Paddleboarding tragedy (why did she do this?)

[PassingStranger]

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/former-cops-grovelling-voice-note-35105323

Did anyone else see this on the news?
4 people died
Horrific, imagine their panic.

What was behind this desire to take them out, when she shouldn't have.
I'll presume it was money sadly.😢

I'm glad she got prison.

3 of the 4 who drowned were wearing a buoyancy aid. But the nature of the hydraulic jump, meant a life jacket wouldn’t have made much of a difference. That said it’s always worth wearing one when doing anything recreational on water.
similarly some of those who died were wearing wetsuits, but again given the very dangerous conditions a wetsuit wouldn’t have made much of a difference, it might buy you a few more minuets of time, but cold water shock is still an issue. So cold water and very strong circulating currents caused by the design of the weir, meant survival was more down to luck than anything the paddle boarders could have done once in the keep, regardless of their skill.

plenty (in theory). A proper risk assessment of the weir should have been enough to stop the event going ahead in the first place. Anyone with a basic knowledge of weirs and dams knows they are incredibly dangerous if the water below the weir or dam is high. It’s basic physics, and instructors should have a good understanding of the forces at play, if they don’t they shouldn’t be on the water, and certainly shouldn’t be leading a group down it.
Weirs in full spate are an absolute ‘no, no’ and even highly experienced and skilled kayakers tend to portage (get out and carry the kayak). Sadly a few kayakers don’t get out and do die. We have at least one death a year near the river I live close to. Anyone who goes on or paddles / swims in a body of water should be aware of the dangers of ; cold water shock; currents which aren’t always visible at the surface; water depth; tides and rip tides (you can’t always see a rip tide, so if in doubt don’t go in the water); awareness that depth can change very rapidly; if you don’t feel comfortable don’t go in. Have a good understanding of what to do if caught in a current. Again not much you can do if you’re caught in the keep, so just avoid them. Weirs can be made safer, or as I mentioned before ideally removed.

What i meant was, how was she able to take the party out then?
Why was their nothing to stop her?
Does it have the potential to happen again?

I’m reasonably local and Paul’s wife’s victim impact statement has been shared on FB. It’s an utterly heartbreaking read. Wrecked lives for so many people, all for a weekend away. Looks like they’d done this a few times over the summer - nice weather, BBQ’s, dancing, music all looks lovely on the socials but that day the weather was awful - the trip should have been cancelled and the walk done instead.

Who do think could have stopped her? She was keen to do it, any of the others could have dropped out at any time beforehand but they were on a paid for trip many miles away from home. They trusted her that it was fine to go ahead I expect and even if they thought the weather was less than ideal there is a certain peer pressure on group trips like that that you all do the activity or no one does.

She should be locked up for life.

So it has the potential to happen again then?
Have rules been tightened up then.
Can anyone take people out paddleboarding?
What I'm trying to say is have any changes come about now?

She didn’t risk her own life, she went down a fishtail that she didn’t bother training the others about being the safe passage.

Didn't even tell.them.it was there.

Going down this structure isn't safe, fall off either side and you re in a closed stopper with no escape, the fish ladder wall effectively locks you the stopper.

Even if you don't, you risk being pulled back into the face of the Weir, tow back can be many meters.

She was a fucking idiot and to some extent so were the people with her, even with no training, Weirs in flood are scary places, no one in their right mind goes near them.

Paddle boards are for flat calm water.

I went on a ghyll scrambling trip in Wales, and refused the final jump because there were floral tributes at the jump site.

The water wasn't at its highest either.

Turns out I have passed the "if your friends all jumped off a cliff, would you" test - but I don't know why the instructors allowed it.

I agree. There is so much that is unfathomable here, but the most, for me, is her reported lack of remorse. I just can’t get my head around that. Also that she continued to post pictures on social media of herself out and about, seemingly enjoying herself. It just blows my mind that anyone could do that, knowing it could be seen by the victim’s families.

I wonder how many other organisations are looking at what they do and are thinking "There but for the Grace of God go I?"

