As beach cabana wars continue to rage this summer with Aussies reporting seeing a canopy of stripes and colourful patterns rather than sand on coastlines nationwide, beach etiquette has been thrown into question.
While there is no question shade is a must at the beach, the current hoarding of space — with some going as far as to reserve parts of the beach with their cabanas — has been branded “unAustralian” by the Prime Minister himself.
Now, Jeremy Scott, the co-founder of Cool Cabana rival company Slim Shady has weighed in, telling Yahoo News Australia that reserving parts of the beach is “very selfish” and bad behaviour by cabana owners could result in disastrous repercussions.
He fears the issue has got so out of hand that an extreme step to prevent the behaviour could be to adopt models similar to those of some European models, meaning beachgoers would need to pay for the privilege of enjoying Aussie beaches.
“That would be a terrible result for us… as Australians, we value the open free access to beaches and it’s something we absolutely have to protect,” Jeremy said.
Cabanas have taken over Aussie shorelines, and alternatives are being created in a bid to secure shade without hoarding beach space. Source: Supplied
It comes as two women reported a woman setting up her large cabana within centimetres of their towels at a largely empty beach. The women could do nothing but watch on in disbelief as the beachgoer dug her poles into the sand and hung up the shade.
“I don’t think she realised how close she was until she was already set up,” one of the women said. “We had a laugh… but she definitely was awkwardly close.”
After the incident was shared online, others chimed in and admitted they had also experienced something similar.
“This happened to me the other day! The rest of the beach was empty and a large family sat in front right on top of me,” one Aussie wrote, while another called the whole cabana sage “annoying”.
‘No doubt’ beach etiquette has been turned upside down by trend
Australia has one of the highest rates of skin cancer in the world, with one in two Aussies diagnosed with melanoma in their lifetime. There is no question that the sudden uptick in sun shade is a good thing for public health, but the sudden physical change at beaches has “no doubt” created a layer of social tension at beaches and forced Aussies to consider beach etiquette.
Scott, the co-founder of compact sunshade Slim Shady, told Yahoo that “safety is not a luxury but a necessity” but we may need to reconsider how our actions are impacting others at the beach.
“Beaches are meant to be for everyone to enjoy and occupying excessive space with oversized tents or cabanas can be unfair to others,” he said. “In the instance of the women at the beach, for someone to set up right beside them is ridiculous… I sort of agree with what the Prime Minister said, they’re Australian.”
What are ‘definite no-go’ cabana behaviours at the beach?
Jeremy said there are two different ‘no-go’ behaviours that beachgoers should keep in mind next time they’re at the beach, with the top priority being consideration.
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Don’t set up your sunshade, leave, and then expect to have the “real estate” when you come back. “That’s a definite no… that’s very selfish.”
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Don’t sit ‘front and centre’ with your sunshade. “You can’t be sitting up on a reasonably busy beach and sit front and centre, that’s obviously taking away views for other beachgoers.”
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