AIBU to think that we need more education about the sea?

[LyndaNotLinda]

Six people dead in 24 hours around the British coast. Many more injured. Lots of RNLI staff risking their lives to save people who have taken insane risks.

I live on the coast and a number of people on our beaches get into serious trouble every summer and that isn't even with a storm thrown into the mix. Once you add that in, the risks to holidaymakers are enormous.

Do we need government warning to tell people that it isn't safe to go in or near the water in high winds? It just seems that people were taken totally unawares by the power of the sea :(

Common sense, when it comes to the ocean, is actually pretty meaningless.

If you don't live near the ocean, or understand it, you won't have any (or very little) understanding of the common dangers. What to look out for, what to avoid, what sudden changes mean - the fact that it's the calm bit of the sea that can indicate a rip.

Telling people to apply common sense is not helpful at all.

People who rarely get to go to the beach/sea/ocean have no idea. They don't know what the dangers even are, to respect them.

Anyone remember the toddler who got snatched by the alligator at Disneyland, earlier this year?

Every news article had a load of wise guys popping up on it to criticise the parents for lack of 'common sense'. It's 'common sense' for Floridians to avoid swamp edges at dusk - because they KNOW the dangers. Everyone else - not so much.

So YANBU. It is about education - common sense doesn't cut it.

The common sense when you are faced with the ocean, if you know nothing about it, is to not go to near it without learning something about it.

The UK is a tiny island.

"Don't fuck with it" has always been my motto.

I'm not coastal, but the sea freaks me out to be honest. Apart from being freezing cold (most of the time) and full of currents, it's got sharks and all that crap in it. I can't bring myself to swim in it! The nearest I will get is a paddle on a hot summers day.

I hate swimming in the sea, never did it as a child because my DF hates the beach. We live very near to one of the beaches that a man drowned at the weekend. My 2 boys love the sea, thankfully they have swimming lessons that include lifesaving but I do think they're not really aware of how dangerous it is. They are 8 and 10 and I don't want to scare them but I do think I need to tell them the worst can happen.

This post from Wasdale Mountain Rescue sums up a lot of the issues on both mountain and by the sea.

"Team called again this afternoon for a party that had split up and become separated whilst ascending Scafell Pike. The team leader spent some time trying to establish the last known position of the missing walker and where they may have gone. It was later established they had met up with another group of walkers who were kindly helping them down to Wasdale.

As with many of the calls this weekend this incident can be considered avoidable. Parties splitting up is a common cause of incidents but easy to avoid by staying together. Unfortunately in this instance the rest of the party were unhappy there was no immediate response from the team but it is because of the number of these types of incidents that we need to manage our response and encourage self help when possible."

#respectthehill #respectthewater.

But I'll bet next weekend I'll be out rescuing someone who's doesn't respect the water.

Check the tide times, if boating wear a life jacket and killcord. Beware of the dangers of rip tides and cold water shock.

Worth a follow of doingotfordylan on facebook and twitters one mothers fight to improve the water awareness of people.

Hobnails Here's a guide to beach flags
www.cornwall-beaches.co.uk/beach-safety

Surely it's common sense that you don't go into the water when the weather is stormy.

Agree with the OP.

I got very shirty with dh the other day as we wee on holiday and he thought it ok for ds aged 6 to swim out in the sea because it was shallow he wasn't within reaching distance and the sea was calm but the sea floor was sticky with mud patches he eventually called him back (I had taken dd to the toilet)!

Not fucking impressed. I can swim as can my mum who used to swim in the sea and I have a much healthier respect for the water than dh does. Who ironically can not swim.

Definitely OP. We live on an island that has been pretty battered this last few days. Went to take kids for a swim yesterday and popped to beach nearest to us, to realise it was on the exposed side. Very choppy, disturbed seas, swirling current etc. But still a small child in arm bands out past its bottom in the water, parents sat on wall a good 10m away.

Teens on rocks jutting out etc.

I am a strong swimmer, grew up by the coast, sailed from about 5 so understand the water. My kids are strong in the water and would be properly clothed but I still wouldn't have gone in off that beach.

Drove for a bit to the sheltered side where whilst windy, the water was much less disturbed.

MIL lives by the coast and we spend a huge amount of time down there over the summer months. The beaches are always rammed and the main ones holidaymakers use (Oxwich, Caswell & Rhosilli) are enormous. The amount of children you'll see on any given day wandering about without an adult, especially at the waters edge, is unbelievable.

DS1 is 10 and wanted to learn to snorkel, so instead of me teaching him (I am a qualified scuba diver and hold a lifeguard certificate) I sent him to junior classes. On holiday recently he wanted to have a bash at sea diving, I checked out the water and flatly refused. As much as I love the water, I don't want to raise my DCs to think it's something to be taken lightly. I think a lot of parents go on holiday and perhaps let their guard down in ways they'd never do at their local lake or swimming baths.

I'm from a landlocked county but I'm going to Cornwall soon. I didn't know about any of this or about flags or anything so I'll have a read of the links that have been posted. I've only been into the sea on holiday when it's always been really calm.

Someone mentioned potential dangers when rockpooling. Can you elaborate please?

I live by the sea too, and am amazed by the gung-ho attitude people have for the sea.

Most of the time it is just applying a little bit of common sense.

I was paddling with my DD a couple of weeks ago and near us was a little girl (very young, 3 at the most) paddling on her own. A bigger wave knocked her off her feet and her parents were no where near her.

