scaring the animals. When we do see other people, we usually quietly communicate and ask what their plans are, if you going there, then I’ll stay over here etc… so we don’t crowd each other. So to me, it just seems hunting is a lot safer than surfing a crowded spot, or going to the market, or almost any other activity in civilization. Im not saying I’m right, that’s just my opinion. I was just curious as to why the NZ government said to not go hunting or camping?
Because there’s a good chance that you could get in trouble and need help. And those helping are needed elsewhere.
More accurate to say ‘very slight chance’ though…
Thank you, it would be a ‘very slight chance’ and not a ‘good chance’. Especially when someone has hunted for hundreds of days over their entire life and never needed assistance before. I wouldn’t call that a good chance of needing assistance. But maybe I would tomorrow, I am getting older and not as spry as I used to be. But I also take it a little easier these days too out in the bush.
Ok I see the point of that. But anyone driving or walking their dog or slipping in their own shower could require emergency help, when those emergency personnel are needed elsewhere. But probably more chance of a prolonged effort if a hunter is in an area with no cell service to provide gps tracking of their phone, or they can’t call for help.
Because we live in a ‘nanny state’ and the prime minister likes to think we’re all her kiddies…
So you’d prefer that cunt Bridges?
No
But I’d prefer you to get back on the main Jalan for your own sake. You must’ve taken a wrong turn down this dark Gang and seeing as it’s after midnight it can be dangerous without a torch, there’s too much dogshit and too many broken bottles in this alleyway (let alone goodness knows who hiding in the trees).
It’s unsafe here…
Meh, it’s more like a jocks locker room.
Less so than the regional clubs or popular carparks though…
Currently, one Hunter lost in the bush as we speak.
Search and Rescue teams now have to deployed putting more people at risk on multiple levels.
Think that sums it up. Guess the government has to work policies around the lowest common denominator.
I know blokes that have gone bush. But they’ve Just shut up, playing smart. Off Facebook and quietly going about their life.
Interesting, I guess anyone can buy a gun (or whatever weapon they choose) and call themselves hunters.
Similar to surfing and buying boards…
From personal experience, the only bushmen and hunters I know couldn’t get lost if they tried though.
But yeah it’s a bummer that the search and rescue people now have an unneeded problem on their hands…
This is true. I’m not disagreeing with ya, but some people could also say that search and rescue teams could also be called because somebody had a heart attack while driving and ran their car off a steep embankment and into an area that nobody knew about and wasn’t visible from the road. That would be rare, so you are right that there is probably a greater chance of rescue personal being called for a hunter out by themself, but anything is possible doing anything. Even a slip in the shower at home could cause rescue personal to be activated, when they have plenty else to do and are needed elsewhere. So yeah, guess I see that they are just trying to minimize the amount of things that would take resources away from their valuable emergency teams. But hopefully this doesn’t last too long, because if large populations is unemployed and supplies start running short, it might be good policy to let the people provide their own meat and fish for themselves and their family’s and community, instead of relying solely on govt. benefits and assistance. That could lessen the load on the government in these negative cash flow times. Thanks Negs for providing your perspective since you are down there in NZ.
In the future, people will pay to show old footage of good days in camera feeds from OTHER breaks so everyone else goes there instead.
Yeah I read that too.
No more stef selfies ay.
I bet they’re all stoked about that.
I would be.
Fuken nightmare, every cunt trying to give you a cuddle
Is that cos no cocks are allowed a ‘cuddle’ with Stephy ? (cunt only)
Read: “we’ll only get through this if we all do as we think it should be done”. Get lost.
Some people have lost jobs and livelihoods and have little but surfing, but your two chips on your shoulders say they shouldn’t surf, because the damage is what?
I’m with you. Being outside is the healthiest thing to do right now. Keeping distance obviously, but the science says viruses spread much less easily outdoors
Surfers are super speaders
I enjoy your optimism
They could also change the name to STUB, since it’s nothing but a blunted parody its former self.
Look that amputee joke page was the other day. Get with the current affairs, bub.
Maybe surfing there in this time is bad, maybe it’s not. But letting police use your surfcam for anything other than a rescue/ search, even then “Stand the fuck back, I’ll look…” Those surfers there don’t have a hair on their ass if one of those fucking cams is still operating/ not destroyed by the weekend. Fuck them.
Yeah ok.
We’ll ask LGR to start enforcing it.
Beware the Goat Pack!
It’s a minor inconvenience to not go surfing for a few weeks. People need to grow the fuck up and deal with it. The best thing for the frustration is to do something else useful. Start doing that other stuff you keep putting off, with some push-ups in between burn off the energy.
How is surfing gonna spread anything but cheer?
What the fuk is wrong with you lot?
It costs me a lot to live in coughing distance to the beach so get a dog up ya
I understand your resentment, but I don’t have a dog. My neighbours probably wouldn’t let me borrow theirs either. Social Distancing you know.
It washes straight off????????
Does masturbation count?
I’m usually self isolating at the time
‘Fill your boots’, as they say. Just don’t do it in public gatherings of more than 10 people please.
Good fuckin god CB ! Get a hold of yourself man !
I know. I’m fucked in the head. Sorry.
What about Pipe?
Worst featured ever.