Boogie boards-sups-its coming...

[Socalsupper70]

Once one kind of watercraft has been banned-how soon until idiotic politicians begin banning more of them..?
The writing is on the wall for sup surfing.
If they ban sponges because they deem them unsafe-wait till they get a hold of sups in the surf lineup.
Support the HPWA.

http://www.surfline.com/surf-news/bodyboarding-banned-in-new-york_116461/

[OUTSIDEWAVE]

that is ridiculous   If they ban sups here I still do it.  F em all

[hbsteve]

WTF!!!  What about parents keeping kids out of the water or very close to shore when conditions are rough.  In Huntington Beach the lifeguards are very proactive.  They keep the inexperienced bodyboarders away from the pier and decently close to shore.  I've also seen them let the obviously skilled bodyboarders with swim fins go where they want. 
Maybe we should ban bicycles.  I'm sure some bicyclist was killed within the last month.  Oh she was killed by a car.  Okay ban cars.  STOP!!!

[supthecreek]

Why are we surprised?

I made my comment on the site... we'll see if it makes the cut.

Monitor the Zone "Advocacy" Category daily.... see what you can do to protect the waves for ALL of us

[pdxmike]

There's a weird wrinkle to this in regard to pfds.  The article says:

"Their reasoning (for the ban) is that the boogie boards are a crutch for people that don’t know how to swim and therefore they get themselves into trouble with them. They are drawing on a parks rule that outlaws ‘floatation devices’ "


If boogie boards are "floatation devices" then pfds certainly are.  If you put your kid in a pfd there, does that break the law?  I doubt it. 


The ban is dumb, but I do agree with the idea that floatation devices, including pfds, certainly do act as crutches for people who can't swim, and do get them into trouble they might otherwise be afraid to get into. 

[Socalsupper70]

the bigger point is uninformed politicos making idiotic laws that literally make no sense, contradict previous laws and do away with common sense, hmmmm...
sound familiar?
Its going on right now in DC and it concerns all of us in regards to sup and PFD's.
Support the HPWA.

[Old School 213]

We need to identify these asshats in a very public way. Vote these fools out or apply pressure to the elected officials that appointed them. Seriously, these are our tax dollars at work?!? Isn't there a more pressing issue these guys could be tackling? Like folding versus crumpling!?

[PonoBill]

"Parks Department Rockaways Administrator Jill Weber".  What a schmuck.

[SeaMe]

If you think the ban is idiotic (and it is), then let her and her superiors know: Jill.Weber@ Parks.NYC.Gov and (718) 318-4000

[Socalsupper70]

Boogie ban overturned in NY-
Orgainized-vocal-unified objection wins the day-this is what needs to happen with the PFD/Sup surf ban issues, take note!
Support the HPWA

[supthecreek]

Thanks for the update SoCal... good to see that resistance works.

[pdxmike]

One thing that strikes me from reading the article about overturning this ban, and also the article about opposition to the proposed ban in Hawaii in the other thread, is that the bans must sound stupid to the average, non-surfing citizen.   The typical taxpayer isn't going to want to create regulations so one group of surfers can increase their wave count over another.  Neither is the typical official or politician.


Most people will be sympathetic to the safety argument, especially if children are involved (and "the safety of our children" is alway brought up by proponents of regulations) but the NY ban was entirely about children's safety, and people easily saw that the safety problem wasn't the gear, it was people not keeping track of their kids, so banning the gear was stupid.


In the Hawaii case, I think the safety issue was pretty well shot down by the SUP surfer in the article pointing out that his boards are smaller than many prone surfing boards, plus the fact that their hasn't been any big safety problem in the absence of regulations.


If moms with injured kids start showing up as the proponents for regulations, standup surfers may have a problem.  But when the proponents are misguided officials or politicians (NY) or even worse, surfing lawyers (Hawaii) the public won't be sympathetic to spending resources on bans and rules.  And I bet most laymen think surfers are surfers--the exact type of board is a technicality.  It's also pretty easy for the layman to think that if someone on one type of board is whining about the guys on another type of board having an advantage, then why don't the whiners just switch to the other type of board themselves?