No wonder theres surf rage here. Just look at the 2 surf schools here. Clifton and Park Beach. The kids need to learn to respect the older crew. But when you have the guy from Park Beach dropping in on ya, what does the kid learn.

When I was a grommet and if I dropped in, or did something wrong, the older crew would certainly let me know about it. I learnt alot from those old guys, about respect and about the surf. 

“Surf rage “ is media generated hype that gets attention for commercial current affairs type programs with attention grabbing headlines. Its the same line as the 60’s & 70’s dole bludging surfie tag from the ignorant mainstream.the article probably refers to SLSA actually assisting its beach captains how to diffuse the aggro often found in overcrowded beaches with limited resources ( ie banks or take off spots).
Surfing Australia Surfschools do a heck of a lot to educate beginner surfers to the etiquette required for safe and harmonious surfing. South Coast surf school is usually considerate of all other users, we dont take over the best bank, mostly use the whitewater, flag the area to alert other beach users that we are conducting a safe surfing program for safety not exclusivity.Our staff are friendly courteous and helpful. We cooperate with Surf lifesaving, Surfing Tasmania and provide 40 years of best practice service through the SA programs. My surf school which operates at Clifton, Park and various other beaches around the south coast is endorsed and overseen by the sport and is dedicated to best practice which includes showing respetc to the brother and sisterhood in da surf!

hey mark, sorry dude!

As an older surfer, i find it interesting that people learning these days dont do what i did and try to find a bank or break with no one else on it and practise there.Also is there a reason why last winter, the surf school guy took out a young guy in a spring suit.The guy was shivering that much he could hardly talk. If this is an example of surf schools commitment to oh+s and their duty of care to their participants, i seriously question whether the guy should be teaching anyone.As for surf rage, its alive and well.

Paul you are talking about the other surfschool not about South Coast Surf School -the Surfing Australia one. We’d like to pointout there’s a big difference.

Firstly, I think Paul makes a very valid point in regard to surfers being schooled in choosing the breaks they surf.  There a certain breaks in the state that are becoming very dangerous because intermediate surfers are choosing to flock there in ridiculous numbers.  More often than not these people will only get a handful of waves and spend alot of the time endangering themselves and others due to their inexperience.

The results of these overcrowded days have already caused injury, numerous broken boards and a degree of frustration and fury.  I am fearful that if the trend is to continue there will be a more tragic injury.  Perfect waves breaking on shallow bottoms can be VERY dangerous. Add an erratic an inexperienced crowd and they are potentially fatal.

Choosing breaks that suit your ability is a large part of good surfing and ensures a better experience for not only the individual, but for the greater surfing community. Consider this simple formula for becoming a better surfer - catching more waves = faster improvement.

So next time you are faced with the prospect of surfing with 40 to 60 other people, please consider whether you have the skills to surf at the level of the wave or perhaps you’d have a better time catching more waves at the many other breaks along Tasmania’s coastline.  OK… getting down off the soap box now.... Thanks for you time.  Surf safe and surf happy.

To improve you have to step up to the plate. Not just catch more waves how are you ever going to catch bigger harder waves without going out? Some places are a big step up. ButI think it is up to people to politely point out to a surfer that maybe they are out of their depth.eg Total beginner surfing in and around a crowded summer bank at clifton or Park.  Vice versa as you get old and decrepid (like me ) you realise its time to step back. thats while you will find me at lauderdale catching waves with Dot not at outside Mays being paddled around by the big boys.Who are always polite when they paddle onto my inside!  I have seen a young girl get sworn at at tiny lauderdale as she is doing her best to get out of the way. I gave the guy a serve as tiny l’dale is where you expect the trimmers to hang out.
So I agree with jimmy think and select an appropriate surf spot use your manners to guide others if you think they are in the wrong spot. A bit of friendly advice is better received than a spray of vitriol.
Give a wave away to someone with lesser ability and make someones surf.

Every bank on every beach in south arm is for beginners. If you want to step up go surf the real waves on the open coasts. Anyone claiming to be too good to surf with beginners shouldn’t be surfing beginner waves. eg. south arm. If you choose to surf small, fat waves then enjoy it with the people around you. Offer advice but lose the aggro. Because 99% of people that surf south arm on a regular basis are poor surfers. Some poorer than others but really none of you are much better than the beginner stage.

