“It’s an absolute joke.”
Fairfax is reporting there’s a new council proposal to stop people from being able to surf at Bondi Beach with only limited access to other areas of the beach.
The proposal is reportedly due to “residential concerns” and requests surfers be banned from the northern end of the beach.
The iconic beach is one of the busiest in Sydney and the ban would see any board with a fin restricted.
Bondi resident and super Adam Gibson said the plan is “ludicrous”:
“It is an absolute joke to consider a blanket idea of ‘herding’ soft board riders and general surfers into an ever-smaller area, with the introduction of buffer zones, or pushing everyone to South Bondi.”
A Waverly council spokeswoman said the proposal was included in a survey of beach users as part of a yearly review of operations at Bondi, Bronte and Tamara beaches.
The survey said:
“The (council) has asked for a review of the definition of soft and hard boards and from fibreglass and foam topped to simply fin or no fin.”
“This would restrict any craft with a fin to the breaks at the southern end of the beach.
“This would eliminate any interaction with people who choose to bathe between the flags and any surf-craft with fins from the northern half of Bondi beach.”
They added that a downside of the change would see all surf club training and Let’s Go Surfing lessons moved to South Bondi.
Bondi Boardriders president Ian Wallace told Fairfax the northern end was the “perfect place to learn to surf”.
“It is a coming-of-age for kids. They hone their skills on a soft board in a safer environment and then you get a fibreglass board and move to the south end.”
Vanessa Mitchell’s children surf at the north end and added it wasn’t as rough as the south end:
“The pro-kind of surfers are [south], they’d get angry if the younger ones and learners are on their waves.”
No decision will be reached until the survey results have been revealed.
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Image: Getty
Written by Marni Dixit
