Flicked on the Brighton Pier webcam earlier to check out the sea state and sure enough waves were crashing over the mole and people were running up to the end and getting soaked. Also a few on the beach. Pretty stupid given the amount of coverage recently about how dangerous this is – Brighton Beach shelves very steeply at the waters edge.

Just checked again and there are coastguards stationed to stop people drowning themselves

https://www.skylinewebcams.com/en/webcam/united-kingdom/england/brighton/brighton-pier.html

Think it might be time to break out the 3.2m sail and 60l board

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFtSf1tfzZk

EDIT Typically they have now just driven off…..I guess the tide considered far enough out to be less of a danger

We were watching this cam earlier. Yes it must be impressive to see and hear the surf agitated like that but it’s not worth risking your life for.

Think it might be time to break out the 3.2m sail and 60l board

I always work on the premise that if I’m struggling to get my kit to the water, it’s probably too windy for me…. those guys get a helper to overcome that! 😳

Well…………….soon someone might suggest there are idiots trying to ride bikes down Snowdon. Risks are personal judgements, are they not ?

Risks are personal judgements, are they not ?

Certainly, but when that risk involves raging water and high wind, that risk ceases to be a personal one and involves volunteer lifeboat crews putting their own lives at serious risk.
Crashing on Snowdon isn’t likely to involve risk of other people drowning…

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1548551538602056&id=225545327569357&anchor_composer=false

Your right CountZero, however playing devil’s advocate; dont the volunteers volunteer to take the risk ?

I’ve pulled someone out of the water once who was unconscious, I judged the risk and figured it was fine for me to attempt to save them. I didnt know them and would not have risked my life much to do so. That risk threshold would have been higher had I known them and if it was my wife i probably wouldn’t have even considered the risks.

While I agree with you that others should not put people in danger, I also feel that we should let idiots / risk takers just do their thing. Adults should be left to make their own choices.

Brighton Beach shelves very steeply at the waters edge.

It looks like Brighton Beach has a tidal range of about 6m? (From the internet.)

When you say it shelves steeply at the waters edge, you obviously don’t mean that the steep bit moves?

While I agree with you that others should not put people in danger, I also feel that we should let idiots / risk takers just do their thing. Adults should be left to make their own choices.

That’s all well and good, when it’s people like most on here who at least have some sort of grasp of how to deal with more extreme conditions, but anyone going anywhere near the coast in these sort of conditions should at least be aware enough of how dangerous it is, and say to themselves ’nope’.
It’s the same on the Somerset coast, there was an incident today at Minehead where a woman walked out towards the sea and got stuck up to her waist in mud, despite signs warning of the danger, and needed to be hoisted out by helicopter.
From Burnham to Brean, there’s nearly seven miles of coast where mud’s a real danger, with signs warning people, and every year people ignore them and get stuck.
Fortunately there’s a couple of hovercraft at Burnham, so there’s a much smaller chance of people drowning; sadly it took the death of a five year old girl who drowned after getting stuck in the mud, and her rescuers only had boards to help cross the mud, and a local newspaper started a fund to get a hovercraft.
Thing is, you can’t legislate against crass stupidity.

No @idlejon I don’t. I mean that at high tide the shorebreak is enough to sweep the average 6ft 85kg bloke off his feet and drag them 10ft out in a second where the depth will then be more than enough for them to be unable to regain their footing. The water temp is currently around 9 degrees which though not that cold for this time of year is cold enough to shock most not used to it into immobility. The strong clawback and undertow will make it extremely hard to swim back to the beach and coupled with the cold and the disorientating effect of the large waves, even a good swimmer will get into difficulty quite quickly. Because of the size of the waves, all these dangers are magnified and it makes the recovery by a rescuer much harder.

Is that clearer?

Count Zero is absolutely right. Whilst risk taking and personal choice are to be applauded, most people ‘running up and down the beach at high tide in 60 mph winds are not in full possession of enough knowledge to make that decision. Thats because they are idiots.

We dont need more idiots.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/storm-ciara-hastings-surfer-missing-rescue-lifeboat-rnli-video-a9325986.html

You have to question the sanity of people

^^^

I’ve surfed that spot in some chunky conditions and **** going out in todays conditions. The exit is pretty nasty at the best of times.

Having watched some more footage of that incident, the most sensible thing that guy did all day was swim out to sea and down the coast to somewhere easier to get back in.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/storm-ciara-hastings-surfer-missing-rescue-lifeboat-rnli-video-a9325986.html

Personally I think this whole story could be BS.