Risk assessments
Briefings
Next of kin
Knowing your limits - and what you are trained to do

Insurance policies

I’m a paddleboard instructor. Nobody is allowed on the lake without a buoyancy aid, and we cancel sessions if the wind is too strong. You can’t fuck about with safety.

Paddle boards are for flat calm water.

Well, not necessarily. Paddleboard surfing is a thing, but usually with slightly different safety features/sometimes a smaller board etc.

Even just normal paddleboarding in the sea is rarely completely flat or calm.
It's about properly preparing for conditions/location and to some extent ability of participants, although as I said above that last factor didn't really make a difference in this case.

The majority of their journey on that day would have been fine if they'd just taken their boards out just before the weir and then got back on after (as a sign by their launch point specifically advised).

Paddle boards are for flat calm water.

Agree with this. I have done a fair bit of paddle boarding on rivers and the sea.

I have never used a tether.

We were in nearby in Wales when the tragedy happened and I remember my DH, who had seen the river, being incredulous that anybody had even considered going out on a SUP.

Well, not necessarily. Paddleboard surfing is a thing.

For beginners? On a swollen river?

I imagine she was thought she could make a quick buck by jumping on the latest bandwagon/Intstagram craze, which I think says a lot about her. Exploitative, lazy, mercenary. 10 years is a joke for being so reckless.

Think your probably somewhat right about the social media aspect.

no, obviously not?
Did you even read my post? I have no idea how you managed to get the exact opposite from what I actually said.

I was replying to a poster that said "Paddle boards are for flat calm water" as an absolute statement. It was literally embedded in my post and I then repeated it in bold to indicate this was what I was specifically responding to

I was only saying that this isn't always true, and people can/do use paddleboards in different types of water, but then went on to specify that this wasn't what happened in this case.

Literally nowhere did I say or even suggest that paddleboard surfing was what these people were doing, just that it is something that does exist.

Going down this structure isn't safe

Safer than tumbling down into the weir. She didn’t even give them that modicum chance of safety.

Massive ego trip. She also was an ex police officer shows how corrupt they are. Also the people going must of been massive thrill seekers- some even refused to wear life vests- at the costs of their lives. Shocking and sad the whole story

If you look at her Facebook profile and read some of the victim impact statements you’ll get a feel for the type of woman she was. I can’t believe she carried on going on holiday, socialising, just carried on as normal really. Paul and his wife lived ‘less than 10 metres away’ from her if you read the wife’s statements. Must have been so painful to watch her, an ex friend carry on as normal and blame your husband.

What a terrible thing to happen to them all. The more I read about it all the worse I feel about it. It’s just awful and if any good comes of this it’s that other people remember this tragedy and go into these potentially dangerous but easy to access hobbies with their eyes open to safety.

Yes I read it, the deaths caused a big fall obviously and a division of loyalty between friends.

I think she tried to blame her co.instructor but he was the one who told her not to go that route
He also died trying to save people
She thought it would be exciting to go the route she did.

Yes love really exciting not.
People are dead, friendships ruined and your in prison.

passingstranger to go back to your earlier question of could this happen again? Yes of course, I mean obviously you’d hope anyone with a gung-ho attitude would re-think given her prison sentence, but unfortunately you get chancers in every walk of life, yes there might be more regulation, but she wasn’t qualified to take them out in those conditions anyway, so further regulation doesn’t necessarily mean improved safety. There already is a certain amount of regulation, Lloyd ignored health and safety which is why she was given a ten year sentence (2 years per manslaughter charge +2 years for H & S breach).
Hopefully more weir owners will look to make weirs safer, and I believer the HFW weir will now have improved signage warning of the dangers, and further construction to reduce the force of the hydraulic jump (it was suppose to have had a structure added either side of the fish pass, to make it easier to exit, but from reading the report, it seems this wasn’t under taken.
I think water safety should be added to the PHSE syllabus at schools, I mean the physics in itself is really interesting, but education would be the best way forward, especially given the amount of rivers and coastline the UK has!