The ocean is risky, even for those that know it best

craig2 says:

06:44am | 02/04/12

I wish Branson would shut up, shit happened that day and I do feel sorry for the boy however, it’s like mountain climbing, its a foreign place for a person to be and the water is no different. I thought SN last night was sensationalist reporting at best and there was nothing hard hitting about the questions. Let’s give it a rest and let the family get on with their lives, bloody hard enough as it is for them.

Darren says:

09:18am | 02/04/12

i was fascinated to hear Tony Abbott wholeheartedly support the coroner making a finding in this matter - so when it comes to the tragic death of one youngster in the surf Tony will listen to an expert. But when it come to the issue of climate change he refuses to listen to the ‘experts’ but instead allows his policy to be determined by those with no knowledge or understanding - amazing!

Jane2 says:

09:37am | 02/04/12

The one thing that hs been forgotten in the outrage is if young surf life savers, who can swim better than 99.9% of the Australian population and has had lots of training on how to deal with rips, can get into trouble in the surf, it highlights that the surf is a very very dangerous thing.

The only way to prevent the tragic lose of life of the odd surf life saver is to prevent them from entering the water, in which case a lot more than 14 14-35yos would have died on our beaches in FY 10/11.

The lose of life of any emergency worker is a tragedy but all emergency workers know the hazards and have recieved training on how best to counter the hazards. Putting too many rules around how emergency workers can do their job puts rules around how we can help and save others. Some rules are common sense, such as wearing a harnes when hanging from a height, but others delay response times and sometimes forbid the emergency services from providing the assistance they want.

This was a tragedy but do not use it as a way to make “surf life saving safer” with floatation vests etc (you cant duck dive with a floatation vest on therefore once someone is under the sls could not get under the water to get them out) as it will cost the lives of many of the public they are meant to aid.

Kika says:

09:47am | 02/04/12

I grew up at the beach every weekend. My Dad, my uncle, my grandad and everyone were all surfers so I grew up understanding the ocean, currents, risks and cautions about the beach. I am fortunate for that. Not many of my friends can identify a rip so I am grateful Dad taught me that, as well as hints like standing up frequently if there’s a rip and always looking back to the beach to see where you are and how far you’ve been dragged and if you ever are stuck in a rip don’t fight it, you won’t win, just let it drag you out and you’ll come back in eventually.

The clubbies often get in the way of surfers and visa versa. Lots of my friends were nippers. They too came from surfie parents and whilst they were good at swimming and paddling and being able to navigate through rough surf you can say that a lot of the kids were over confident. I remember one day they had a carnival going and the surf was really rough yet they still went ahead with the board race. No one was hurt, but a kid could have been easily. Especially if they were tired or found themselves injured out there. You couldn’t see very far thanks to the rough surf. They are taught to trust in their ability and to downplay the always present risk. The ocean will always get the better of you.