Surf’s up but the board’s locked away

MICK LAWRENCE: Shutting some Tasmanian beaches but not others is posing health and safety questions

BREAKING POINT: WIth surfing rights come responsibilities. Picture: NIGEL HALLETT

L IKE all strata of society, surfers have had their world turned upside down by the coronavirus.

In major surf centres like Hawaii, Bali, and California, surfing is now illegal. Here we are a lot better off, you can still surf by adhering to specific rules. Just you and a mate, 1.5 metres apart at all times. Which is pretty much how surfers prefer it to be, so in lots of ways life as a surfer here goes on as usual.

Which is not the way for lots of other sporting folk in Tasmania.

If you play football, netball, basketball, indeed a whole stack of activities, bad luck, your sport is now on hold. Go home and read a book. So to this point in time surfers are extremely privileged and it’s not a situation any thinking surfer would want to jeopardise.

Last week all lands managed by Parks and Wildlife were closed, while council and Crown Lands remained open.

That means you cannot use closed beaches for any purpose, be that walking, swimming or surfing and includes surf spots around the entire state, so it’s not just a local issue.

The closure of most beaches on the South Arm peninsula means the only beach now open to Hobart surfers is the western end of Hope Beach, known as RSL’s.

The fickle spots Roches Beach/Lauderdale, Seven Mile Beach and their point breaks are still open to the public.

Mick Lawrence. Picture: Zak Simmonds

Tasmanian surfers are big travellers who think nothing of driving hundreds of kilometres for a surf. It’s the core of Tasmanian surfing ethos and if there’s a surf anywhere on this rock, someone will be on to it.

Meanwhile, the government wants us to stay home, but you can go out to shop, work or exercise. Clearly surfing is an exercise, so driving to the beach for a surf is not only legal but a right!

Or, is it?

If you live in South Hobart and have surfed South Arm all your life, can you now drive to Park Beach for a surf, or are you confined to your postcode?

The residents of Park Beach hope so. Their local beach has now become the focus of Hobart surfers. There are an estimated 2000-plus in Hobart and 4000 in the state. Physical distancing rules are being challenged and the natives are becoming restless. To date clear heads have prevailed, but if, or when they don’t, then public opinion, not medical facts, may leave authorities with little choice but to close all surf beaches or even withdraw our right to surf.

In the late 1700s the natives of Hawaii assumed surfing was a right, and it was, until they were hit by a pandemic in the form of Captain Cook. As a result, most of them died, as did surfing, which along with a whole lot of other traditions became illegal under the regime of British missionaries.

It took almost 100 years for Hawaiians to regain the right to surf and it’s a point that none of us should overlook under the regime of today’s pandemic, whether you’re a surfer or not.

This winter, with social isolation, cancellation of winter sports and mass unemployment, more surfers than ever will be seeking to exercise by surfing and their mental health will surely be a winner.

However, the channelling of surfers to places like Park Beach is a no-win situation that could get out of control. It certainly has in other parts of Australia, where beach closures are ever increasing. Easter may well bring the issue to a head on a national level.

Surely a safer, more practical approach would be to spread the crowd, reopen the South Arm beaches with physical distancing restrictions.

If the situation worsens and community transfer breaks out, as a surfer, I’d be the first to advocate the immediate lockdown of all Tasmanian beaches.

Rights come with responsibilities and most surfers would consider not surfing under such conditions, the right and responsible thing to do.

My concern is that our leaders will adopt a more authoritarian approach, withdrawing a broad range of community rights, not just a surfer’s right to surf.

History shows it took four generations for the Hawaiians to win that one back.

Tasmanian Mick Lawrence started surfing in 1964, was state champion 1966 and 1967, is a filmmaker, writer, sea kayaker and wilderness guide. He is president of Surfing Tasmania Inc, but the views expressed here are his own.