Front page of the Geraldton Guardian,Friday the 9/1/09.SAILBOARD WAVE RAGE, Jamie Hamill from Sydney was intentionally run over while windsurfing at Sunset last weekend.Only tourist were in the water while this incident happened and it was caos.Some guys need to pull there heads in and get over themselves! Best of luck Jamie on the recovery sorry your holiday was spoiled by 1 selfish individual.The injury looked very nasty,lucky not to loose a leg.
Sorry to hear that, I thought that this type of BS behaviour was reserved for surfers.
Sorry Dan for not stating the obvious,another sailboarder that was unhappy about sharing a wave with this poor fellow. Jamie had jybed onto the end section of the wave well downwind of the screaming and irate attacker.Rather than hang back in the pocket and give the wave a good hiding the wave rager has decided to charge down the line missing all the good bits on the way cursing at full volume and blatantly ran in to him.
thats just stupid.. its one thig to give someone a good verbal for droping in on you but to run them down is reaaaal bad. he could have easily killed the guy.
admitadly Ive done it to krusty a few times but that is all in good fun
I wouldnt be aiming at someone with the intention of hurting them.
Was it a local guy or what?
I wouldnt be aiming at someone with the intention of hurting them.
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There are only about 7 local sailers in Gero all others originate from elsewhere.
I didn't realise there were any Aboriginal Sailors in Gero
Anyone able to scan and post the article ?
As for locals... what determines a local ?
Time to dust off those passports & birth certificates
(donning flame suit now)
This is serious stuff folks.
There's a big difference between threats and abuse compared to an actual physical attack.
That's the difference between civilised people and &((^%((^&^&646 [}:)][}:)]
If you want to act like a thug, become a bikie.
Blah blah vigilante rant blah blah, locals schmocals blah blah blah.
Select to expand quoteRad Lad said...
There are only about 7 local sailers in Gero all others originate from elsewhere.
I didn't realise there were any Aboriginal Sailors in Gero
As outward appearance doesn't dictate Aboriginality you would be suprised who does what in Gero, or maybe you wouldn't be suprised.
No there were no (locals) in the water only tourists. Ok yeh what makes locals have a right to run over crew no more than the right for tourists to do the same s###.
Well I hope they throw the low life piece of s**t into jail, there's no excuse for it. If he was a tourist he needs to be tarred and feathered, a fin stuck up his @*#^ and send him home back home to the rock he crawled out from under. 
S**theads like this will give windsurfing a bad name.
Just been looking at the Geraldton Guardian on line, but I can't find the article. Am I blind?....
That's just nuts. A windsurf board could EASILY kill someone, even at the speeds I travel!
At the most extreme, let it come to a punch-up on the beach a la Point Break.
Sailing your board at someone and deliberately running over or ramming them is tantamount to assault with intent to cause GBH, at the very least.
A slashed artery, or a solid impact to the head, out in the water...and it's all over, red rover.
Bl@@dy idiot.
word is it was a pommy tourist. Also that there was buggerall wrong with his sail?
There have been a few around the place that interperate the rules loosly. Most common is to jibe onto a taken wave upwind pretending not to look downwind then after a minute or 2 glaring downwind at the "offender". But mostly its pretty mellow here. Pretty certain it wasnt any local crew involved.
I have the article if someone can tell me how to post it?
It's bad enough when you hear of accidental incidents, we don't need this sort of mentality on the water! Most (I'm guessing 95%+) are in it for the fun, enjoyment, and to meet others likeminded.
A mate here had an incident in Lancilin this time last year, and collided with another w/surfer on a wave.....broke both bones in one arm and required extensive surgery (plate/bolts) It's taken most of a year just for him to get back on the water! Although in his case it was an accident, and the 'offender' did everything he could to get him to Perth hospital.....
(BTW, he's back on the water, and arm's good, if the good samaritan 'offender' is reading this!)
Hey EB, after you helped carry Jamie out of the water... did you notice if anyone had a 'quite' word with the offending interloper ?
If the injury is a fracture/break it will mean time out of the water and time off work.
For someone in Jamie's profession... time out of the industry means no money coming in.
This is a very very serious issue with possible wide ranging ramifications...
Opens up the question of on the water insurance and liability.
Anyone know where to find/speak to the other sailor.
Would be good to get their point of view before confiscating his gear and selling it to help pay for the weeks without work Jamie will be facing.
Wow,is this the Jamie who sails at Kyeemah and drives the black VW panel van?
An excellent sailor and very placid fellow if its the same one.
How he would prove the assault is the question.
