Wet bikes for sea trial

Press, 4 December 1985, Page 6

Wet bikes for sea trial

Wet-bikes — motorised water cycles — will take to the waters at Sumner for a four-month trial period, if the Christchurch City Council adopts the recommendation of its parks and recreation committee. An application to run the bikes for hire from the Sumner Boating Club’s ramp was approved by the committee yesterday. The club has given the proposal its blessing. Councillors expressed some concern about the

noise and possible pollution from the bikes. The bikes have a “sleek top half similar to a motorbike, mounted on straight skis at the front and back, powered by a 750 cu cm engine and are capable of 55 kilometres an hour,” the committee was told. Cr John Burn assured fellow councillors that any noise was lost in the water and the machines would not cause a disturbance. The trial period offered the chance for residents and the

Sumner Residents’ Association to make any complaints. Fuel was a petrol-oil mixture. Spare fuel would have to be stored on the foreshore in a trailer. Spillage was not likely as the engine was enclosed in a waterproof housing. The exhaust was expended under water and was very quiet. The wet-bikes would not be heard from the beach if they were 200 m off-shore.

Council by-laws require a separate access lane for the bikes. The committee recommended the trial period with certain conditions covering the access lanes, qualified instructors being present, no advertising, dangerous goods approval, liability, and hire fees of $lOO a bike during the trial period. Between two and four bikes will run during the trial period until March 31.