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personal watercraftsAugust 05, 2007
The Monterey Bay Sanctuary considers banning personal watercrafts to protect marine life. The proposal to ban tow-in surfers is creating startling reactions on whether big wave surfing is still going to exist. The banning is mainly for surf spots with big waves. Mavericks is one of the main spots the issue is being proposed for. The banning of tow-in surfing is affecting other big wave surf spots as well other than at mavericks.
Tow-in surfing is a technique in surfing created by a few professional surfers in the late 1990s. A surfer is towed into a breaking wave by a jet ski with a tow line. Tow-in surfing is usually used when waves are too big to paddle into or there is a dangerous part of the wave.
The P.W.C (personal watercraft) engines are polluting the air and ocean with loud noise’s and the exhaust fumes. Also, they may be a hazard for people responsible for the watercraft and or the surfers riding them. The watercrafts disturbs a lot of sea life including; gray whales, sea lions, fish and other marine life. The banning of the watercrafts would help protect the marine life, not just themselves but there home and families. The sharp turns of the watercrafts frighten the marine life and pollute their water.
The Local surfers and community agree with the proposal to ban the P.W.C because of the noise and the disturbance of the marine life. According to Mark Renneker, a family practice doctor at UC San Francisco, “Jet skis are a form of strip mining a surf spot.” Renneker is a local Maverick surfer. The big-wave surfers that use tow-in surfing to catch big waves, disagree with the banning. They believe the dangers of the environment are overstated and their sport is harmful.
Tow-in surfing has its up’s and down’s. The P.W.C disturbs the marine life and pollutes the air with noise. Most surfers go out to surf to get away from the noise and all the chaos in the real world. Surfing is a peaceful sport for most. Although, with the sound of jet skis, the peace in the water no longer exists. However, jet skis are helpful to rescue surfers in big waves and without a P.W.C it is almost impossible to rescue someone in 60 to 80 foot waves. The banning of the P.W.C’s has many positive and negative effects. Even if tow-in surfing is banned, the use of jet skis would still be in session. Warshaw, the author of “The Encyclopedia of Surfing,” said, “They would still flock to the break when the biggest swells whipped up, figuring a fine would be worth the thrill, and "the idea of it being a little more outlaw only adds to the cachet." Surfers would still surf big waves with tow-in surfing when the waves are big because knowing their going to get caught and get a ticket makes surfing more exciting and the surfing would be worthwhile.
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