Andy,
So a 5 ft Wedge day is a beginners wave surfed by people not much better than beginners.
Oh… OK…
Hope you stay on the Goldy, buddy.

Andy,
Maaaaaaaate there are a fair few surfers who surf South Arm on a regular basis who surf very, very well. 99% are poor? I’m calling that more than a tad harsh.
I’m afraid you and I disagree on this one. And if it was a joke, you got me on a bad day.
Hope you felt better after taking a crack at Tassie from your lofty crowded perch on the Goldy.
Cheers Scotty Seabrook

Wait up i think i got a fixture.....If we built a big groin or sunk a small vessel off clifton it would create the sand banks(probably worldclass) we are in desperate need of on the South Arm peninsula.

Definatly, people making there own judgment goes without saying and surflife savers do a wonderful job in Australia, but if our problem is the 99% then we need to teach them to surf better, which from 20 years examination comes from surfing better waves, at least waves that can hold up 2 2 feet OR MORE.....thats right undergroud MORE.

People should get together and try and make something of that beautiful place at clifton imagine how good it would be if it actually pumped, A GROIN like the one on the Gold Coast which really does make sence, we need something to get the crew carving…

Secondly, Summer is only a short leap away, and frankly we need some waves, I surfed all through winter and there was nobody and now just because the sun is out everyone is comming out to play...100% including the % of straggeling body bags which I really hope since they all moved away they wont come back. I mean on a good day at wedge sure its fun, better places to be at but the fact is we need something exciting on a regular baisis.....I mean who actually surfed WEDGE PUMPING WEDGE....???? anybodY?? rebounds is ok its alright sometimes really good fun, but CREW and its a mess, RSL good too because nobody use to go there....we will see this summer. Cliffy mmmm Not so good, we need someting for this…

REVIVE THE ARTIFICAL REEF THEORY BUT BAR THE ARTIFICIAL REEF>>>>>GROIN or SHIP....as big as you can get PAUL even export chips off her if you like...WE JUST NEED SOME GOOD BARRELLS, thats all i have to say Thanks mb

I like to think that taking a wave is like taking a slice of the pizza.  I was once surfing with my friend Lisa and I said “Lisa Miller, you can have any piece or pizza you want!”

To pat at clifton, my apologies for the obvious mistake of tying you guys at south coast surf schools with anyone else who teachs people how to surf. Obviously i thought you where all one crowd.My mistake.

I like the tangent this thread is taking. John Pleas of Goats beach is keeping the reef concept alive currently discussing it with Jim Cox for use in St Helens Barway! Dan Headley patented a construction design for the geotextile style reef ala Narrowneck Qld after studying it for his thesis. 1 year after he let the patent slip as he couldnt afford the world wide one and ASR-the world leaders in the design of these things picked it up. Talk to Dan now though and he is(or was last time i spoke to him) keener on the idea of making rebounds better or making more rebounds type set ups on south arm. The basic premise being to increase the efficiency of the bounceback off the cliff wall. This would mean more lateral sediment movement creating more peaks along the beach. How? Where the water runs up the cliff create a smoother wall like the type used for a lighthouse with cliff coloured cement to blend in. It would have no underwater structure required and only require a jackhammer to correct if it didnt work.  Interesting how State Govt canned the idea b4 but still allow sandmining and ocean polluting pulp mills. check http://www.asrltd.co.nz/ and dream or get off you backsides and do something!

Jack hammering the rocks at rebounds to make it better? That doesnt make rebounds better that just sends the wash further up the beach and would potentially see the end of first peak rebounds.A place where I’ve spent 15 years of my life and I don’t really wnat to see it disappear for the sake of an experiment.

Just like they made kirra and snapper better on the goldy? Now they have one massive bank thats #### 90% of the time.

How about you take the idea to north goats or north cliffy (they have hints of a wedge at times so why not develop on that)and leave one of the only half decent waves at south arm alone. I doubt that the process can be reversed as easy as you think Pat.

