While paddleboarders Paul van der Kaag and Mike Stewart maintain they should be able to decide when to don a wetsuit or lifejacket, Queenstown Lakes harbourmaster Marty Black has called for a bylaw requiring paddleboarders to wear a lifejacket or be fined.
Surfers are exempt from wearing a lifejacket or wetsuit, and windsurfers, kiteboarders and sailboarders need only a wetsuit to avoid the penalty.
"Nobody wants to put themselves out there at risk. There are times we will wear wetsuits and lifejackets on the lake if we think conditions warrant it. But if we have to wear them every time there's a flat lake and we want to go paddling, we would be encumbered," Mr van der Kaag said.
Queenstown Lakes district councillors said yesterday they struggled to see the differences between various boards, even when presented with examples at a meeting at Lake Hawea.
Cr Russell Mawhinney said a paddleboard was essentially a surfboard.
"I think if we are planning to do this, it's regulation gone mad. It should be exempt."
Mr van der Kaag explained the paddleboard was slightly bigger than the surfboard and had better flotation. A surfboard could be paddled and a paddleboard could be surfed.
"There's a grey area. Marty [Queenstown Lakes harbourmaster Marty Black] is trying to classify it that it's a surfboard while in the sea but when on the lake this miraculously becomes a 'vessel'," he said.
"This sport isn't new. They've been doing if for over 200 years in Hawaii and 10 years in Queenstown."
Mr Stewart said not wearing a lifejacket could actually make using a paddleboard safer.
"I have had to dive off my board to avoid speeding boats. If I had been wearing a lifejacket it wouldn't have ended as well," he said.
The councillors agreed not to wait for the outcome of a Maritime New Zealand paddleboard review and to deal with a "grey area" now.
The majority resolved the navigation safety bylaw should be amended to define a paddleboard and include it in the surfboard exemption.
They also resolved to form a bylaw amendment hearings panel comprising Crs Lyal Cocks, Jude Battson and Russell Mawhinney. There will be a call for public submissions.
• No paddleboarders were among the eight recorded deaths on district waterways in the last three years.
