Tomb stoning Dorset, why??

[poozel]

Just catching up on news from weekend.

Read with horror the story from Dorset doors on Saturday. Three people injured tomb stoning, helicopters landing on beach, people squashed up like sardines.

So ok, it's done, awful but done.

Then I click on next link, yesterday, people still doing it, despite the events the day before. The police have asked them not to, the emergency services have out out a statement asking them not to, the roads have been closed, yet people are still jumping.

The landowner says he has given up fencing it as people just break the fences, climb over.

I just do not get it. Even without corona I couldn't go against all that advice and do something which emergency services had warned against.

Add in corona and the social distancing it is absolutely mind boggling.

Am I missing something? Does it just take a certain type of person to defy everyone and carry on as they please. Even if it had been one casualty but three, plus someone with a broken ankle. Crazy.

@BaronessBomburst

The water at Durdle Door is shallow. It's utter madness to think you can jump into water that shallow. It's also not safe to swim around the Door as there are rocks and undercurrents. The locals never swim there.

I expect tourists think it is deep because of how steep the beach shelves and then don't about the ledge across the entrance. This is worth watching.

The idiots who jump in from it and the ones who swim out to the arch from the beach are ridiculously irresponsible.

Wow, some of you are so fucking perfect it must hurt! Yes, these lads were stupid to do what they did, they should never have done it and it should never be condoned but jesus, they're certainly paying for it now.
Some of you have forgotten what it was like to be young and invincible, or to get yourself caught up in situations you felt you couldn't back down from. Haven't you ever made mistakes? These are someone's kids you're talking about, and your comments are sickening.

I live in Bournemouth and was chatting to my 25 year old son about this - he's by no means risk averse but he was appalled too. The crowds in pictures on the local press leaving the beach were like sardines as well - the upsurge in visitors to the area is worrying me - I have been managing my feelings about risk quite well looking at the numbers for the area and seeing them remain low in comparison to other areas for which I have been both feeling guilty and grateful, but now I'm getting the jitters to be honest.

Young and invincible. It’s the same mentality that makes someone join the army for goodness sake. All those soldiers going off to war because it sounded like an adventure. Old men and women have more sense.

Tomb-stoning has been going on for a long time, and people have been dying and severely injuring themselves doing it for a long time too.

Absolutely. I have had many holidays in South Devon, the locals jump off the sea wall and cliff daily. I always look on with horror mainly as there are rock pools underneath, but there is an element that they know the tides (and optimum height) and know the exact spot to jump from.

Many people are risk takers, and tombstoning is pretty much up at the top for thrill stakes (not me, I won't even go on a rollercoaster), trouble happens when people inexperienced in the local setting and the overall risk take part.

Do I think they should just be left? Hell no. They will always be people doing stupid things, and it is a dangerous path to tread to decide who is worthy of help.

Wow, some of you are so fucking perfect it must hurt!

Not at all. Crashing into rocks from a height hurts. If you insist on doing something dangerous then check first - swim out, have a look, that kind of thing. It's all about calculated risk not random careless risk.

As someone who did what would now be called be tombstoning (it wasn't called that then) though not off anything as high as Durdle Door, it was a mix of things:

• bravado
• being egged on by others
• wanting to prove I was as good as the boys (who said girls wouldn't jump from a height)
• other people jumping so assuming it must be fine
• over confidence in my abilities as I swam a lot at the time and thought I was great in the water

This was all around the age of 13-15. There were a couple of incidents that shook me up at the time (and fill me with dread now!) but I still did things I would consider stupid now because I was a teenager and teenagers aren't best known for perfect judgement at all times...

No alcohol in my case but I would imagine there is in some cases.

Same going on in North West Wales 🤦‍♀️ year after year.

I still did things I would consider stupid now because I was a teenager and teenagers aren't best known for perfect judgement at all times...

Totally agree. Most people have done at least one silly/dangerous thing when young that they wouldn't repeat with hindsight, if they are honest with themselves.

Hitch-hiking, speeding in your first car, drinking too much, going home with randoms, enthusiastically signing up to fight in a war, experimenting with drugs, extreme sports... it's all part of the same thing and it's not the slightest bit unusual. On the whole, young people tend to see adventure where older people see risk. It would set a very dangerous precedent to start judging which people are worthy of help.

Plenty of people jump into water and manage not to hurt themselves*, and the average young person never thinks they will be the unlucky one. Because they feel invincible.

(* Including me, while coasteering with a guide - although even that wasn't 100% risk free, because nothing is.)

I think the first lot on Saturday could be forgiven for just being stupid and naive. The ones on Sunday had zero excuse and were absolute idiots who if they had hurt themselves would not have deserved any help.

