Children swept out to sea

Yep, the press are having a field day. It was a regatta with about 110 boats (lasers etc). Wind went from 15 to 35 knots in a flash and lots of boats went over. There were about 15 ribs on scene and all were recovered. 16 in hospital suffering from cold.
 
All of the kids were rescued by club safety launches...19 ribs for 93 dinghies (one and two person boats). Wind went from 10 knots to 38 knots for 20 minutes, then back to 10.

Race Officer pushed the panic button (rightly, I think) and called for outside help. Thus a big story. Ambulance and rescue service a bit OTT afterwards (my club) and media went bananas on a day when 11 were injured at National History Museum (stairway collapsed) and two dead and six injured in air crash in Galway.
 
Glad they didn't get to hear about the Oppie open we held last Autumn. Up to 12 at a time capsized in about 30Kts. With 9 ribs we were a little stretched. Small lake, about 5 feet deep.

Murderous race officers, lucky that some of the 'totally out of control yachts' didn't land on local schools and hospitals. Carnage could have been terrible.
 
Sailing round Ireland a couple of years ago, amongst many other wonderful things about the coastline and its people, we were impressed by;
<ul type="square"> 1 the great number of long distance swimming club activities, certainly on the east coast at least;
2 the enthusiasm for hard rowing ( 8 oars?) in big heavy boats in big heavy seas; and,
3 the support for community activities and dinghy training for kids and young adults by the yacht clubs. [/list] The attitude is very community focussed. They usually have excellent safety boat back-up, and I am very pleased that no damage was done. I am sure that their ability to look after their own will be seen in a positive light, and that the enthusiasm of their marvellous young people will not be diminished by this.
 
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The attitude is very community focussed. They usually have excellent safety boat back-up, and I am very pleased that no damage was done. I am sure that their ability to look after their own will be seen in a positive light, and that the enthusiasm of their marvellous young people will not be diminished by this.


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Hear, hear!
 
And guess what they were excitedly gabbling about at school the next morning...... better than the usual "what was your high score?"... or "did you see such and such on TV?".... they've had an adventure, learned from it, and probably got a bit exhilarated, frightened, and excited at the same time... bet they all want to carry on sailing!
 
Usually we pick 'em out, right the boat and get them to head off for home while we get the next one. Then we herd & tow the stragglers.

How many sailed back?
 
I was talking to a couple of guys who went out in an 8m rib to give assistance and they said it was pretty hairy, they were out for over 2 hours doings sweeps of the area and towing back abandoned dinghy's. The wind was easterly and so there was no shelter in the bay and they said that the waves were easily 1 1/2 to 2m high at times. Very lucky indeed that no one was lost from an overturned dinghy.

Although that head line is complete rubbish, the wind was pushing everyone towards the beach, sure they could have nearly walked home if they stayed out long enough!!
 
Unfortunately you dont hear the Emergency Services give any credit to the events organisers for what was clearly a well organised affair, as was said all were recovered by the safety boats but the race officer pushed the button just in case - good on him. This inability to recognise what really happened is all part of the institutions 'Bigging it up' probably go down in the statistics as 100 lives saved, 'can we have some more money please' and 'we told you this activity has got to be licenced'
 
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Quite a response from the shore-based emergency services. Youtube

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Response looked rather OTT to me, albeit from the safety and comfort of home. But it did look like there was one separate rescue vehicle for every kid!
Oh well.... modern times neurosis I suppose!
 
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