Venus Bay - Vicco

[2pac]

Hey crew - i'm going on a mini-break soon to Venus Bay down in East Vicco with some mates. Any of you been down that way? If so, any good breaks to look out for?

Cheers,

2pac

[puurri]

chirp.

[Grooter]

Never been to there but I have been to Walkerville which is further down. Was a long time ago but I do remember there was a lot of surf to be had.

[LONGINUS]

Some nice waves to be had, here's what I have put together of the area http://www.surfingatlas.com/division/20

[wanto]

long. i've just had a look at your atlas.

there are a couple of spots in there that i'd question need to be in there - at this point, nothing too close to my heart.. just wondering what your policy is, open slather or some discretion where discretion is enjoyed by those surfing?

another wannasurf?

[LONGINUS]

Hey Mate, I know what you mean and I wanted / needed to differentiate ourselves from Wannasurf as much as possible. Focusing on higher quality imagery, weather feeds and hopefully more intuitive navigation only gets you so far. I tried to treat each spot with some dignity and viewing each break as unique - that means no 'blanket' open slather rulings on what should be in there and what shouldn't. We have tried to balance the fact that this is supposed to be a global atlas whilst still respecting the surfers that call that 'spot' their homebreak.

A compromise we reached with a few South African and New Zealand based surfers on a few breaks that they believed were very sensitive was to move the marker off the spot and zoom the map out so that it is impossible to find the spot from our Atlas. The entry is still there as are the photos but you would need to go elsewhere to find the location via some other means. If that means going to wannsurf then so be it but I would like to think it would mean talking to one of the locals in the area first. Another compromise I suggested was that locals could make comments under the spot, division, sub division etc which anyone can do and list a few 'suggestions' for would be visitors on how to best avoid aggro in the water.

In short, whenever someone has requested some form of action due to the spot being sensitive to visitors in general (penguin, turtle colonies - we have had a few of those) through to it breaks once or twice a year and of course the fact that it is still a 'secret' I have done something about it. This serves the travelling surfer as well I feel - do you really want to travel somewhere and surf breaks where you are going to be hassled? I dont believe in localism but I believe in respect and have always tried to work out some form of compromise.

I would add though that any email that starts off with "you guys are a bunch of cnuts for having that break in there" gets deleted quicker than a Labour Party anti whaling policy - (sorry, couldnt help myself.)

[TMC]

Hey crew - i'm going on a mini-break soon to Venus Bay down in East Vicco with some mates. Any of you been down that way? If so, any good breaks to look out for?

Cheers,

2pac

Apparently there are more crips in Venus Bay, than on the strip after a tyson fight. Might not be a wise decision for you Mr Shakur.

[wanto]

long:
well quite often i go places because of localism - i don't take a carload and know how to handle myself in the water, so just about always go alright. localism is a last bastion or sorts, an unappreciated saving grace of the dedicated surfer. i'll even go as far as to say i welcome a little agro in the water because in this day and age it is necessary to pull people into line. and to some extent it's people like you who seem to welcome the rewards without the investment of time, commitment, patience and respect who've accelerated this problem - i'm not so delusional to believe that in a world growing the way it is, there would never be crowded surf and surf guides, but wished that all surf guides had shown more discretion than they traditionally have.

i was hoping your product would stick to the well known breaks, and document them thoroughly, instead of trying to list every break - regardless of it's standing. that in my opinion would be a more sought after product, more accessible for all (tourists and locals) and something that has been lacking in the online media.

quick question - do you have any secrets that you won't publish?

[2pac]

Some nice waves to be had, here's what I have put together of the area http://www.surfingatlas.com/division/20

Thanks mate - this is great - gives me an idea of what i can expect.

2pac

[Revolution]

chirp.

That doesnt really work 40mins after the guy has posted... :?

[puurri]

^^^
slow day.

[LONGINUS]

long:
i was hoping your product would stick to the well known breaks, and document them thoroughly, instead of trying to list every break - regardless of it's standing. that in my opinion would be a more sought after product, more accessible for all (tourists and locals) and something that has been lacking in the online media.

I think that's a good point wanto. Personally my drive isnt to beat wannasurf in terms of how many spots we have. I dont think that is a valid comparison of 'who is the best'. They are at about 7000 spots, we are at 3000. I'm spending what we can on improving the buoy feeds, weather, listing relevant providers, working out who has the best tour packages and providing portals for that, who makes the best boards for certain breaks and promoting them and sourcing imagery for what we have and enhancing that as opposed to a race to see who can list one lined entries on as many sensitive spots as possible. Guys like you are our target market and we gain nothing in pissing you off.

I agree that some spots may be on the 'hairy edge' of that definition and accordingly, I am very happy to work with any locals of those breaks in coming up with some sort of compromise. I also dont take the attitude of..well it's on wannasurf and in the Stormrider Guide - everyone knows about it so STFU. Becasue of this we will never have as many spots as wannasurf - but I want to focus on quality not quantity.

long:
do you have any secrets that you won't publish?

Me personally? I would have to say no. I spent most of my travel time in the Pacific. Places I know that I can say with some conviction only a handful of other people know and are hence 'secret' are uninhabited atolls and reefs in the middle of no-where, they are more novelty than anything as the chance of anyone getting there is fairly remote. If I knew of a secret spot that was home to some form of endangered animal or an unspoilt village somewhere then I wouldn't post it, if someone did post a spot like that then I would take it down.