Kicked out of Churches

[supsurf-tw]

That is the final straw. We have ONE, count em', One decent wave in the whole San Clemente area now this. My wife was told by lifeguards to move to the very far south end of Churches. The main break is for proning only as they're saying that only the very South end is Military and out of their jurisdiction. Where does this stop?

My thoughts are they're making up rules as they go. It was fine last month and now it's not? She was the only SUP out there and she's not aggressive at all. Dogpatch was flat so what when it'd flat there are no options?

[starman]

How could the lifeguard possibly know the exact boundary line of the base? Check the map, it extends quite a bit past the creek. Take the ticket and make those a-holes show up in court and prove it.

[surf4food]

Chances are the lifeguard got a bunch of complaints and he caved.

[surf4food]

Kind of makes me wonder.  What if a guy the size of Shaquille O’Neal comes out prone surfing on a 12 foot SUP board and then some professional jockey comes out SUPing on an 8 foot prone egg?  What if a guy and his partner come out to tandem surf on their 12 foot prone tandem board?  This could be a fun way to brain fuck the lifeguards if nothing else.

   

[PonoBill]

If it was someone the size of Shaquille O'Neal they probably wouldn't say anything no matter what he did.

[southwesterly]

It's not the lifeguard on duty that's making the call. In the very early years of stand up, I was surfing right in front of the lifeguard shack at Manresa Beach, just south of Santa Cruz. I was out for almost two hours until the lifeguard came on duty at 10 am. She called me in on the megaphone as soon as she was in the tower.  I was getting out anyway, so no big deal. She then informed me that I needed a PFD to surf there. I informed her otherwise. She was nice, but she believed (falsely) that a PFD was required.

Once home, I contacted two people that are lifeguards about the incident. Within hours, I got a call from the head of the California State Park lifeguard's. He said he was sorry about the misinformation and will inform his people on the beach.

The moral of this story is, go to the top. Find out who is making these decisions and has the final say. Then deal with them.

[starman]

Not sure they know what "rule" they are enforcing. If it's safety (sup boards are big and dangerous) then spongers should own every break. Who could be more vulnerable to getting run over and hurt. An 8' longboard is 3X the size and 4X the weight of a boogie board.

Anyway, if enough of the state lifeguards are sitting in court defending bogus tickets (and whose shifts need covering) ought to get someones attention.

What these guys are doing is not "lifeguarding".

[addapost]

Just wondering (and sympathizing with you guys)...
Can't you paddle in from some other spot up or down the coast a couple miles away? Totally ignore the mega mouths on the beach while surfing then paddle away when done? Let 'em chase you if they decide to come out. How are they issuing tickets anyway? Are you carrying ID out there? Just say your name is Laird Hamilton

[Socalsupper70]

We better wise up as a community and get organized-the longer we let this go not just here at Church but Sano and Doho a precedent is being set that will be difficulty to break later. Plenty of reports of people being hassled at Trails lately-ive surfed trails for many years and have never had an incident but there have been some lately that show that the lifeys dont know the law. Even though the USCG has determinded a sup in the surf zone is not a vessel it has not stopped the lifeys from interpreting an old Boating and Harbors regulation that vessels cant be near surfers or swimmers.
The ban is ridiculous, the law is flimsily constructed and the enforcement is spotty at best-perfect conditions for the SUP surf community along with the Race/recreational sup crew to organize and get informed and start working actively to ban the PFD requirement and the sup surf ban.
I posted about the work the HPWA is trying to accomplish and stop the soon coming possibility that a PFD may be required. Crickets...
Its received lots of views and not one comment-
The sky is indeed falling....

[supsurf-tw]

  Just say your name is Laird Hamilton

Haha I remember back when we had to sneak into Trestles and would get caught my the Marines. There were a lot of people named Corky Carroll and Dewey Weber being caught.
As of this afternoon I have one of the main State Park guys looking into things that is also a SUP friend of mine so we may have some decent ammo in the next week or so.

