“I’ve never seen a jet ski with blue flashing lights before,” chuckled ubiquitous photographer, Simon Williams (aka Swilly) as he checked in for his weekly chat with the Tracks team.
Swilly had just come from the water after shooting an air clinic at Casuarina alongside a crew from the nearby High-Performance-Centre. The session was overseen by Josh Kerr, who was on the beach critiquing the sky-writing efforts of a group that included his daughter Sierra, Molly Picklum, Joel Vaughan, and Lennix Smith. While Kerrsy and a few others looked on from the beach, Josh Fuller and another coach from the HPC flung the grommets into rampy peaks using skis.
The HPC coaches regularly make use of the long, stretch of beach at Casuarina to perform whip-ins with surfing prodigies. The technique is recognized as one of the best ways to fast-track the development of the aerial skills required to become a world-class contender.
However, today’s high-flying session was interrupted by an armada of six cops on jet skis, and a police boat.
“It was like the bloody landing at Dunkirk,” insisted Swilly. “The main guy had more gizmos on his vest than Mr Gadget and he plowed straight up the beach and told Josh he needed to have spotters on the skis.”
There were no swimmers for miles and the coaches were all equipped with appropriate safety equipment. Meanwhile, Josh pointed out that there were half a dozen people on the beach acting as spotters. Eventually, the police gave permission for the session to continue, but as Swilly pointed out they had certainly made their maritime muscle felt.
If surf crime really did become a thing it would be interesting to see how the boys in blue would regulate a lineup like the Super Bank on their skis. Could you be arrested for snaking? Locked up for a brutal burning? Charged with dangerous surfing? When you think about it, it’s probably better that we regulate our own lineups.