@Tearingmyhairout0110 this is why I started this thread. Exactly this.

Saturday was done, over.

Yet to ignore all that on Sunday and go ahead anyway, that's the bit that I cannot comprehend.

For me, even if I was so drunk, stupid whatever to attempt it on the Saturday. I would not be so, I suppose arrogant, to ignore all the coverage, news, police, road closed signs, warning signs etc and go ahead Sunday. I just cannot get my head around that.

It's all very well saying it was a moment that many people have had when they do something stupid but look at what the rescuer of one of them said:

"He hit the water so hard he didn't even come up to the surface, he went straight down," Mr Wiley said.

"I could see a white body on the seafloor, but it was so deep none of us could get to him. Everyone was in a state of panic."

He said it took five attempts to reach the victim.

"When I got to him he was just laid on some seaweed and I grabbed his hand and kept swimming to the surface.

"I thought I was going to let go of him as I didn't think I'd make it to the surface myself. I'd exhaled all the air in my lungs.

"I swum through the pain and the fact I thought I was going to drown - dragging a body through the water was hard."

Making somebody feel like that because you have had a bit of fun is not on

Ok, so let's just judge everyone who's ever needed rescue due to misadventure, and call them a 'brain dead tosser' who deserves to die. (Which is exactly what those quoting 'Darwinism' are saying btw - that we are better off if they die. That's what Darwinism is about.)

You know that there's a middle ground between condoning and encouraging it, and saying someone deserves to die, right? Plenty on this thread leapt straight to spite and, no, it didn't sound like it was coming from a place of concern for the rescuer.

'Darwinism at its finest' is a direct quote from above. What was that intended to mean if not that the jumpers deserved to die?

@bonsaidragon but that person wouldn't have jumped in the expectation of making a rescuer feel like that as a result of their fun. Maybe they had no idea water can be so hard when you jump from a height (if you don't do a lot of swimming and diving usually you might underestimate it) or they just had absolute confidence that they would jump just fine and it never occurred to them they might not come up.

Btw, I do agree it is absolute stupidity and efforts to educate people about water safety and dangers of the coast should be carried out (even if some people don't seem to listen...) But the OPs title did ask why people do it.

Natural selection, but the guy who broke his back is probably going to have to be looked after by the state (us) for the rest of his life.

Mr Darwin had a point. I would probably leave them to it.

Btw, I do agree it is absolute stupidity and efforts to educate people about water safety and dangers of the coast should be carried out (even if some people don't seem to listen...)

Same here. They made a bloody stupid mistake, but boy are they paying for it.

Everyone takes risks or makes stupid mistakes at some point in their lives, the only difference is that most are lucky and nothing goes wrong. Quoting 'Darwinism' is pretty nasty in that context.

Everyone takes risks or makes stupid mistakes at some point in their lives, the only difference is that most are lucky and nothing goes wrong

Absolutely! I shudder to think of some things that could have gone the other way. Sheer luck and nothing else.

In my case I did get cured of stupidity around the water by a combination of growing up, and doing lifeguard training and watersports instruction qualifications. Those last two turned made the abstract concept of being responsible for the safety of others a reality and made you realise how physically hard it is to help others in the water. Far more effective than posters or safety videos but sadly not a population level solution

They were back out jumping today

Argh! Only just seen this and have to answer before bowing out. No, we don't need a massive public information campaign because these idiots (and I reserve the right to call them that) wouldn't take a blind bit of notice would they? How many brain cells do you actually need to figure out that chucking yourself off a high cliff might be a teeny bit dangerous? How you can defend them is beyond me ...

How do you know they wouldn't take any notice? Why is it not worth even trying?

As I said in my post, I am concerned about the consequences of people lighting fires near my house because they are ignorant of the risks.

I'm not sure what your argument is?

Maybe they had no idea water can be so hard when you jump from a height (if you don't do a lot of swimming and diving usually you might underestimate it)

I think this is true. High divers have limited careers because they suffer head trauma every time they dive, but action movies tell you that any jump is safe, as long as it is made into the sea.

The bloke who broke his back today looked older I think?

@FiveGoMadInDorset

They were back out jumping today

A sign should be put up saying 'Yesterday 3 people jumped from here. This is the lifelong impact of their injuries:' and really spell it out to them.

action movies tell you that any jump is safe, as long as it is made into the sea.

Maybe we should broadcast cliff diving competitions rather than football matches. Then people would see that they constantly spray the surface of the water and have divers on standby (who regularly have to help competitors out). Only downside might be it giving people more ideas.