Kids allowed on inflatables while their parents are reading books or news papers right up the beach.

Our local beach gets hit by huge bow waves from big cargo ships regularly, plus the beach is very steep so it gets very deep, very quickly, but there's often young kids swimming or paddling unsupervised

Not that long ago, our RNLI had to get the police out as a bunch of dickheads were pissing around on their slipway and refused to move so they couldn't launch.

My kids have grown up here, they've learnt to sail, they understand that you don't mess about with the sea.

Not everyone will know what to look for and people do get into trouble, but simple shit like staying within reach of your 3 year old isn't rocket science.

There should be a lot more information out there. This year is the first time I remember seeing lots of information about rip tides, etc

We went for a walk at Felixstowe yesterday and DH said he had never seen the tide so far out, there were loads of stones and bit of wood that you never usually see.
We did stand staring at a lobster pot for quite some time as we weren't sure if it was a pot or a person.
And then on the way back a flare was sent up and the inshore lifeboat was out :-/
They'd come back to shore by the time we'd wandered down that far, so I hope someone saw a pot and jumped to the wrong conclusion.
The weather was really bizarre over the weekend, and I do agree with everyone above, there needs to be more education of the sea, its not the fun safe place a lot of people seem to think it is.

I live in NZ (pretty much everywhere is on the coast) and we still get people acting without commonsense. Even my mum walked with grandkids out on a tidal spit and they had to paddle back when a few weeks earlier there had been news articles about people getting rescued. I've also seen people swimming when the only way to get to where they were was past a danger 'do not swim' 'sewage spill' sign.

I do competitive sea swimming and the currents can be pretty intense (let alone realising there is an Orca pod nearby). However if people don't regularly swim in the sea they may not be so aware. My DH was shocked first time when he swam here as he'd only really swum in pools previously.

This story just popped up on my Facebook. Utter stupidity and if you scroll down there are links to many other similar stories.

www.plymouthherald.co.uk/woman-gets-talking-to-after-being-rescued-three-times-over-four-days-by-rnli/story-29642429-detail/story.html

Agree Tinkle strongly advise everyone to watch the bbc programme
Saving Lives at Sea about the RNLI

www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2016/28/saving-lives-at-sea

I read something yesterday about the boom in staycations this year. I wonder if that's been a contributory factor to the spike in deaths? Lots of people used to safe, sheltered med beaches not realising the UK sea is a different kettle of fish.

A little bit of common sense would go a long way. If the swell is heavy and the flags are red, its dangerous you toss pots. It makes me so cross - why should the brilliantly brave RNLI risk their lives to save you just because you're a twat who thinks the rules don't apply to you!!

I would also like to point out that if you are on a sandy beach or somewhere with dunes, digging deep holes or tunnelling in is stupid as the sides can collapse and you will not get out before you drown or suffocate.

Dragon

I posted above about tides around the Severn estuary and how fast the water comes back. Even if it is flat calm, that doesn't mean you are safe if you don't know the tide times. (Just remember the poor Morecambe Bay cockle pickers). The Severn estuary has the 3rd largest tidal range on the planet so if you are in the water at low tide, then where you are standing may well be under enough water to cover a 3-4 storey building several hours later.
Rough seas are clearly dangerous but people can be lulled into a false sense of security just because its calm. Tides and currents are dangerous whatever the weather.

I'd assume they were referring to either the danger of being washed off the rocks by a big wave, or the danger of being cut off by a rising tide. To avoid these you need to pick your spot carefully, and look at what the tide and waves are doing (and esp be aware of the possibility of occasional large waves, or sets of waves - sometimes you get 100 small then 3 large).

Ah now Bill you have hit the nail on the head with a fucking big hammer.
Not wishing to get into a debate about politics, I'll say My Mum has 3 holiday lets and just had an offer accepted for a fourth. She's having her best year ever and already has August completely booked for next year, even got bookings for next Easter
You are so right !

I think statistically it's landlocked parents rather than local costal parents

Those eves crashing over the wall? They contain huge rocks -

The water is sucked back - so might the children

There are big boats that come in and create huge waves - maybe 5 minuets after they pass - easy to get caught out - unless you've seen them before

The sea can change quickly - and it doesn't take long to get into trouble

Lots of useful information here:
rnli.org/safety/respect-the-water/Pages/Safety.aspx

My personal rules:
If you don't know the area, always swim on a beach with lifeguards
Don't let your children out of your sight - go in the water with them. Drum into them that they are not allowed to go anywhere near the water unless they've told you first
Don't let children use inflatables
Find out the tide times for where you're staying (there will usually be a sign on the beach by the lifeguards hut and information office but good to find out before leaving the house). And remember that tide times change by around 40 mins every day - they're not fixed (I know that seems a bit obvious but I've had visitors who are surprised by that). www.tidetimes.co.uk/

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rip_current

Spring tides are high tides around new moon - nothing to do with spring. They can be enormous, particularly after rough weather. The one we had here yesterday was the highest one we've had in years in August.

Thank you so much to the lifeguards and RNLI volunteers
You're amazing :)

Oh and please ask your schools to invite the RNLI in - they come into DS's school every year and they make the sessions really fun and interesting.

Very good point Cora - one square metre of sand weighs one ton - literally.

Every year someone gets rescued on our beach from a big hole by the lifeguards. A boy was killed not that long ago because his 'hole' collapsed in on him

m.cornishguardian.co.uk/newquay-rnli-crew-star-new-bbc-tv-series-saving/story-29095589-detail/story.html