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AIBU?

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Original poster

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

234 replies

LyndaNotLinda · 21/08/2016 19:10

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 :(

OP posts:
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7
Gallievans · 22/08/2016 23:49

I'm in North Wales & coastal. Been taught sea safety from an early age - and hayed not being allowed inflatables etc. That said, I will only swim on 3 of the local beaches, which I know like the back of my hand. Took DD amsd her beat friend to one in July, and a!though both are strong swimmers they had to stay by me - which was a good thing as there was a sudden swell.

2 years ago I ended up having to go to a small child (around 5) who was on an inflatable with the tide going out & being swept out. Got to him with my body board & started back to shore, helped by a kind kayaker. Parents didn't even thank us and yellesd wanting to know why we were bringing him in and spoiling his 'fun'. The kayaker let rip before I did & tore the parents a new one.

Apparently because there were no lifeguards the parents didn't think there was any danger.

Definitely OP, yanbu. And educate, educate, educate.

And Flowers to the RNLI & Coastguard rescue. And Mountain Rescue (don't get me started on the idiocy we see at that side!)

Lweji · 23/08/2016 00:35

This is one of the things I'm thankful to my dad for.
He grew up in a fishing village and taught us quite a lot about currents, waves, tides and basic sea safety.
I'm doing my best to pass it on to DS now.

More than learning how to swim a length in a swimming pool, people should have lessons about the sea and rivers.

It's easy to talk about common sense but if you have no idea of how fast a tide can rise or how waves change in intensity at regular intervals, then it's easy to be caught off guard.

PortiaCastis · 24/08/2016 15:16

m.westbriton.co.uk
Sad news

Skiver123 · 24/08/2016 15:24

I live in Cape Town right by the beach. Foreigners swim in the sea at high tide all the time as they don't realize that the waves and current here is much much bigger and stronger than the UK. My dad rescued two children who were washed out to sea and their father came running out of the house they were staying in! Luckily my dad was on the rocks fishing and managed to jump in and pull them out as the sea took them. They were from the UK and my father gave the dad hell and said if he hadn't of been there his kids would have been swept right out into the ocean. They were under 10 years old too!!

PortiaCastis · 24/08/2016 16:30

Skiver your Dad is heroic

Palomb · 24/08/2016 17:09

it gets worse.. Three die after being pulled from sea at Camber Sands

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-37178643

PortiaCastis · 24/08/2016 17:26

God !!!

winchesterfan · 24/08/2016 17:31

The idiotic woman that had to be rescued 3 times in 4 days in Looe, Cornwall is not apologetic about it either!
I'm part of a FB group for Looe and she came on after a post had been shared to the group from the RNLI Looe FB page about what had happened, basically saying she didn't see what was so wrong about being rescued when she was in trouble and that she wanted people to bitch about her to her face. She did claim she would pay them back, until she was informed it costs £4,000 for each time the boats are launched....she disappeared then.

PortiaCastis · 24/08/2016 17:34

Im in Cornwall and a trained lifeguard
I'm lost for words grrrrrrrrrrr

OfaFrenchmind2 · 24/08/2016 18:17

I agree. Every year, in my lovely corner of the South of France, we see the tragic death of at least 2 tourists, mostly British or German. It breaks my heart to see people that come there to enjoy life lose it in such a pointless way. The locals try and try to tell them that our apparently tame sea can be tricky and full of currents, but lack of knowledge and lack of clear official signage are prevalent. One year, the mayor decided to remove the huge mourning cross on one of the most dangerous beach, and almost a whole family drowned, it was awful. I guess the visual helped remind people to take head of the warnings.

SeaEagleFeather · 27/08/2016 21:09

Why do we need all these signs and nannying? FFS, is it really not obvious that the sea can be/is dangerous and you can drown in it or get hypothermia and die?

Bit late but ... No. No it's not. You need experience or education.

We have a lot of moroccans and refugees from land locked countries. They don't know the danger.

Put in their own lands, they know just what to do. Put in another, they don't. Just like you wouldn't necessarily know what to look out for in their lands.

You come from a hot country, you might have no idea what hypothermia even is. Especially if you don't speak the language.

(I grew up sometimes sea swimming but 40 years later, have been taken aback by how little I know. But round here we get regular drownings of people who come from landlocked countries ... And that's with heavily patrolled beaches/offshore.)

Lweji · 27/08/2016 21:48

FFS, is it really not obvious that the sea can be/is dangerous and you can drown in it or get hypothermia and die?

Some dangers are really NOT obvious. Unless you understand beaches, currents, waves and tides.

HarveySchlumpfenburger · 27/08/2016 22:03

And to add to that even if you are not in a landlocked country, just because you know the conditions on your beach doesn't mean you will know the conditions elsewhere.

I know the dangerous parts of my local beach, I know where the rip is, where you definitely shouldn't swim, the safest places to swim and the bits that get cut off first at high tide. If I went elsewhere I wouldn't necessarily know that.

I don't think it's completely unreasonable to think it would be useful to put that info on a sign somewhere.

PortiaCastis · 27/08/2016 22:11

rnli.org/aboutus/training/Pages/Lifeguard-training.aspx
Useful info

2StripedSocks · 27/08/2016 22:12

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

heavenlypink · 27/08/2016 22:16

Thirty plus years ago there was educational "talks" given in schools or at least in my primary school and others in the area.

I grew up next to the coast and a railway line. Every summer we would have people in talking about being safe at the beach and not playing near the railway line.

NNChangeAgain · 27/08/2016 23:13

I know the dangerous parts of my local beach, I know where the rip is, where you definitely shouldn't swim, the safest places to swim and the bits that get cut off first at high tide. If I went elsewhere I wouldn't necessarily know that

Of course not - so why take risks? Surely if you know that the sea can be dangerous you treat it with respect.
Being spoon-fed a list of do's and dont's on each beach lulls people into a false sense of security.
If you're not confident, don't do it. Simple.

PortiaCastis · 27/08/2016 23:42

All info is on google all beaches are different, sandbars are caused by storms they are not always in the same place . We put out flags to warn people we try our best.
It has taken publicity of deaths this week to make people aware.
I think I've put lots of info on this thread please share with your friends and families.
I am a RNLI volunteer I try to help. Cannot comment on Camber Sands disaster as I'm in Cornwall and not Sussex
Lifeguards get paid Crew do not
Strongly recommend folks watch the Saving Lives at Sea series on iPlayer for an insight into the RNLI

BleakBetty · 28/08/2016 00:19

Fucking hell!

Problem is people are becoming
ignorant to and totally disengaged with nature. They see themselves as utterly in control and invincible, often with devastating consequences.

Don't live in Cornwall but spent a lot of time at Cawsand and Kingsand beaches.

I remember my dad telling me to respect the sea here when I was about five, and I've never forgotten his advice.

2StripedSocks · 28/08/2016 07:59

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ThursdayNextIsMyHero · 28/08/2016 08:09

If you just want to go paddling, when is it safest in terms of tides? People have said check the tide times, but what should we be looking for? High, low, coming in, going out?

NNChangeAgain · 28/08/2016 08:27

If you want the tourism you need to protect your visitors

That protection comes at a price. Who pays? The local residents? Businesses? Charities? National Governement?

2StripedSocks · 28/08/2016 08:32

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.