I’m a novice surfer, only mainly stick to Clifton Beach, but stay out of the way of the older guys and gals. Been surfing for around 2 years on and off and have seen a a few nasty glares and been sworn at in my time...even if I’m nowhere near anyone else.
Last time I went out I found a nice bank all to myself. No one else out except for some older crew at North Cliffy. All of a sudden there were two guys right on me and they were calling me off waves. Now I wanted to swear at them, but I just paddled over to another bank. Again they followed me. Why do they do this? Try to get me out of the water?? Ohwell, I took most of the waves that day, they were too busy frowning and paddling all over the place. They looked more of a learner than anyone and it put bad vibes in the water.
I’ve had many great surfs all over the East coast of Tas as I live at St Helens part time. Lots of great breaks and usually all to myself.
I put this to you...don’t give us hell in the water or we’ll just be made to think you are all jerks and want to pay you back! If you are going to be selfish and aggro, YOU get out of the water!
Go to other breaks that aren’t for such learners and have a good surf!

pat do you have some contact details for john pleas.
a artificial reef is stupid idea, there too expensive and it will never get approved, like housten green said, we need someting that changes the formation of our swell lines that hit south arm, just the way wedge works, swell liines rap around a island and create peaks.
90% of qaulity beach breaks in aus are formed from small reefs out to see that break up the swell, it dosnt even have to be above water, just a mass of something on the bottom, a large boat/ship got sunk in between wedge and betsy island recently by the police bomb sqaud, my friend was invloved in it. i only got wind of it two weeks prior and it was too late to try to get it sunk at goats or sandpits, but that is what we need to get happening,

imagine wedge all over goats beach,?????

Yea pat I think your the man for the job....& i think rebounds and south arm could use alot of work on just maybe a big BOAT sunk would do it that would be enough for it to work all over south arm...EXAMPLE… BETSEY ISLAND...it is too big but still splits up the swell if we had a little island half the size we would be laughing… Anyway I think something should be done...to create some non close outs maybe peaks like wedge but jst on cliffy or goats...............rebounds are what we need or swell splitters something simmilar....

Oh Paul, come on Mr Hutchins… “Rebounds...One of the only half decent waves on south arm..” WTF?!?!?!  Yeah, maybe, but only if you’re a booger that enjoys a sidewashed, crowded, over-rated closeout!!!  Experiment all you like with the place; it cant get any worse, but who knows; maybe some alterations would see the place actually hold a workable wave fo a change..
And Jimmy Dell, what a speech old kid, good bark. Woof!! 

ha ha ha I just couldn,t stop laughing about paul hutchins comment comparing rebounds to the groynes of kirra oh dear ! firstly rebounds is crap 90% of time sorry resso! secondly when it good these days every sticker boy from here too bloody launceston is paddling like the own the place ha ha ha so to fix this problem is simple ,give me 50 sticks of tnt and a 50 tonne excuvator 2 weeks and I,ll give a wave or waves that will keep us all happy . secondly ha ha ha comparing the groynes of kirra to rebounds .

It was an example, not a comparison mr visionary. Kirra basically doesnt exist anymore because of the sand that gets dumped out the back there now.

Now to mr south arm sad sack, why do you think its crowded? Because its better that taking off on straight hander closeouts at cliffy and goats.

I think a large part of the problem with the south arm beachies is the introduced marram grass(probably spelt wrong) that was planted to stabalise the dunes years and years ago. It has not only restricted the naturl movement of sand inland but has also prevented the wind from blowing the sand out into the water which helps generate banks.

The whole of south arm is poo now and will only get worse every year. Wedge isnt even half as good as it used to be.

But the idea of sinking some old boats or something large out the back of the beaches is a great idea. Jack hammering the rocks at one end of the a beach isnt going to produce waves for everyone.

Err i wasnt suggesting jackhammering other than a means to return the cliff to its old porous inefficient state if the cement option didnt work. According to Dan (the ocean engineer) the idea IS to send the wash further up the beach and turn the spot from 1 to 2 peak set up to maybe 6 or 8.Also I reckon South/North cliffy would be great with that idea help deflect the straight swell and widen the beach- particularly at south. Marram grass is bad for surfing banks we should bring back the east coast spinnefex. allows more natural flow of sediment and lower beach profile. Sunken boats are a dudd as are any reefs that are too close to the shore and create a tombola effect ( ie a new bay that then causes errosion elsewhere along coast). I reckon an artificial reef off the back of the Nth Clify cape where it could be founded on a rock base and not sink in to the sand would be good -could be mini shippies!
Paul1 ta Surfing Aus surf schools are THE oficial ones- go with the best! PaulH,hardly would want to trash south goats! I started surfing rebounds 25yrs ago -pre aquatic taboggans

