Nice. I have a couple of spots depending on conditions but didn’t get out much last year. I tended to sit tight until it was windy enough to kitesurf.
I can manage 2 hrs on the water after work when the clocks switch. Problem is they shut the gate into the beach at 8pm. Not happy about that, but I understand why. You can actually drive on the beach and closing it keeps the land speed record attempts at bay. Plus they’re fed up of dragging stuck or drowned cars out after hours.
She didnt send him swimming “early on”. 4 km is not “near land”. Outrageus to me what I read there. So much wrong with that article and her decision making. Borderline should be criminal for her if the article is correct.
Imo this is like driving drunk in terms of irresponsibility and thoughtlessness (if the article is correct). Reading it made me genuinly angry. Absolute idiot-mother as described in the guardian article. You start swimming before you are fucking 4km out at sea (borderline ocean).
Glad they were all rescued. Sounds like things went wrong, quickly, and then some poor/delayed decision making could have easily ended with them all drowned.
I see where Magnus is coming from, but for me I’d give the benefit of the doubt. It is a mother and her three children in perilous circumstances that changed quickly. They were probably clinging on for too long as they got further out, possibly hoping the wind would change or they would catch a current to take them in closer. It’s hard to say what she was thinking.
Someone with experience would have made a better decision, much faster. I can see how a panicking mother trying to keep her kids from drowning might make a poor and delayed decision.
Eventually sending the 13 year old to swim for it was I’m sure a harrowing decision to make. At that point she likely felt they were running out of options and were all going to die. 4km is an awful lot, especially in the open sea, so credit to that lad for what he did.
Glad they are all safe now, as the ingredients were there for that to end very differently.
Edit:
Maybe too soon, but I see a film being made in future about this.
She is unfit to be at a beach bordering deep water.
I repeat, 4 KILOMETERS!!!
It is damning. You send him swimming 200-300 meters from land, maybe few hundred meters more due to chaotic situation.
. If they are further out than that on some shitty board with tiny kids who can barely swim, it is borderline criminal in itself.
I think they should charge her for child negligence (if article is correct). Just as if she had driven drunk.
This is typical sadly with those inflatable craft. Hence my post above. Shit goes wrong really fast on them.
Yes. They are infamous. And yet.
Ridiculous take.
Sorry dude…you’ve had a mare here.
Have you read the article ?
Yes, I posted it.
Do you have kids?
Not yet, and if I get some, I would never dare do what she did.
Not a fecking chance she was thinking clearly enough to decide to send one of her kids off on his own from the perceived safety of their kayaks before it got worse.
“I’d better send one of my kids on a rescue mission now before it gets worse.”
That thought never entered her head.
And then she would have been a long way out quicksticks, dealing with at least one, probably two distressed kids whilst shitting bricks herself, at which point she made the outrageous decision to send one of them off to his potential death.
I’ve been caught in currents/rips in Oz. My younger brother was swept out at Gunnamatta and was rescued about 500m offshore. It happened fast.
I agree she should never have put them in that situation to begin with, but your logical analysis of what she should have done is not realistic. I guarantee her instinct with three kids in tow was to cling to relative safety.
It is very easy to drown in Australia. It is wild, all the jokes aside, and it happens all the time.
That’s why there are ads all over the telly telling people to teach their kids to swim.
Watch an episode of Bondi Rescue…most of their time is spent rescuing idiot tourists.
Avoid.
They’re little cunts and I haven’t had a good night’s sleep in 7 years.
I know about the currents. Were warned several times when I lived there. Would never cross my mind to do what she did . Those boards are notorious for getting caught by the current. She had absolutely 0 control of the situation. If they start drift off, if that happens, you need to act before you are so far out that a swimmer has slim chances of making it. 4km is extremely far out and in the article she claims she sent him swimming soon after they lost control. That makes no sense unless the article is incorrect.
Don’t avoid.
They’re usually ok, despite those times you’re overwhelmed by an urge to launch them out the nearest window.
It’s just. I grew up in an area in Norway where a few kilometers off, you have a graveyard(at the bottom of the sea). When I was 3-6 years old, I can vividly remember my grandfather barking angry commands. “Sit down in the boat!” “Never stand in the boat unless you are moving to a new seat !” “Sit down in the boat, Magnus!” “Never stand in the boat while fishing! Sit and fish, only stand when you have to pull the net” etc. “Only stupid German tourists stand while fishing and many of them drown!”
These were rules that most coastal Norwegians learn for being in a light boat. And my grandfather would he scary angry if i moved around foolishly in the light boat. As he should. He was in charge. And he had several decades of experience both in sea and ocean. I cannot accept her decision making. It’s not good enough for open sea.
For me to read what she did, it’s absurd.
My favourite episode of Bondi Rescue is when a group of young Korean girls get into trouble.
Koreans tend to laugh when they get embarrassed and the dude who rescued them lost his shit.
“hehe”
“IT’S NOT FUNNY!!!”
“hehehhehehehe”
Cultural Learnings by SBYM.
MasterClass coming soon.
Gutted, good surf today for me was going to get out but alas the Wellington sewerage plant has overflowed into the sea and beaches are closed.
But you are right, @SBYM. I was knee-jerk, but only after reading the article and with the background of coming from a coastal culture where the ocean is synonymous with death if you are not careful.
The knee-jerk I had, well my neighbours would likely say the exact same. But as I said, article may have incorrect details. But lives are valuable, and as any costal Norwegian would say; the Ocean is a Harsh Master. Not one to be careless around.
But sure, criminal negligence according to law. I cannot say that. But I am within my rights to think her irresponsible and unfit for the sea. Because that is opinion (though only i note, based on the article, which may not contain the entire story). If it happened here, she would hear it for years, criminal or not.
Of course, this happens to Norwegians as well. But they tend to be from the inland doing stupid shit at holidays. We who live at the harsh coast, tend to have opinions on their “wisdom” though.