Sadly we are not able to have our annual kayak race this year as our small event has been asked by Disaster Management, under provisions in the new event regulations, to provide quite onerous safety measures. They are particularly concerned about water activities taking place during the season when sharks are known to come close to shore, and the effect of any bad publicity that would occur if a shark attack took place.
It is no longer enough to provide an indemnity form, and in the interests of safety we are now required to ensure Sea Rescue and medical personal on the water, a medical doctor on shore, shark spotter, lifeguard, and have an emergency removal plan to include the provision for a helicopter landing site for medical evacuation, plus R5 million public liability insurance.
As our "fun" event is not a money making scheme, and the preparation of the documents alone is a daunting task, I have decided to cancel the event.
Comments welcomed.
I'm a bit disappointed ... was looking forward to a fun day on the water.
ReplyDeleteIn my view a shark attack will lead to bad publicity anyway regardless of whether the new requirements are met or not.
How many big groups of kayakers are getting attacked by sharks around the world?
ReplyDeleteWhat if people just rock up anyway?
Yikes! This is hectic... and a bit over the top in my opinion...
ReplyDelete1. I doubt the sharks have only just started doing this; I think they've ALWAYS been doing it.
2. The reason they're being spotted more frequently is that there are now Shark Spotters...
Oh dear, what an over protective society we've become.
Well....if everyone happens to be in the area and starts the paddle at a certain time then technically it's not a event or comp... just a bunch of people who happen to turn up at the same place at the same time who like to paddle...
ReplyDeleteLove to. But technically someone still has to arrange the "accidental meeting" it and that would be Paddlers and then we would be breaking the City's laws by still holding a gathering without official permission. Derek
DeleteIf the sharks can't get you the Nanny State will!!!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure it's well meant but what absolute nonsense. This is a "community" event and everybody should speak to their local ward councillor's and express their disappointment at the city preventing an annual community event from taking place.
Sorry to hear that. The "controls" being imposed on the public are becoming as stupid as in the UK.
ReplyDeleteLogic tells me that if people want to get together and race, that is up to them. How do they justify this when anyone can stroll down to the beach and go for a swim or snorkel with no such measures in place?
Anyway, good luck.
Gosh, we are heading towards a 'nanny' state too, along with the Aussies, Kiwis and Poms!!
ReplyDeleteOuch! this is seriously harsh! and just for a fun event. Thank you any way for all your effort. Hope to see you soon on the water.
ReplyDeleteWell z "few" friends doing a 10km circuit and dropping R30 in the nsri tin st the shop is a cool idea / UNDERGROUND PADDLING just prohibition
ReplyDeleteHmm... I would also think that a bunch of people could get together and have a race but I understand Derek's concern in the light of the fact that he has already applied to the City for permission to hold a formal event.
ReplyDeleteDerek - could you perhaps let me know what the nuber is of the new Regulation/s and I can check it out from a legal perspective. Perhaps we can overcome the problem.
best regards
Paul
Derek - I found a by-law called the "City of Cape Town - Events By Law" It has the following provision "This By-Law does not apply to –
ReplyDelete(a) events of fewer than 50 persons where there is no amplified sound or no temporary structures to be used; and
(b) small events such as family and community events held on private property or purpose built venues, subject to any other legislation"
We normally get less than 50 people don't we? Perhaps we can argue that our event should be excluded.
This is followed by what is called (in law) a "saving provision" as follows:
(3) Notwithstanding subsection (2), the Events Permit Officer or a Law Enforcement Officer may —
(a) when the Events Permit Officer or a Law Enforcement Officer finds that this By-law is, or likely to be, contravened by an event organizer;
or
(b) when a stakeholder affected by the impact and risk attached to an event files a complaint with the Event Permit Officer or a Law
Enforcement Officer,
issue a compliance notice to the event organizer in terms of section 8 and act in terms of this By-law.
I think it may be stretching the facts to argue that, notwithstanding that we have less than 50 participants, we may be hit by this "saving' provision.
Let me discuss this with The City. I think that we may be able to argue our way out of this. It may take some time but if we do convince city then we have solved our problem. What do you think?
Its a crazy world we are living in it seems.
ReplyDeleteThe officialdom is not capable of ensuring the basic human rights of a safe life on land, where women and children and men for that matter, can live without being stressed about being attacked or robbed during day and night and they concern themselves with a few paddlers, who know dam well what the risks are and are quite prepared to look after themselves. These perceived dangers on the water are a dam sight less than the dangers we face in the traffic just getting to the beach and back.
Jurgen
It's is a fun day, an opportunity to make a contribution to the NSRI, so thank you to the people at Paddlers for all your efforts.
ReplyDelete- if the event is held at a different time of the year (Autumn), would all those costs still have to be covered?
Dermot Magowan
If this decision goes unchallanged it can in theory mean the end of sea kayaking and any type of watersport for that matter in False Bay, or any other area where a shark has been sighted.
ReplyDeleteIf any logic is applied, that has to be the outcome because the "dangers" are not only there for an organized race.
These "public servants" must be educated very quickley and have their mandates and priorities explained to them very clearly.
Has anybody thought what kind of public image is being put out there by this ban.
Sharks have always been there and it was never a problem. They are a force of nature and we as humans fall under those rules if we play in the sea, but the deciscion to do so must be left to the individual.
