VANCOUVER ISLAND WINDTALK

Thanks Jack for your continued support ... Have a great summer.

I was parked right in front of GWIND the last really busy day and just did what DWD suggested....the "Doug's walk". Other than having to watch for cars it was no problemo. I will voluteer to park to the North of the bridge to free up one more close spot and walk down if that means people won't be totally stupid and block people's driveways.

Please everyone don't be dumb. Follow what everyone has said here. Cutting through properties is just the dumbest thing I have ever heard. The people that have done this should be banned!!!

I can't believe that this thread even needs to exist. SMARTEN UP!

I hiked under the bridge at low tide yesterday and didnt even get wet

Simple Solutions:

Designate a no parking/loading zone in front of the access and around the driveways.

Windsurfers just park at the bridge after you unload.

Walk up the Creek to go kiting if it is a high tide.

I will bite my tongue now and not say any more about the situation.

Re no parking at entrance to rigging area. It is already understood that there is no parking there. The only problem is that some individuals feel they don't have to observe this courtesy. Otherwise no comment.

beg to differ, as long as you can leave enough space to access with a board in hand, it is one or even two more spots to use for parking. I would concur as a courtesy to leave this spot and a few extra feet open til things get very tight late in the afternoon But having said this there does not need to be 25 feets of space open for no apparent reason and someone then needs to hike their gear from the bridge along the busy road....ambulance may be a good reason I suppose, hadn't considered that til now, alas someone would be able to create space should this be the case, 10 kazillion in one

The residents say they need to back out of their drives onto the busy road with cars, truck and gravel trucks whipping around the busy corner and they can't see. This is why they need lots of room. Give them lots of room. No need to further aggravate them. Leave enough room so they can back out onto the shoulder and turn around where applicable.

Kus have you already forgotten the day that an ambulance came for you a couple of years ago? I'm with rocdoc on this issue, I think we should keep access open even though I know you like to arrive late and cram your truck in there.

I don't recall there being a sign for Eastbound traffic from Tugwell (correct me if I'm wrong), but would it not make sense to have signage suggesting traffic slow (40km/h) for that corner anyway?

On the subject of blocking the rigging entry; don't do it. Unless of course you are prepared to buy beers for everyone for the privilege. This is a matter of safety and courtesy.

case in point.....that ambulance ride was completely pointless AND they parked down the road despite an open access and they made me wander down there......

WTF do we need 2 parking spaces of access open for when we have a total of 8-10 parking spots....access for what? I will even promise to leave work early so I won't need to take that spot so Ruskie can have it since he works for government now and is always late cuz he is such a devoted pubic servant

And yes, I do like to park there because I'm disabled and also inherently a good planner .....ok, lazy. But am willing to share, just the kinda guy I am But when I do park there it also brings the beer fridge closer to the rigging area, an argument that would be hard to counter.

I am with Kus on this one too.. as long as there is 6+ or so feet left for people to pass into the rigging area what more does one need? The access to the rigging area at Nitinat between the sign and log is 4 feet at best, and people drag gear through the trees which is even tighter, I don't hear complaints about that. When I was last at Gordons I arrived late and was looking at a walk from the turnaround, pissing off a resident by parking in their driveway or squeezing in behind Kus but making sure to leave plenty of room to access the rigging area. I don't think I inconvenienced anyone, and it saved me a heck of a walk. Let's just be courteous and reasonable?

Here's my 2 cents on leaving a space open by the beach access, if the last 12 cars left that spot open it doesn't mean they were leaving it open just for you! When I first went to Gordo's years ago it was pointed out to me that it was common knowledge to leave this spot open for easy access for everyone, made sense to me. Just because you came late and don't want to walk an extra 20 seconds, way shorter than the walk to kook from the parking spots I might add, doesn't mean you should take this courtesy space. Glad to see by the responses here that the parking problem is sorting itself out. By starting this thread I just wanted to bring this possible problem to everyone's attention before things got out of control. If I get out to Gordo's soon, I've made it out there twice this year, I'll stop by Jacks and ask him if the mood of the neighbors has changed.
By the way a big thanks to Jack for hosting the webcams and weatherstation at this great spot!!!
Hope it's windy there soon!!!
Oh yeah big thanks to BWD on all his thankless work on servicing all the cam's, weatherstations and for providing this website

Johnnyman wrote:if the last 12 cars left that spot open it doesn't mean they were leaving it open just for you! When I first went to Gordo's years ago it was pointed out to me that it was common knowledge to leave this spot open for easy access for everyone, made sense to me. Just because you came late and don't want to walk an extra 20 seconds, way shorter than the walk to kook from the parking spots I might add, doesn't mean you should take this courtesy space.

safe to assume this is directed at me, Jman, considering I have parked there twice and only this year I sure seem to have a lot of flak directed at me....and I'm not in a good mood today....so right now I feel I will be sure to park there next time just to piss everyone off who choses to be offended, even if I am the only one at the beach....put a no parking sign there enforced by a regulator agency I will be sure to follow the rules, courtesy and walking distance has nothing to do with this. and there are no 12 spots at this sailing site if you leave the space, only about 9-10

I think we should try and keep this discussion on topic and try to come up with some solutions. It's not doing us any good to be arguing with each other and this makes us look even worse as a group. I've removed some of the posts that had no content - I shouldn't have to do this! The bottom line is that we have to do a better job of parking at Gordon's. On Sunday there was still some people using driveways to turn around

Regarding the access. I agree that it should remain open and clear, but also that there is no real reason for it to be as wide as it is. If Kus can park his truck in there then it is too wide. The first two people there should be parking closer to the opening so that a car (or ambulance) can get in, but not sideways. Then everyone should park closer to each other, leaving enough room to open hatches. When it comes to driveways, leave enough room for people to back out safely onto the side of the road, as Pasta said. Most of this is common sense.

This will alleviate some of the problems. I think we still need to come up with some other options for the future. Otherwise we will have to deal with this every year. I know Kus has been talking to MOT...thanks! What have others been doing? Our numbers are growing so we likely need to plan ahead and improve the parking situation and the safety of that corner or even find an alternative sailing site. Some possible ideas that I have heard are:

- clearing the E area of the beach access to allow for parking

- clear a stretch of the roadside to the E of the access for parking

- getting a barrier built along the roadside (for safety)

- look at getting the speed limit decreased along that stretch and have it policed?

- look at other sailing sites so we can spread out - Muir Creek access

- maybe we can work with the residents to improve the no parking signs near their driveways. That way we know how much space they need and there is no confusion. I'm sure the website can pay for anything that's needed.

Maybe we can talk about some of these ideas and others.
dave

Kus nope not purposefully directed solely at you but was a response to your post. I hoped to make a more general point directed at anyone who parks there not to attack you personally. You have brought up at this forum that you had parked there and I imagine that you are not the only one that has parked there but are very vocal about your opinions. The number of people may have changed attending Gordons this year I have only been there twice but over past years I have always found a parking spot on the road without a long walk, didn't block driveways and the spot infront was always left open no matter when I showed up. I purposefully left out names of the violators told to me after my original talk with Jack and tried to be as general as possible to be positive as I can...at least that was my aim.
If you feel violated by accusations I apologize. I realise all have opinions and have to get along.
I as you want to keep this access open for all windpeople long into the future
Hope to discuss this further with you over beers at the beach. I do believe it's my turn.