[addapost]

It looks like the 'tide' is turning on you guys out there. Sounds like Anti-SUPpers are gaining momentum and are turning up the pressure. From the chatter here it sounds like you guys have really taken a couple hard ones on the chin and are reeling. A very similar thing happened in the world of rock climbing. Access to cliffs had become a huge problem as the sport grew in the 70's and 80's. At some point rock climbers themselves organized and took charge of the issue. They created "The Access Fund" which collects donations to use for advocating for climber's rights, fighting access challenges, and to even purchase and maintain climbing areas all around the country. They have been hugely successful. Some lawyer types who SUP should look at that model and get that kinda thing going. In my opinion that is what it is going to take if SUP surfers want to survive.

[Socalsupper70]

Bingo addapost.
Lets just say things are brewing....

[Skate]

I was just there last week and I was sus. I did not go up that far at churches. I even asked the life guard that was on duty about me sus there. He said just watch out for surfers.

[supthecreek]

Socal... I agree!
Here is a copy of my 8th post.... I really expected it to stir up some interest. NADA.
Unfortunate... I believe we have as good a chance as any group to get this done.
HPWA may have different interests than SUP surf regulations.

We are the people that will suffer immensely if regulation increases.

Re: Surfer arrested
« Reply #17 on: January 19, 2012, 05:42:25 PM »
Quote
There really is a point about “surfer arrested” here, be patient and read on…

The SUP world is amazing, it encompasses much of the best life has to offer. It is both ruggedly individual and supportively communal. It is healthy to the max with minimal harmful effects. It not limited by age, gender, strength, physical condition, climate or season. It can be enjoyed from the beginning of life till the end of life, alone or as a group. Any place there is water SUP can be enjoyed. It can be relaxing or thrilling, either casually enjoyable or supremely challenging. The SUP community is positive, respectful, hugely supportive and tolerant.

SUP is FUN… But as SUP becomes increasingly popular, it will be misunderstood and poorly regulated by misguided albeit well intentioned bureaucrat.

There are many national and local SUP organizations. They focus on the competition aspect, the social enjoyment, fund raising and other aspects that interest us.

In my limited search, I have found no organization that is dedicated to protecting our sport from ill conceived laws and regulations.

It seems to me that the time has come to form a U.S. National SUP Organization dedicated challenge local, state and national laws and regulation of our sport and only our sport. SUP is different from all other paddle or water sports and it needs to have a dedicated body, conceived for the soul purpose of protecting the continued enjoyment of Stand Up Paddle Boarding…. Period… keep it simple and effective.

Like many of you, I have been surfing for 48 years and was a front row participant in all the magic that came out of it.
Surfing has spun off many different sports : Skateboarding, Windsurfing, Snowboarding, wakeboarding and  Kite boarding to name a few.

We have seen them suffer from bad regulation. We were young and all about the sport… screw the establishment. Look what happened. Have you seen a kid skateboarding near any public place ?   We are all subject to limiting local laws and seemingly insane regulations. Heck, I remember a New England beach town where it was illegal to surf without a “Surf License” (you had to pass a test in order to get the license)

The SUP community is huge. It has the ability to raise the funds necessary to support a National organization. If you can afford a paddle… we can easily achieve this together.
Heck, I’ll bet we have all talent and resources we need in our ranks. I am sure we have many SUPers that would jump at the chance to be involved in something so important.

This isn’t funny… just think about the Coast Guard PFD regulation. The people who will make these laws are just trying to set the proper boundaries they just lack sufficient knowledge.

We need a guardian organization, set up as the GO TO authority when municipalities are seeking knowledge and guidance when the SUP question comes up, and the legal clout to defeat them in court if necessary.

Holy crap… that was more than I intended to write. I need to go paddling now.

Any Zoners out there with  the organizational skillz to roll with this?

[StandinDan]

There is a red and white sign on the beach facing north, it's just adjacent to the creek and you can see it from the water. The sign is the boundary between the state beach and the Marine beach, it warns beach goers that they are entering Camp Pendleton, blah blah blah. South of that we are good all the way to the SanO north parking lot. The campground even rents SUPs at the main office just behind the, in renovation, Pendelton beach club up on the bluff. I have schooled more than one uninformed proner, but the lifeguards are supposed to know these things. We used to get away from all the proners and surf in front of the port johns, it worked out great and everyone had their space, but this is too far north. So fine, let's just park on the peak in front of the cross and the disgruntled prone daddys can blame the fuzz.