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The Zap Cat Experience
Causes Mayhem in Sennen Cove
Congestion on the roads
We're here and you can put up with us.seemed to be the attitude
of Zap Catters.. they arrived and with total disregard for everyone
including Covers promptly parked wherever they liked on double
yellow lines ALL DAY without the council lifting a finger despite
numerous complaints not least from Bus drivers struggling to maintain
a schedule. there's a massive car park at the top of the hill
Guys you could have parked easily until such time as you could
gain access to allotted area's. Maybe the Council should have
also allocated Traffic wardens for this event!! another failing
on behalf of Penwith District Council who should be held resposible
for this.. after all the Zap catters.. like many of us at surf
comps, simply turned up for an event.. the teams themselves can't
be held responsible for this.
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Buses try desperately to continue their route
This Team from Anglesey were told to park in the top field until
they were called down, when I spoke with them they didn't believe
they Would be called down so decided to leave it where it was
until they could gain access..This kind of Parking caused mayhem
for traffic in the cove while other teams tore up and down the
beach many at high speed in attempts to overcome sinking problems
in soft sand in their 4x4 vehicles with what appeared to be disregard
for everyones safety and caused mayhem on the beautiful sandy
beach of Sennen Cove.
How was this ever allowed to come to Sennen???, ask the authorities..
we will!!
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4x4's stuck everywhere after desperately racing at speed directly
past holidaymakers and locals with what seemed total disregard
for their safety in attempt to get their Cats to the far end of
the Beach over soft sand unsuitable for vehicles even these kinds
of vehicles.. perhaps organisers whilst inspecting sites could
have checked this and organised a tractor to take the cats to
their position on the beach. Which could also have been better
organised. I personally found difficulty getting through the teams
and their families to simply walk to Gwenver, it would have been
nice if a walkway through tents, trailers and the fuel dump had
been left for other beach users.
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This was a typical scenario for the whole weekend.. wouldn't it
have been safer and cheaper in the long run to hire a tractor??
bringing revenue to some local farmer and safety to beach users
and less damage to expensive vehicles, I watched the whole event
including arrival and departure and there had to be a lot of self
inflicted damage to what looked to be almost New vehicles.
We've heard since some idiots Maliciously damaged vehicles and
stole property from teams and their families at 2 camp sites..
Now thats despicable folks.. if you know who's responsible tell
us, or the authorities.
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All in all, there was a lack of surf anyhow so surfers were'nt too inconvenienced,
my personal viewpoint on all of this is that Sennen isn't equipped to
deal with this kind of an event. The pure size of vehicles and trailers
for this kind of event can't even begin to be compared to a surf event.
where most competitiors arrive with boards on the roof of a car, and event
organisers use a VW van or Transit.
I'd love to see Penwith District council sponsor ANY surf event in this
way.. the funding would be fantastic for the sport..
but hey we're just beachbums, not enterpreneurs and businessmen.. or are
we:)
looking at the infrastructure of Sennen cove should have been a priority,
safety to beach users should have been better managed,
and IF!! an event of this magnitude is going to happen.. it Should have
been better publicised.. where the hell were the spectators??? Apart from
the Zapcat teams friends and families, I saw little presence of any others
drawn by this. In an age
of internet technology.. this could have attracted Thousands.. the clifftops
from Sennen to Gwenver could have been
littered with People..in some ways I'm thankful it wasn't publicised..
I think we got off lightly.
As for Zapcat racing, and the teams themselves.. well if I had been a
team racer, I would be seriously complaining to
Zapcat racing, this was a very poorly organised event, I even spoke with
organisers personally on the Friday morning
and expressed the concern of locals and surfers, and was assured they
would be situated and racing beyond the flagged areas.
Didn't happen.. I watched Cats being launched directly through children
in the swimming area. I walked the beach and found
difficulty getting past, and felt..(intuitively only I add) a them and
us situation.I wasn't abused, or heckled, or spat at.
I saw Dogs, blatantly flouting local By-laws but kept secured in the catters
area, and I saw no evidence of fouling.
I saw lots of rubbish, cans bottles food wrappings etc, and saw everything
completely cleared and tidied before they left,
unlike many of our 'Sun Reading Tourists'.and for that I'm thankful .
The teams and individuals I spoke with, chatted with, laughed with and
shared my weekend with were decent people.
And the Team from Anglesey who kindly gave me an early Morning call with
their generator, even came over and apologised
for the noise.. they were good people all in all.
Having owned maintained and driven a top fuel dragster for many years
in the past, I understood their plight.
Sennen was NOT the place for this event, it would have been like doing
the quarter mile through St Just for us.
We would have seriously kicked organiser's backsides for even considering
holding an event of this capacity in such a tiny area.
They needed the Car Park to themselves at least, and realistically an
area that is infrequented by Beach users such as
Mounts bay or the like. Sennen is a beauty spot.. the Beach is packed
to capacity most of the Summer, if observed
its obvious even ONE vehicle on the beach would cause a disruption let
alone trailers Tents and more flags than the norman
invasion. I've seen responses from locals, officials and catters themselves
on the Sennen-cove Site.. the situation is heated
and if everyone calms down I'm sure we all Agree on one thing.. this was
a poorly organised event with a total lack
of communication between organisers, promoters, and Our Beloved LOCAL
COUNCIL.. if you want to kick off,
then theres where the animosity should be directed. As for teams and individuals..
you left the place looking like you
hadn't even been.. THANK YOU!!! The tide has a way of washing the tyre
marks away, ruffled feathers soon settle,
and in a way it was good that it happened the way it did.. we didn't get
an invasion of spectators like we felt at the eclipse,
and we'll certainly have our eyes well peeled next time..I'll monitor
www.zapcat-racing.com and may even enjoy an event
somewhere else.. yep I guess I'm a NIMBY but I never raced my dragster
in my own street ;)
Keep smiling.. Keep Surfing!!!
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