Four Empties

What started off as a trip into town to courier a parcel, ended up being a 'look' at a few breaks north of Dunedin. I was hoping the sun would come out, but it struggled behind a bank of clouds to the south, and the light slowly faded behind the cliff as the wind turned from a stiff offshore to onshore. I stayed till the last of the decent light.

Offshore Rock Hopping - Part 2

Now, the light was pretty good at the beginning of the session, only two surfers out.. Lyndon and Maz. But due to the angle of the sun in relation to where I was on the beach, it was difficult to get any depth to the images, and focussing was difficult.

So I walked over the boulders to the base of blackhead headland to get some really tight right angles to the surf, and to the sun.

Surfing NZ - What are you doing?

Yesterday it was officially notified that Surfing New Zealand will hold a Special General Meeting to vote upon the new DRAFT of their constitution. See notice here
Time: 10am 29th August 2009, Raglan Sunset Motel, 7 Bankart St, Raglan
Purpose - In legal terms the resolution and business to be moved and considered at the SGM will be “To rescind the existing constitution and to adopt the proposed constitution enclosed with the Notice of the SGM”.

Amongst a number of changes to the constitution the clause 2.2 from 'Objectives' will be removed.

2.2 To support and promote Environmental concerns and issues affecting surfing, especially relating to water quality, the coastal environment and access to the coast.

My concern, naturally, is the removal of the objective to support and promote environmental concerns.

I have also included in the screen shot above the original clause 2.2, 2.3, and the proposed 2.6 which reads the same as current 2.3. But if 2.2 is removed, then it would appear that not only would SNZ not show concern, support or act for the preservation of the future of surf breaks and environmental issues affecting surfing in NZ, but they will have no obligation to support and co-operate with any other society involved in protecting our surfing environment as SNZ would no longer have environmental concerns as an objective.
Such other societies would include:

• Save the Waves coalition
• International Surfing Association & NGB's
• Surfrider Foundation
  
• Surfers Environmental Advocacy
  
• Surfbreak Protection Society
• Surfing Australias constitution -clause (y)

The proposal to remove clause 2.2 from the SNZ Constitution is at odds with the recent support given by SNZ for the World Surfing Reserves at the opening ceremony of the World Surfing Games in Costa Rica.

Copy of Current constitution here. Proposed DRAFT constitution here.

This time frame scarcely give clubs and members to have a meeting to decide on their stance. A two thirds vote to carry any proposed change is required. Please get together with your local club and discuss these issues, and make a show or submission to the meeting on the 29th of August, Organisations and boardriders clubs should confirm your attendance of this Special General meeting by the 24th of August to Greg Townsend.

Screen shot above from surfing NZ website.
What happened to the environmental concern and passion of these guys?
What would the late Jonathan McCarthy think, who is still up on the SNZ website as Environmental Officer?
How would this dropped clause encourage clubs at a local level to campaign for issues related to environmental and health related issues affecting surf breaks and surfing if the governing NZ body does not support them?
PLEASE - DISCUSS - ACT - INFORM OTHERS
Left Screen Shot of a comparison table added 16th Aug09 which was received in the mail, lists the other changes to the constitution with added comments :

Offshore Rock Hopping

Photos from blackhead this afternoon 1-3pm
long, short - from 1ft to solid 4ft, only 2 out to 12 out
First time I have shot from on the beach (boulder banks) at Blackhead in about 8 weeks.
Shooting with my replaced 30D body.. seemed to go fine after fine tuning custom settings.



Stacks more shots to come, part 2 tomorrow night.

DCC Bird poisoning programme

ODT article By Chris Morris on Tue, 11 Aug 2009

Hordes of seagulls circling Dunedin's Green Island landfill are in for some tough love, courtesy of the Dunedin City Council.

The "tough" part will come in the form of poisoned bait being scattered at the landfill, ready to be scoffed by black-backed seagulls picking over scraps.The "love" part will come later, when Delta contractors working for the council rescue and resuscitate other birds drugged unintentionally.

Delta landfill engineer Dave Hanan said the company had been granted approval to use alpha-chloralose, a narcotic that induced lethal hypothermia. Use of the chemical had been approved by the Department of Conservation; it was needed because black-backed seagulls habitually carried off scraps from the landfill and dropped them elsewhere, he said. read more here

"If birds see a few of their seagull buddies die, they get the idea this is not conducive to long life, and stay away."

Do birds really think like this???

related article on phoam blog here seagulls dropping rubbish, which then gets washed into the kaikorai estuary. Although the winds do way worse damage, and most items the birds pick up would be organic, and not pose too much of a threat to the environment.

UPDATE 19th August 2009 Bird Poisoning Programme Stopped

From the ODT, by Chris Morris - Wed, 19 Aug 2009 read full article here

Council water and waste services manager John Mackie confirmed the suspension yesterday, admitting he did not know the drug, alpha-chloralose, was to be used.

He said he only learned of the poison plan after details were published in the Otago Daily Times on August 11, and "immediately" instructed council staff and contractors to suspend the operation.

"Will the DCC be liable for prosecution under the Wildlife Act if protected birds are killed during the process?"

