300 drowned up to now this year in Spain!

I’m sure that lifeguards do a good job and of course anything to save lives must be a good thing, but when I look back on it we never had lifeguards when I was young. I was never a keen swimmer, but we did have seaside holidays and used local pools. Over a certain age, maybe about thirteen, we were seldom supervised and often swam in small Cornish coves and local pools where there were no adults around. I’m sure we never swam solo or wanted to, but I wonder how much of this goes on today. There are clearly places where some risk is involved, due to tide rips and so on, and often just the large numbers merits attention, but there must be a lot of unsupervised swimming still. I wonder how much of the regrettable fatality rate is the result of a widespread failure to assess risk (such as the selfie deaths that we hear about).
 
Nearly half of UK drownings were in people engaged in running or walking. Only about 22% were people engaged in swimming.
 
johnalison said:
I’m sure that lifeguards do a good job and of course anything to save lives must be a good thing, but when I look back on it we never had lifeguards when I was young. I was never a keen swimmer, but we did have seaside holidays and used local pools. Over a certain age, maybe about thirteen, we were seldom supervised and often swam in small Cornish coves and local pools where there were no adults around. I’m sure we never swam solo or wanted to, but I wonder how much of this goes on today. There are clearly places where some risk is involved, due to tide rips and so on, and often just the large numbers merits attention, but there must be a lot of unsupervised swimming still. I wonder how much of the regrettable fatality rate is the result of a widespread failure to assess risk (such as the selfie deaths that we hear about).
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I agree there were no life guards on the beaches …….have we become sillier?
 
Sandydog2 said:
Nearly half of UK drownings were in people engaged in running or walking. Only about 22% were people engaged in swimming.
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Around my way (East Anglia) there are a fair number of drownings as a result of motoring accidents. A large proportion of the roads are flanked by deep drainage ditches, often with less than a foot between the tarmac and the ditch.
 
AntarcticPilot said:
Around my way (East Anglia) there are a fair number of drownings as a result of motoring accidents. A large proportion of the roads are flanked by deep drainage ditches, often with less than a foot between the tarmac and the ditch.
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Yes I used to live and work around the fens. It was common for people to insist on having at least a manual sunroof if they have electric windows, back when electric windows were less common. It’s impossible to open the doors underwater if you can’t let some water in. I believe at least twice as many people drown in the UK driving than while engaged in water sports.
 
The worlds moved on a bit from Arthur Ransomes day then


‘BETTER DROWNED THAN DUFFERS IF NOT DUFFERS WON'T DROWN’
Telegram
 
I suppose that it comes down to a numbers game. It can't be worth having a lifeguard in a sheltered cove with two or three families present, but a tourist beach with a cast of thousands would make it financially worthwhile. My wife swam for some years at a local pool with generally half a dozen occupants, and it always puzzled me that they always had a lifeguard or two in attendance. Perhaps fear of litigation made it necessary.
 
Sandydog2 said:
Yes I used to live and work around the fens. It was common for people to insist on having at least a manual sunroof if they have electric windows, back when electric windows were less common. It’s impossible to open the doors underwater if you can’t let some water in. I believe at least twice as many people drown in the UK driving than while engaged in water sports.
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Driving accounts for ~4% of UK drownings according to this: https://www.rlss.org.uk/Handlers/Download.ashx?IDMF=2b08fcb2-ba55-4055-a90b-b509322650d4. (Fig 12 has the numbers for different activites - sailing is statistically much safer than motorboating!)
 
Some years ago I was walking on the pier in Ostend. I noticed 2 young boys in difficulty drifting towards the pier. The pier was busy & I grabbed a passer by & tried to get him to use his phone to call the emergency services. He could not speak english & I dragged him to the edge of the pier struggling. But when I pointed to the kids he got the message & rang the emergency services.
People started rubber necking as the 2 kids gradually got to the pier & one was hysterical as the waves tried to push him under the wooden framework. The other brave lad was trying to keep him afload & stop him screaming.
I moved to the lifebelt housing & opened it & a chap grabbed it & dropped it down. I was pushed back by the crowd all looking over the edge.
Then I saw 2 more kids drifting to the pier. One was struggling to stay afloat & the other was just a white body of the childs back. I could also see his swiming trunks. It was just a floating body. Head under water. On the other side of the pier a commercial vessel went by & several of us shouted to it to drop its RIB & come to the kids aid. But they seemed not to know how to release it so carried on.
I went back to the other side & one of the childs mothers turned up standing on the groin exposed by the tide.Screaming for her child.
I could not stand this so I took my jacket off & started to climb over the rail as I got on to the first cross bar a much younger chap pulled me back & in english said leave it to me mate & promptly jumped in to help the first 2 kids. A couple of seconds later a policeman came & immediately climbed over the rail & down to the body which had just drifted to the pier
A helicopter landed on the beach. The harbour RIB arrived & the place was covered with rescuers. All 4 were taken to hospital

I went back to my boat which was locked as the wife & daughter were out drinking. I sat in the cockpit & burst in to tears . I could not help looking so stupid but I had just watched a small boy drown without being able to help when I could have swum to him as that time I was also a dinghy sailor & used to falling in water for some time.
I later spoke to a policeman who said all kids survived. But somehow I think that he was not telling me the truth
I will never forget that experience. Kids do not deserve to drown
 
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Daydream believer said:
Am I right in believing that in the UK, the RNLI get an income from hiring lifeguards to LAs, or is it just for training them
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Sorry no idea. I'm in a bit of Spain, Mr W is in the big northern bit.

There's no coverage on most beaches here. Hotels are struggling as being a hotel lifeguard is not gonna earn you enough to rent accommodation. And eat.....
 
Daydream believer said:
Am I right in believing that in the UK, the RNLI get an income from hiring lifeguards to LAs, or is it just for training them
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ISTR it's a long and complicated story, and probably varies across the country. Basically local authorities stopped providing guards, RNLI stepped in, funding their own guards, watercraft and vehicles. RNLI is now stuck with the job, imagine the outrage if they pulled out.
 
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