The guy wasn’t rescued and the ‘shocking footage’ of the AWLB was taken when it was trying to return to its station and thinking better of it. Something it didn’t need to do – it could equally have gone somewhere sheltered as it did in the end. [1] (Our local AWLB went into Littlehampton last night. LH isn’t sheltered from the SW.)

So the AWLB crew didn’t risk their lives, and the surfer recovered himself.

Rather than the Surfer being an idiot it just as likely he knew what he was doing and had a back up plan if it went wrong which he successfully carried out. (Get out past the disturbed sea and drift downtide to somewhere he could safely get out.)

All the time I hear people on CH16 reporting capsized dinghys, windsurfers who’ve fallen in – just normal features of the watersports triggering needless callouts. Christ, I’ve been out in perfectly manageable conditions with elderly sailors *shouting* at me from the pontoon that I shouldn’t go. This isn’t punters this is people who sail and should know better. It’s entirely possible this guy knew what he was doing and the fact he recovered himself supports that. It’s also possible the punters who called 999 weren’t experienced surfers from the area.

Either way we don’t have enough information to judge this guy.

A quote that always comes to mind in these situations: “You are mad, shouted Angus, who had learned to cherish his own limitations as a sure proof of sanity.”

Rather than the Surfer being an idiot it just as likely he knew what he was doing and had a back up plan if it went wrong which he successfully carried out. (Get out past the disturbed sea and drift downtide to somewhere he could safely get out.)

I don’t think he knew what he was doing…

getting in…

Not sure about this! #StormCiara #Hastings #storm #sea #coast #surfing #surfer #surf pic.twitter.com/Ne8VN7kRg6

— Lorenzo Photography (@LorenzoAliPhoto) February 9, 2020

can’t find the video at the moment of him getting trashed in the shorebreak shortly after and snapping his leash.

edit: wrong one

right one…

This is the surfer when he lost his board and it went from bad to worse for him. He even refused help from standers by. He could have prevented this whole scene with the rescuers. pic.twitter.com/8JgZXEjO7Y

— Richard Connolly (@RichardConnolly) February 9, 2020

Rather than the Surfer being an idiot it just as likely he knew what he was doing and had a back up plan if it went wrong which he successfully carried out. (Get out past the disturbed sea and drift downtide to somewhere he could safely get out

You reckon the back up plan involved going to hospital do you?

As kids, visiting Granny in Bognor Regis we used to run from break water to breakwater between waves, trying not to get “caught”.

You couldn’t do it at high tide, but as the tide was coming in you could. Great fun but would’t try it in heavy storm conditions.

You reckon the back up plan involved going to hospital do you?

I’d want more detail and what exactly was wrong with him before drawing any conclusion from that whatsoever. A few years back I fished a bloke out of Portsmouth harbour this time of year. He seemed all right. They *helicoptered* to him to Hospital to check him over for hypothermia. Quite rightly they are very cautious with people who’ve been in the drink this time of year.

Maybe this surfer was in a bad way, maybe he was fine. We just don’t have the information to judge.

You can see his exit plan going to shit about 20s into the video…

My guess is he didn’t do the full 5 miles in the water, the beach profile flattens out a bit not far after that and he probably got washed in. The only exit from that beach is back towards rock-a-nore where it was probably at the base of the cliffs or walk out to fairlight at the nudist beach which was where they picked him up…

Maybe this surfer was in a bad way, maybe he was fine. We just don’t have the information to judge

We have a video showing him being ragdolled about the sea.

We have the fact he ended up 5 miles away from where he started, having lost contact with his surf board

We have the fact he ended up in hospital..

But yeah, you keep thinking it was all part of his great plan…others will make up their own mind I’m sure.

well, he’s clearly dumb for going out in those conditions…cos it’s rubbish surf!

Secondary drowning innit
Plus maybe hypothermia, but the water isn’t so cold a 5mm winter suit, hood and gloves and booties should be sufficient
This is caveated on the suit being a decent brand, newish not full of holes and fitting properly
Was a kite surfer out on Hayling and I’m pretty sure a few windsurfers out early doors when it was still around 40knots
I am happy out in up to 40kn,

Launch event for the new Sick! surfboard range?

cos it’s rubbish surf!

that’s the bit I don’t get. the risk/reward just isnt there.

that spot can be really good, (for the south-east) in the right conditions.