Red Evening

I was filming Caitlin surfing last night, and took these photos with the HD video camera which has an SD card onboard. Not bad resolution too at 6megapixels, although in low light, quite grainy. There was a gorgeous red glow in the sky reflecting upon the water, with a glassy 1ft swell gently gliding through.

Ode to the Pink McTavish

Above , Beanos last wave on his 9'1 pink McTavish. Photos by Caitlin.
Below, Jay slides past on Big Green, as beano goes for the Eskimo roll that resulted in the re-snapping of the board. As he popped out the other side, he had two boards.

Above paddling in. and right: last year Jay fixing the Pink McT for the first time.
below, in happier times, the repaired McT with the 'Cosmic Bandito' artwork his wife did on it.

Phoam Surf Art listings on trademe NOW

I took advice, and scrapped the $1 reserves after the last auction selling for $10.50, which was less than the cost of the blank canvas.
These auctions have been online for 5 days so far, and close this Thursday night.

No Dogs on Brighton beach please!

The sea is warming up again, and new life is adorning the shores of our coast.

Two fur seal pups have been hanging out in a crack in barneys islands on Brighton beach for the last week, along with a pair of little Blue Penguins.

Unfortunately a succession of ignorant Dog owners letting their animals loose on Brighton beach have scared them off the last few days. ignoring the sign banning dogs from the beach.
Brighton beach is a no dog zone, under DCC dog Bylaw.

See this link for an article from the Yellow eyed Penguin Trust website on Dog Attacks on Penguins

• If dogs are causing a disturbance and you are worried about vulnerable wildlife call DCC Animal Control (03 477 4000) and DOC. If you find a sick or injured penguin, please call the DOC hotline (0800 DOC HOT) or office (03 477 0677) immediately.

• Put the DOC hotline and DCC numbers into your cell phone so when you are out walking you can make the call on the spot.
  
• Dogs are prohibited from some beaches and reserves across Otago. The status of reserves and beaches is stated on their signs. Read the signs before you access a beach or track. Breaching a DCC Bylaw attracts a $300 fine. Owners of dogs who kill protected wildlife face criminal charges, fines of up to $20K and/or imprisonment for up to 3 years.
• Good information is required to start legal proceedings against a dog owner if an attack has occurred. You can help by noting as many details as you can, including: the date, time and exact location of the incident, and a full description of the offending dog.
• If you find a dead penguin bring the body in to the DOC office, or let DOC know immediately with clear instructions on how to find it. All dead penguins found are sent for post mortem assessments at Massey University to determine the cause of death.

I didn't get that close, thank god for telephoto lenses. pup below.
More information on Fur Seals The female does all the nurturing of the newborn. She stays with the pup constantly for about 12 days, then alternates between feeding at sea and suckling. As the pup grows, the mother needs more food to make enough milk. Pups are weaned in July or August, and the pregnant females go to sea to fatten once again. The young pups then head out to sea, coming ashore at times. Females start breeding at around four years.

Majestic Mansions for sale

ODT on Fri, 7 Aug 2009 By Simon Hartley Link to full ODT Article

The landmark 89-year-old Majestic Mansions apartment block is for sale in the first phase of a proposed accommodation and commercial development costing up to $9 million on the Esplanade in St Clair.

Dunedin developer Stephen Chittock, who owns Majestic Mansions, said:

the sale would help fund the building of up to 20 apartments and four retail units on a 1000sq m section now occupied by the Esplanade Motel and a house.

"The existing space is well under-utilised. The key is to retain the area as a people place... with retail such as a bakery, gallery or a jewellery shop offering an additional interest to visiting the beach," Mr Chittock said.

In October 2006, the Esplanade block was rezoned from residential 1 to local activity 2, which allows for small-scale businesses, retail shops, apartments and restaurants, the maximum building height being retained at 11m.Any proposed development compliant with the zoning does not need to be publicly notified.The motels would continue to operate through the summer and then be closed, Mr Chittock said.

Demolition of the motel block and adjacent house could begin by mid-2010.

Above plan updated 9th August, thanks to comment #1

The wraps are off

... and the flashback to the 70's is complete :0)

Wish I was there

New Look Blog

What do you think?
Update
Okay, I've made heaps of changes to the blog since the first one yesterday, and I think I have settled on this version..
Thanks everyone for their feedback, much appreciated!
Hopefully I can stop fiddling now, and get back to work!

hmm, that didn't quite work, I must be [am] an obsessive compulsive fiddler.
I created a new background for this template, but somehow it wont upload when I insert to the template HTML.
Putting it here so I can link through blogger uploads.

.png version
Below, failed upload, how it looks at left, and where I insert the code, right


And woo hoo, thanks to my awesome sister Charlotte, she fixed the file extension, and now i have my new blog finished!
Just need to put in a few extra widgets and I'm set!

My life in photos - family post.

The last three days I have been sorting through all my family photographs, to get them in some sort of order so I can get them scanned and create some sort of timeline slide show to give my kids for their future and my eek grandchildren if and when they come. (pic for Amber)

Also, Mum, the old concrete water tank and BBQ wall cut I was telling you about on the phone. All the rubble is cleared away now, hopefully by next winter we get the spa in there. Vege garden lying fallow in the background. And the new paint in the room at right.

And another random, Me river surfing Tweed River Queensland 1980, and on the beach at Burliegh the same trip. I was 10ish

DVD Update