Joint Custody.
T Street: 10am to 6pm
Doheny: “stand up paddle boarding and kayak surfing is restricted to the area south of The Hammer along San Juan Creek, however, this restriction may be lifted by on-duty lifeguards due to the number of board surfers in the water north of The Hammer.”
ETC.
The different places have different rules when it comes to wave sharing between swimmers, paddle boarders/kayakers, surfers, and I suppose kiteboarders. It kind of makes sense; a paddle board can weigh 20 to 50 pounds and could really injure a swimmer or a surfer if it hit them with any speed. Who wants to get run over by something that big moving that fast. Certainly, also, parents do not want their child to be sliced up or knocked out by a surfboarder. What about the kiteboarders; How would you like to be gashed by a kiteboard moving at 50mph or have them come in for a landing on your head.
In general these things do take care of themselves, somewhat. Swimmers generally congregate around lifeguard stands and you really will not see many down at places like Trestles. A standup paddle boarder generally will not encroach into a pack of surfers…. safety in numbers, right? Also, a lot of paddle boarders just want to paddle around to check out scenery while they are exercising and there are plenty of places like this from Laguna all the way up the coast. A lot are only looking for space so will move to where they can do that. Surfers, too, will only be around when the waves are good for what they are trying to accomplish. Most beach goers wont be crowding the parking lots at Pismo Beach Pier at 6am, right? Surfers generally like to get out when there is a big swell, producing the kind of waves that are just generally to huge for the average sup, kayak, and probably a kiteboarder, to even want to attempt. Of course there are exceptions; check out the yourtube video, “Big Wave Kitesurfing at Mavericks.”
As these sports increase in popularity the sharing of waves will become more of an issue and it will have to be addressed. How do we allocate wave time? Who gets to make that decision? How should this work out?
Send in your comments/experiences. We’ll get them posted up.
-V