Sea search for missing teenager

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.... this eventually got to the stage where apparently I value a dinghy above the lives of the boys concerned....

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Perhaps you should read back over some of your posts:

"...Its probably equally tragic for some poor bu88er who's found someone's knicked his dinghy..."

"...The fault is theirs, though the way society is going the poor begger who owned the stolen dinghy will probably end up being sued for leaving in such a way as to allow them to knick it..."

"...If they had not stolen a dinghy, they would be at home now..."

Looks like more concern for the dinghy to me.

I don't think anyone here has said that taking the dinghy was acceptable. These kids fecked up just as you say you did but in a slightly different way and it cost one his life. Take offense and object to my assessment of you but stand back and see how you portray yourself in your ill thought out posts on what you rightly say is an emotive subject.

If this had been one of your "shouts", it probably would not have been a good idea to say to the waiting families "well it was their fault for stealing the dinghy in the first place." Probably would have got you a bit more than a mauling over the internet.
 
codswallop - this thread, not l\'Escargot

I go off for a weekend and come back to find everyone's gone mad. This thread makes really sickening reading. Have a bit of pity on the lad's family for God's sake. Some of you have used the relative anonymity of the net to write things I don't believe you'd be insensitive e or rude enough to say face to face.
 
Re: codswallop - this thread, not l\'Escargot

I don't believe we are involved in grief counselling here. We are discussing the whole incident and the ramifications.
The parents of the missing youngster will be shattered. The parents of the saved youngster may feel enormous relief and very possibly guilt.
But are any lessons going to be learned?
How many 14 year olds throughout the country will even be aware of what has happened? In lieu of parents making their children aware should we expect schools to bring the matter to the youngsters' attention (if we still had assemblies)?
Some people throughout the thread have hinted at a lack of awareness of the real frailty of human life. I know when we were young we did stupid things. I did. But I knew that I wasn't immortal. I honestly believe that some youngsters do not realise it is very easy to kill yourself. And more worryingly, a lot of their parents aren't a lot better informed.
Adults don't always act in an adult manner. We have boat fulls of locals go out boozing on the lake after dark in small boats. I'm expecting a tragedy.

I'm sure that life has seemingly become a less valuable commodity. Until, of course, reality bites.
 
me

I have just remebered that when aged 14 i borrowed/stole a boat. Sorrt bout that. It was on derwentwater, a rowing boat, one of the rentals, in quite off-season. We put it back afterwards. Yep, illegal, but very good fun. Don't really think it deserved death as punishment.

Suprising that kids that live near the sea aren't more aware of the dangrs of being swept out to sea praps? And of specially nasty weather at the moment, too? With kids in london, i taught ours to be savvy bout cars and big shame the same hasn't taken place bout boats and the sea for kids living on the coast.
 
death an infrequent visitor

Agreed, these days death is an infrequent visitor. Mostly, babies survive and grow up, get non-lethal jobs in offices, drive cars with lots of saftey features, go on holidays abroad with almost never any air crashes, and confidently expct to live to 80+

It should be better known how lethal it is to be immersed in cold water, frinstance. It isn't obvious. But as far as i know, this isn't taught by many - i wasn't aware of it despite having done loads of swimming, not until doing boating was it explaind that in normal coastal water you have minutes to survive rather than hours and that "being able to swim really well" doesn't help much if at all. Oh yeah, and i did all that personal survival stuff too, hours swimming up and down pools in water temperature that (except in swimming pools) was completely unrepresentative of any other body of water that you were likely to be near like the sea or a lake.
 
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Darwinism.

The owner of the dinghy will probably end up getting sued for not securing the tender safely enough.

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At least try and read all the posts first and come up with your own silly comments, rather than just repeat those others have already made made.
 
I am not condoning theft but I suppose the problem is they didn't think. Especially if they had got hold of some booze, they thought it would be a laugh without appreciating the dangers of taking a small dinghy out on a windy night in late November. Perhaps the RNLI etc should go round schools explaining how long you can expect to survive in the water at this time of year particularly without a lifejacket (apologies if they already do) and maybe we should all do more to keep our dinghies secure by padlocking them to trailers, the pontoon etc. Every year youngsters seem to get themselves drowned this way - not necessarily involving theft...

Given my "nom de keyboard" I am tempted to add "Of course if they were fully aware of all the risks but decided to do it anyway..." but in the circumstances it seems inappropriate.
 
I saw the sad news and then came across this thread and started to read. I feel sick.
He was a child. You are all adults.
My thoughts are with his parents. I do not know the lad so can't comment, and even if I did would not write such insensetive things on a public forum. If any of his friends or family read this, and I truly hope they do not, I am very very sorry on behalf of what is usually a good forum.