Its like saying watching rugby can induce intense excitement, which may lead to heart attacks, so we must bann the playing of Rugby.
there is a serious short circuit in this affair!
Jurgen
Thanks Paul!!!
ReplyDeleteInteresting - a prime example of the effect of this peculiar obsession with protecting sharks. Things will only get worse.
ReplyDeleteRed tape, paranoia with safety, and the resulting costs, were also why NEAG abandoned organising the annual Noordhoek fairs. It simply became too expensive (police, fire, an engineer's certificate for the tents, etc.).
The Nanny has the last word.
And to think our forefathers crossed the oceans in sailboats...
Don't blame you for cancelling! The Nanny State has gone mad!!!
ReplyDeleteThis bureaucracy is pathetic.
ReplyDeleteI suggest a message on the blog and newsletter... " Peter and Mark are paddling from Long Beach at 9am on Sunday xxth and have asked us to let you know that any one who wished to join them is most welcome. They say they are leaving at 9am sharp etc etc."
May be worth a bash - but will have to be kept informal.
We don't want the "club" to die.
We feel that these regulations are unnecessary and an absolute infringement on our rights to paddle in a group, whether it is in a race or just with like minded paddlers going out for recreational enjoyment. This is just another instance of the authorities interfering where they are not needed, and one step closer to a nanny state.
ReplyDeleteWe should get together to send a message to the authorities that this interference is unwarranted, unnecessary and total negative.
Race? What race? I'll meet you there, and I bet I can paddle faster than you can.
ReplyDeleteI was also wondering - what is the fundemental difference between this "event" and a yacht race? Does the city impose the same requirements the yacht club when they race? If the difference is the size of the craft then what about the small dinghy races - where children are the participants? Would it not be embarassing if a child or any sailor for that matter was attacked by a shark? On can go on and draw similar analogies.
ReplyDeleteI am not even sure whether the City has jurisdiction over the sea... The ocean does not seem to form part of the geographical area mentioned in the By law. I am almost certain that the sea is a National Goverment responsibility anyway.
All in all - Nonsense....
Have Disaster Management totally lost the plot???
ReplyDeleteIs this the beginning of a total ban of all water sports in case of "Bad Publicity" during the summer months???
Will the Fish Hoek Surf skiers also now have to ensure Sea Rescue and medical personal on the water, a medical doctor on shore, shark spotter, lifeguard, and have an emergency removal plan to include the provision for a helicopter landing site for medical evacuation, plus R5 million public liability insurance when they have a Friday evening club paddle in False Bay.
Rater absurd when you think that kayaks and surf skis have been paddled in False Bay for more than 20 years. Even more so when you know that you stand less chance of being investigated by a shark if you paddle in a group!!!
So where is the logic in making group paddling prohibitive by drowning the organisers in bureaucratic bull.
The problem emanates when those who make these stupid laws do not have a clue as to what paddling is about. They make these laws to cover their asses if God forbid somebody sees a shark or the one in a million chance that a shark takes a bite out of your water craft.
We are very aware that sharks do exist in the waters that we paddle in. We do so anyway because we love the water and it's far safer than cycling, being mugged on Table Mountain or being hijacked on the roads.
While we are on the subject of paddling....
For those fuddy duddies who insist on being the eyes and ears of the whale watchers brigade .....
Kayaks have been used around whales for hundreds of years. We have paddled around, over and through these incredible animals. Often by chance and sometimes just to share time and be close to them. No we do not harass them. They are much bigger than we are and we do feel vulnerable when close to them. They will submerge if they do not want your company or the male will blow loudly warning you to back off!!!
So no, they are not these defenseless little animals that need your protection!!!
Please leave us paddlers alone and rather report incidents like Navy Namacurra's speeding through schools of feeding dolphins, just for the hell of it!!!!
That's harassment!!!
We paddlers love the ocean and are in awe of all that inhabit it!!! Our safety is paramount.
Our intentions are never to harass whales but to have the awesome experience of sharing time with them for the brief period they spend in our waters!!!
It is very sad to see that " fear of the unknown " has grown into such a tangle of red tape. Sure there is an element of danger in anyone being in or on the sea, but by infusing your community event with such fear and red tape does great damage to coastal recreation in general, weather it be swimming, diving, surfing, fishing, kayaking, rowing, or sailing; any contact with the sea becomes fraught with paranoia when such fear is promoted by the local authority red tape.
ReplyDeleteI sincerely hope that a better form of event safety management can be evolved whereby the local authority responds positively to notification of an event and in turn notifies a centralised structure to handle problems rather than making smaller events impossible to organise.
So assuming we are not the victims of the rapidly rising crime rate and are actually able to paddle, we have to risk our lives to get to the event by driving on the largely unpoliced roads filled with unroadworthy vehicles driven by unlicensed drivers, but are not allowed to have a club paddling race...? Go figure. SA has one of the worst crime rates in the world as well as some of the highest unemployment stats and yet our government spends its time worrying about the very unlikely POSSIBILITY of a shark attack during a small paddling race... Madness!
ReplyDeleteGuess I'll have to go for a paddle to figure this out...
Jean.
It's the local government by the way - city council - not national. FYI. Derek
Delete