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Camber sands tragedy

229 replies

bibbitybobbityyhat · 25/08/2016 11:41

What on earth has happened at Camber Sands? Are there insufficient life guards or something? I am not prone to hysteria but I would not be going to that beach anytime soon. Such a terrible event, somewhat buried by other news yesterday and the string of drownings in the last week.

OP posts:
PortiaCastis · 27/08/2016 11:40

Im banging on but here's the link again
rnli.org/aboutus/training/Pages/Lifeguard-training.asp
Makeit Top marks to your ds for realising he couldn't help and you must have been terrified
If anyone wants to be a lifeguard all info in the link.
I think if this beach is as busy as reported how many lifeguards would they need? I
The local authority responsible for the beach needs a good kick up the butt because flags wouldn't cost them much!
Anyway I'll shut up now Smile Have a good day everyone

Peregrina · 27/08/2016 13:26

Keep banging on Portia - that is the only way some good can be brought out of this tragedy.

PortiaCastis · 27/08/2016 13:36

It would appear that the message is getting through The RNLI site has crashed !!!!!

PortiaCastis · 27/08/2016 13:41

Oops no it's my c&p
This one should work
rnli.org/aboutus/lifeguardsandbeaches/Pages/Lifeguards.aspx

Thelastegg · 27/08/2016 20:02

Another aged ex lifeguard here. I volunteered for 30 years, and am still involved with the club. It's been an amazing hobby to have with a most excellent social aspect!

Great to see that the RNLI have stepped in.

IME a lot of the work as a lifeguard is preventative, so warning people before they get themselves into danger. Of course some will ignore you, spit at you, or abuse you but the vast majority will do as asked/suggested and stay safe. I don't know this beach but it might be that had there been lifeguards there they would have been able to warn them or get to them sooner.

The other thing is that a lifeguard service isnt just there focussing on the water. Eg they provide first aid, deal with lost children, incidents on the beach and even if this were a relatively "safe" beach, with the numbers going to it I would have thought on a beach of this size there was a need to have guards there.

I agree totally, there is a need to educate people about respecting the water - and it's not just at the beach, there's inland open water, swimming pools, ponds, baths. All water is a hazard. And charities like the Royal Lifesaving Society, RNLI and Surf Lifesaving do an excellent job with their community programmes and clubs all over the country.

PortiaCastis · 27/08/2016 20:49

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-37203974
Hello thelastegg Completely agree with all you have said. Re link above it's awful it takes people to lose their lives before action is taken.
The press release from RNLI is very nicely worded I feel. I'm in Cornwall and people seem to be taking notice of warnings today. The Falmouth lifeboat has been out 3 times in the past 24 hours but details not available.
Nice to read your post and well done for your endeavours.

Poppiesway · 28/08/2016 11:21

Just had a news flash that there's a search on for another missing swimmer at Camber Sands Sad

OurBlanche · 28/08/2016 11:22

Oh god! Really?

SvalbardianPenguin · 28/08/2016 11:26

It's awful.

It is publicised which beaches have lifeguards so we always choose beaches which have them when we are booking holidays. My eldest two DCs both work as lifeguards, one has trained as a beach lifeguard and the other is a pool lifeguard so we are well aware of the risks and would never swim at a beach without them. Unfortunately there are not enough lifeguards for all beaches and my DCs would urge any child of 10 and over to join their local RLSS club and they can learn lifesaving and progress through the awards.

www.rlss.org.uk

TheoriginalLEM · 28/08/2016 12:16

Poppies I am hoping it is over caution.

There was talk of abandoned flip flops so am hoping it is just a case of someone losing their shoes!

It is all very sad and wont do the area well at all

DoinItFine · 28/08/2016 12:23

my DCs would urge any child of 10 and over to join their local RLSS club and they can learn lifesaving and progress through the awards.

I highly recommend it too.

It is enormously fun, keeps you really fit, and gives a genuine sense of achievement.

PortiaCastis · 28/08/2016 12:41

rnli.org/shorething/Pages/default.aspx
This is great for children

fuckweasel · 28/08/2016 12:52

The swimmer has been found, it was a false alarm.

youarenotkiddingme · 28/08/2016 13:03

Thank the Lord for that

IPityThePontipines · 29/08/2016 00:11

Just to add that the RNLI are running a radio ad campaign aimed at men now, which is a really good thing.

Sofabitch · 29/08/2016 22:08

We were there today. Lifeguards everywhere.

Not that anyone was listening to them or only swimming between the flags. I don't understand why people don't use the safe swimming zone. It was clearly marked out. And as you walked on to the beach RNLI personal informed you that you should swim between the red and yellow flags if you wanted to be within life guards sight and in the safest areas.

Additionally there was the usually signs that are always there... including the one in big letters saying there was an off shore wind today so no inflatables. There were still hundreds of inflatables.

SvalbardianPenguin · 30/08/2016 00:37

People think it won't happen to them. Sadly it does. I think it's a knee jerk reaction to what some see as an over protective nanny state when actually it's common sense.

sashh · 30/08/2016 01:16

Do people today just not know that the sea is a 'wild animal' that they need to understand before they intereact with it? I know we were told lots of things, understood rip tides, undertow etc.

I've been reading these threads and thinking that maybe people don't know much about tides as most of the time they encounter the sea on holiday in the Mediterranean where there are not tides, or not in the same sense.

Back in the 1960s/1970s people tended to go to the same place on holiday each year and it would be in Britain.

I remember learning to see where the sand changed from wet to dry and that meant the tide came in to that point so you put your towel and picnic above that (holidays in Cornwall) but when we first went to Spain there wasn't that line.

If you have only ever been on Spanish beaches then would you know about that?

SvalbardianPenguin · 30/08/2016 07:26

sassh you would hope that parents would teach their children about tides. It's not rocket science after all? You'd have to be fairly daft not to know that the tide comes in and the tide goes out.

Gwenhwyfar · 30/08/2016 08:12

"sassh you would hope that parents would teach their children about tides. It's not rocket science after all? You'd have to be fairly daft not to know that the tide comes in and the tide goes out."

Yes, of course, but what happened here wasn't as simple as that was it?

SvalbardianPenguin · 30/08/2016 08:30

Gwen I didn't say it was.
There is much more awareness of rip tides than there used to be, I don't think we ever heard them mentioned when I was a child going to the beach.

I think there needs to be more awareness raised amongst ethnic minorities who, according to an article I read a few years ago in The Times, traditionally have less awareness of safety issues in the countryside on the coast as they tend to visit much less than the ethnic majority as they don't tend to have the same cultural interest in going to such places for whatever reason. I'm reporting what I've read here, I don't have personal experience of it so it may well be nonsense.

SvalbardianPenguin · 30/08/2016 08:31

and the coast not on the coast.

sashh · 30/08/2016 11:48

sassh you would hope that parents would teach their children about tides. It's not rocket science after all? You'd have to be fairly daft not to know that the tide comes in and the tide goes out.

But if you have never been where that is the case how would you know?

SvalbardianPenguin · 30/08/2016 12:43

Surely awareness that the tide goes in and out is standard general knowledge?