If anyone is angered by my post please do not abuse me. You/we are all entitled to our opinions, but this was not the time or the place to start fighting each other /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 
jonic, I totally concur your view.
Actually, I originally posted in the hope that someone would know some local insight and could offer hope or sympathy. For some reason completely unfathomable, the thread descended into the mess that you read above. If anything comes of this, I hope (although that is surely forlorn) that people will remember this thread with a degree of shame.
I went to bed last night and commented that it had been a bad day. This was the reason.
In all probability, I will reflect on this and carefully consider if I want to be in the middle of this type of thread again, and whether by careful phrasing of my meaning (not easy) to better convety my intention.
 
well said.I feel ashamed to be associated with this forum after reading some of the replies.

You and some others have restored my faith in human nature which took a battering reading this thread.
 
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well said.I feel ashamed to be associated with this forum after reading some of the replies.

You and some others have restored my faith in human nature which took a battering reading this thread.

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Hi Graham,

Well I banged out of this debate yesterday because I could see where it was going, but dear, oh dear oh dear. I am puzzled why some of the contributors to this debate or row, call it what you will have taken to flaming various people, (including me I think?) for simply taking a somewhat broader view of the situation?

It's all very well expressing sympathy and solidarity with the parents of this poor kid, and maybe one should, but it will make no difference to them, because they wont read it, well, not unless they are on this forum. Because some folks have had the temerity to suggest that if they hadn't taken the dinghy, this wouldn't have happened, they got set upon by all and sundry.

Now, I am not having a go at any one individual, though I do think that some of you do have something to perhaps feel a bit sheepish about? I am absolutely certain that all of the people who posted on this subject, feel sympathy and perhaps a touch of sorrow for the lad and his parents, including me by the way, but, the bottom line is, if those two lads had not taken that dinghy, one of them would not be missing (I haven't heard anything else yet), and they would both be home with their families.

It doesn'y matter whether it was theft, or a prank that went badly wrong, the bottom line is still the same, the problem would not exist, and we would not be discussing it.

I have to tell you all, that some of what I have read, borders on absolute rudeness and pomposity!

So before somebody decides to give me a flaming, here is where I am coming from. I feel a great deal of sympathy for the families of both these lads, Particularly for the family of the one that is missing, I feel sorrow for the lad who is missing, (what a bloody waste) and what a price to pay for stupidity, I do sincerely hope that in the way of a miracle the lad is found alive, but I know that if they haven't found him yet, this is not likely to be the case.

Some of you have snatched things of what some others have said, and out of context have decided to flame various people. That to my way of thinking is nothing to be proud of, and certainly does not make any of us look righteous. To be honest, I think that some apologies are called for, not that I think they will be forthcoming.

Anyway, that's what I feel about it all, so I guess if you don't like it you will just have to flame away at me. I have to tell you though, you wont be getting any response from me. So before anybody gets all fired up to have a go, just remember this, I am a human being too, just like everybody else on this forum.

Regards, Charlie.
 
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As to the dinghy,it was only "stolen"if they had no intention of returning it.

[/ QUOTE ] So you won't do anything (eg file a Police Report) , or be upset, if I take up your boat without your permission and go for a joy voyage, I shall return it!
 
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As to the dinghy,it was only "stolen"if they had no intention of returning it.

[/ QUOTE ] So you won't do anything (eg file a Police Report) , or be upset, if I take up your boat without your permission and go for a joy voyage, I shall return it!

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I should ignore this graham, some people just don't get it - lets move on.
 
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As to the dinghy,it was only "stolen"if they had no intention of returning it.

[/ QUOTE ] So you won't do anything (eg file a Police Report) , or be upset, if I take up your boat without your permission and go for a joy voyage, I shall return it!

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The distinction I was making seems to have passed you by.

There is a huge difference between a couple of kids who lark about in a dinghy and then put it back and someone who takes someone elses boat and doesn't return it. If in this case the boat hadn't capsized and caused a death and was put back, which was a perfectly possible scenario, probably no one would have known it was gone. At no time though did I say taking a boat in any manner was right.

With regards to you taking my boat, I would hope you are more responsible than a 14 year old, but perhaps not.

I just think too many people are getting bogged down with a stolen dinghy and missing the fact that somebodies child has died.
 
I also wish to voice my opinion about stealing a boat and ending up drowning

and I am suprised we cannot discuss the subject without all this emotion diverting us from the real issue

there is no difference between stealing a boat or car and ending up dead

both are wrong and both have their risks

ok - the boat thief died ............ amen /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
 
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