that’s the bit I don’t get. the risk/reward just isnt there

this

My guess is he didn’t do the full 5 miles in the water, the beach profile flattens out a bit not far after that and he probably got washed in. The only exit from that beach is back towards rock-a-nore where it was probably at the base of the cliffs or walk out to fairlight at the nudist beach which was where they picked him up…

I don’t know the area but that’s consistent with my take on this. My experience of RNLI station press officers and volunteers CGs is they are quite capable of describing someone landing “not far” away and walking out as rescuing someone 6 miles away.

for balance. some good storm surf yesterday…

https://www.instagram.com/p/B8XCZuUBl43/

Plus maybe hypothermia, but the water isn’t so cold a 5mm winter suit, hood and gloves and booties should be sufficient

I’ve regularly windsurfed in winter in a cheapish steamer wetsuit & boots but no gloves or hood. It was perfectly doable. (I’m a shite windurfer so I spent a lot of time in the drink.) People do get hypothermia doing watersports in winter [1] but I doubt it’s common.

There were people doing watersports all over the south coast yesterday.

[1] I had an aquaintance who was out surfing, went home and died in bed of hypothermia.

Just want to check, if somebody has an off up a mountain and the weather closes in, and volunteers from mountain rescue risk the conditions to extract them, do we have to call them an idiot too?

(I’m not going to make judgement on the surfer above as I know nothing about surfing)

Just want to check, if somebody has an off up a mountain and the weather closes in, and volunteers from mountain rescue risk the conditions to extract them, do we have to call them an idiot too?

I follow quite a few MRTs on social media, and yes, they rescue idiots on a daily basis.

I’d say a slight difference is that the danger posed in the mountains isn’t always obvious, not like this particular idiot throwing himself into a violent sea.

Just want to check, if somebody has an off up a mountain and the weather closes in, and volunteers from mountain rescue risk the conditions to extract them, do we have to call them an idiot too?

This. What if someone breaks down on the motorway and the AA have to attend? That’s dangerous, about four AA guys a year get wiped out. Cars break down so it’s totally forseeable, are they an idiot? Safer to stay at home rather than put other in danger, surely?

not like this particular idiot throwing himself into a violent sea.

…and then swimming/walking out himself without asking for assistance.

…and then swimming/walking out himself without asking for assistance.

luck, rather than good judgement.

…and then swimming/walking out himself without asking for assistance.

look at it from the POV of a normal person, not a sea-rescue god such as yourself 😉 If I was there in person and that guy who’s lost his board and is being smashed about by the waves (such as in the vid posted above), I wouldn’t stop to assess his “exit strategy” or try to determine whether he was wearing a 5mm suit of an appropriate brand, I would be calling for help immediately, as I’m sure most people would. In fact I’d say it’s 100% unreasonable to expect a normal person NOT to call for help if they saw someone in such a situation, so that is something that clearly must be considered before doing something like this in full public view.

if somebody has an off up a mountain and the weather closes in, and volunteers from mountain rescue risk the conditions to extract them

Or in this case, goes off up a mountain in a mountain bike, falls of their bike but then walk down alone under their own steam and some by standers call the MRTs and then the MRTs later on once the search is over do something which looks dangerous on film which they didn’t need to do.

If there wasn’t dramatic film footage this wouldn’t even be a story.

What if someone breaks down on the motorway

Yes! Exactly the same! 🤨

Lol at Dez, some classic whataboutery! 😂

luck, rather than good judgement.

That’s what we don’t know. It looks to me like he deliberately swims out to sea away from the disturbed water. You say yourself the beach flattens out not far downtide. Maybe he knew that.

I’m not saying it was zero risk, but 1 in 8 people who try to climb Everest die doing it, people do the IOMTT. How many people died trying to climb the Matterhorn? It’s entirely possible this guy wasn’t an idiot, just taking a calculated risk. The fact he isn’t dead makes me think the latter is possible.

look at it from the POV of a normal person, not a sea-rescue god such as yourself 😉 If I was there in person and that guy who’s lost his board and is being smashed about by the waves (such as in the vid posted above), I wouldn’t stop to assess his “exit strategy” or try to determine whether he was wearing a 5mm suit of an appropriate brand, I would be calling for help immediately, as I’m sure most people would. In fact I’d say i’s 100% unreasonable to expect a normal person NOT to call for help if they saw someone in such a situation.

Yup, that’s all reasonable, I know nothing about surfing and it doesn’t look survivable to me so I’d have been dialing 999 too based on the footage. Yet he did survive. Maybe he’s an idiot, or maybe he had a fair idea he’d not come to any harm. We just don’t know. We should probably find out before we get on his case.