Don’t believe all you read in the papers! I was the other sailor in the incident and find it hard to believe the stories that have emanated from this unfortunate accident.
The collision was by no means intentional or rage. I was on a wave alone getting upwind to take my first bottom turn when the sailor gybed on the same wave just down wind. I had started a bottom turn heading for the lip and the guy continued heading upwind towards me. Unfortunately I could not avoid the collision and my board was damaged. I left the water afterwards to change boards.
The other sailer, on numerous occasions, was seen to be going upwind, gybing, and coming over the back of waves that were occupied by other sailors (others can verify this). I haven’t seen such disregard of the basic wave sailing rules and disregard of safety, for himself and others, in my 20 years of wave sailing.
In the water I apologised for the collision and tried to explain the wave rules and was verbally abused. The guy did not indicate he was hurt and I did not realise this until I was informed of the newspaper article on Friday. I do not believe there was any damage to his sail, as I did not contact it.
I will respond to any private messages on this topic, but ask that people respect the rules of the forum and seek facts before posting. If Jamie would like to contact me rather than the media he is more than welcome to on 0400 082 292.
Locals in Gero. HA. HA
All were blow ins at one stage.
Localism is a virus water sports like windsurfing caught of surfing. There are no real windsurfing locals in any of the windsurfing breaks in Australia that deserve and more or less respect than anyone else. Normal wavesailing rules need to apply regardless of who is on the water.
Respect is something that should be given by everyone to everyone.
Amen.
Time and time again you see wavesailing rules being flaunted up and down the WA coastline and at breaks around the world. Reading between the lines (and I have read the newspaper article and Sandman45's post) it would appear that Jamie should read the wavesailing rules. To this end I have pasted into this post the wavesailing rules specified on the Windsurfing WA website (windsurfwa.com/WA/rules.html). The newspaper article mentioned that there were six other sailors on the water that day. Now I've sailed Sunset's on a number of occasions and it's a large break with good wavesailing opportunities over a large area so why the hell Jamie should feel the need to turn onto a wave someone is already riding is clearly questionable. If you ignore the rules then there's a reasonable chance you are going to get hurt.
Good on you Sandman45 for showing the courage to come forward and share your side of the story.
If you want to sail in the waves, make sure you know the rules.....
Wave Sailing Rules
Sailing safely in waves requires adherence to a certain set of immutable rules. The wave riding rules are aimed at making wave riding safer and more enjoyable for all. They are largely taken from surfing rules, with some additions, applicable only to sailboards.
Don't sail in conditions way out of your experience. Wave sailing requires a good water start (fast and efficient), preferably a reliable gybe (or tack), and probably the ability to jump. Don't sail conditions that are way out of your capabilities, you will just break gear and ruin the waves for everybody else (especially in crowded breaks).
The sailor who is heading out has right of way of the sailor that is coming in on the wave. The sailor riding the wave has speed and manoeuverability, and must give way to those sailing out.
The sailor riding the wave closest to the breaking part of the wave has right of way over all other wave riders. Usually this is the sailor most upwind. You can ride a wave with a sailor closer to the breaking part of the wave than yourself, but don't crowd the sailor, and watch closely and be prepared to get out of the way.
Don't drop in. This is a very bad practice, completely abhorred in surfing and windsurfing circles, and is very dangerous. Dropping in is the act of climbing on a wave that someone else is already riding. Dropping in is often achieved by sailing over the back of a wave that someone else is already riding. Doing this can lead to landing on top of the person riding the wave, and is thus dangerous. The first person on a wave, owns the wave.
Don't ride shore-wards on the back of a wave. This practice is dangerous. In such a position you cannot see the
sailors that are in the water until the last moment, and it is easy to hit them as the appear through the back of the wave.
These rules are universally accepted around the world. If you abide by them, you will have little trouble with other sailors in the waves. If you don't, you will have some very angry sailors confronting you on the beach.
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quote]loza said...
Good on you Sandman45 for showing the courage to come forward and share your side of the story.
Yeh good on you Sandman it is always good to hear the other side of the story.I only knew the story as breifly told to me by Jamie.
Loza is there any chance you can add the public notices message from the back of the same paper,these are Jamies's words,can be found on pg28 top left corner.
Anyhow it goes to show how 1 sided stories go a stray. From my observations of the water on that day not knowing anyone out there it was confusing.
You can be out there at the end of the season when all the tourists have left, with 20 sailors that live in Geraldton full time locally raised from birth or not and the crowd flows well.You throw 6 guys together that don't know each other and the pack gets confused.