Wreck/Groyne/Reef Discussion....
So Paul is actually on the money.  The introduced dune species are the most likely culprit (coupled with a bi-decadal increase in Westerly wind strength and frequency).  Big question is, which costs more?  Eradication of a weed species (that is favored by planners scared shitless by climate change and storm surge) or an artificial reef/wreck/groyne… And here is an interesting bit of history… there used to be a jetty at Wedge where the sandmining boats used to load… anybody ever stubbed their toe on the old pylons?  The degradation of the “elbow” at Wedge, and hence the waves quality, is (probably) partly due to the removal of the old jetty. ...
So in summary the best bet for the formation and stabilization of banks at south arm is a groyne… Maybe using the Rubble from the new Commonwealth Kingston bypass?  They need to put it somewhere…
and landfill space is at a premium… (unless Ralphs Bay goes ahead!)

Wreck/Groyne/Reef Discussion.... pt 2

Sinking a wreck to form banks is more uncertain depending on the depth it rests in.  It’d have to be pretty shallow. I doubt the Marine board would be keen on creating a new offshore hazard as they would be liable for any resulting stuff ups (like a collision due to a drink driver behind the wheel of a multi million dollar super Cat...).  Benefits of the Wreck approach is that you’d be keeping other interest groups happy (Divers and Fishermen)… Ok thats me… Sheesh Two rants in two weeks… gotta be due to the lack of decent surfs!. 
By the way.. if all these people joined Surfrider or Coastview or formed their own solid lobby group there might be a chance of getting something done.... otherwise it is all just gum flapping…
Any one with some spare time out there?

The original group was started by Mark Cashion and others through surfing Tasmania. The lobby angle has been through a means of conservation ( ie protect sandpits dune blow out)then also as a tourism/recreational angle. It wasn’t supported by surfrider at the time ( but who have since said they’d review their position after scientific research). The artificial reef committee still exists but is mostly dormant due to time available from members. I’ll pull some of the material off the cd rom we made and see if Thomas might like to create an article on it and include contact details for people keen.  The ASR company have found a full healthy reef ecosystem exists on all the reefs built. Its worth exploring all avenues on what would be best ASR have a computer modelling program that plots bathymetry and then consequential effect of particular structures.

well guys jimi is on the ball a few years back wilst being kegged at u no where on the east coast, i was rudely interupted by a board floating through the lip which intern connected with my forehead, nocked me off and just about knocked me out! bit of clarit and concussion etc could of been heaps worse! turns out a novice had bailed on a 4 ft wave wen he was still in position to duckdive well and truly! the truth hurts and this sought of thing is happening more n more often! there has to be a line somewhere and wat jim is saying is spot on! cheers!

it,d be nice to think that there might be more consistent rideable waves in south arm in the years to come for my kids and all the other young crew coming through.

The people bagging out the planting of marin grass on south arm coast are dead right . this relocated grass is no than a weed planted to stablise the dunes by ignorant greenies thinking they were saving the dunes systems and funded by clarence council who saw dollar signs when places such as clifton stopped receeding into the bay .so thank your local coucil for that ,and the suburban style yuppie who just has to live by the beach and have water views .So once again I think avery practical aproach is needed ,marin grass is just that , so a good dose of roundup bi active will do the trick , give it a year then a follow up spray to wipe out any new growth .In time the dune systems will become a active coastal ecosystem once again ,Oh yeah! and there’s the funny and some what enjoyable sight of seeing some dumb ### yuppie stressing out over their shrinking investment. bring back our banks !!!!!!

Just continiuing the marram grass tack..
Has anybody else noticed that all of the marram at Roaring (Nubes) seems to have died over the past year or too? All the other plant species in the dunes seem ok, but the marram has just fallen over flat. Does anynone know why this is?
It will be interesting to see what happens to the form of the dunes at roaring over the next little while and if any more sand joins the beach system.

Hey John F, I think that is just seasonal die back..  but I could be wrong… We need a Botanist like Dooma Rathbone or Dr Steemin’ Freeman to answer that one

Jimmy/John
re the marram grass at Roaring, (based only on personal observations) I think Jimmy is on the money. It seems that the marram does not tolerate cold as well as the native veg. I have noticed it die off after severe frost events in the past, unfortunately the below ground part of the plant survives and it does spring back pretty quickly.