Mornington Peninsula surfers turn on ‘Melbourne COVID dogs’
Surfers on the Mornington Peninsula have sent a blunt message to their city counterparts, with a sign warning off “Melbourne COVID dogs” set up on a popular beach.
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Things have turned nasty over the right to surf on the Mornington Peninsula.
A large homemade sign has appeared in the foreshore at Gunnamatta Beach overnight, requesting that Melbourne surfers stay away.
Shown all morning on a Trigger Brothers surfcam, it read: “F.CK OFF MELBOURNE COVID DOGS METRO KOOKS”.
Police were later shown removing the sign.
Gunnamatta is one of the Peninsula’s premier surfing spots and conditions are expected to be good in coming days.
The work kook is surfing slang for an incompetent boardrider.
“Although, it’s probably reasonable to assume the kind of gumby who’d whack up a sign like this might actually be struggling to get to his feet,” one veteran waterman said.
There has been concern among locals that Melbourne boardriders will hit the highway in the belief it is part of the metropolitan area and they are entitled to surf there.
Part of that consternation stems from the stern police approach to blocking visitors to the Surf Coast, potentially leading to an overflow of surfers heading to spots like Gunnamatta, Rye and Portsea.
There has been friction evident on surf forums since the coronavirus crisis took hold in Autumn this year.
Much that was initially related to Surf Coast breaks.
The sign is reminiscent of the hostility towards affluent Peninsula visitors who returned to Australia from the United States ski resort of Aspen in March and were accused of flouting isolation protocols, putting locals at risk.
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