Sea search for missing teenager

Yes, so do I, but I think that reality and being fourteen, are strangers these days see the trouble is (as I see it), they can buy or rent the video games, and do all kinds of crazy things in the games, but they seem to have trouble seperating the games from reality, and reality hurts or kills, it has no mercy, and you can't press the re-start button.

Something needs to be done to wake these little sods up to reality. It's no good asking me, because I am past caring what happens to them! I do sympathise with the turmoil that their poor parents would be feeling though. even though I do not feel that they are completely innocent in such circumstances.

There is no longer any redress against kids that decide that they do not want to conform to what most people think of as acceptable behavior. In my experience they have no social skills and cannot relate or empathise with the needs or sensiblities of of other people around them. Also, I am tired to death of hearing all the limp wristed excuses of those who claim it is not their fault.

Has anybody stopped to think that if this is how they are behaving now, what will it be like in two or three generations time?
 
I suspect that the death penalty for stealing a dinghy is a bit extreme.

Really the time of night is pretty irrelevant as they could have done this at any time - its just that they probably had a couple of beers to help them on their way.

I have done nutty boats things in the past and learnt from the experiences (not illegal though). This unfotunate 14 year old probably wont though.

There for the grace etc. - agree.
 
Quite agree Will,

I'd be besides myself if I found either of my kids away from home at that time of night, and would be out looking round the streets for them....

But none of us will ever know their home circumstances... maybe they weren't missed, and it was perfectly normal for them to be out at 2am.... or maybe as Tome intimated, they were just average 14yr old boys testing the boundaries of their authority... (and in this case, clearly exceeding them).. and just made a stupid mistake, but either way, I also agree with Pye_End.... stupid mistake or deliberate bad behaviour on their part... a death sentence is an extreme form of punishment....
 
There is a history in Portland of dinghy thefts recently I was told and we were advised not to leave ours unattended even in daylight if we went ashore at the beach by Castle Cove SC's old location.

Maybe if plod had stopped the 'joy' riding it could have prevented a tragedy.

My kids (OK years ago) would NOT have been out at that time at that age, nor even older unless they wanted to look for their own alternative accomodation, keys to the door at 14? Not on my watch.

As has been said though the death penalty is a very severe punishment.
 
really sad story. As a parent I cant imagine how they must be feeling.

Anyone who thinks that being perfect parents means your kids will automatically be little angels is in for a shock.Its natural for teenagers to be rebellious and do crazy things.

As to the dinghy,it was only "stolen"if they had no intention of returning it.
 
I absolutely agree. Of course, it seems that unfortunately there is going to be a tragic outcome, but if they were kids who were brought up to understand things like social duty and responsibility they wouldn't have been out in the middle of the night knicking a boat.
If there had been no tragedy would people still be saying "Oh, we all did silly things when we were young".

Er, No.
We'd all be saying "Thieving little grotes" as has been posted many times on here.

We have a little gang of 14 year olds who knick tenders and outboards on the lake. They are very clever and never get caught in possesion and deny all knowledge of the acts.
They are just doing it for fun, but they know they are breaking the law and carry on doing it. One day there will be a similar tragedy. But we can't prevent it, because the law is powerless.

My thread "Exam Fiasco" explores exactly the same problems with lack of decent upbringing being the main theme.
 
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We are talking of 14year old boy out in the early hours of the morning FFS . If you think thats ok then IMO god help any children you may have .

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There are circumstances where I wouldn't consider it unreasonable for a 14 year old to be out at that time. I regularly went all night fishing at that age and spent the night in a 16 foot boat with a couple of friends anchored up in Portsmouth harbour. My son was also allowed to go and do similar at that age. We probably got up to a bit of mischief that we shouldn't have on occasions which caused an element of risk, but were fortunate enough not to come to any harm.

Kids of that age aren't good at assessing the risk to themselves in what they probably see as adventurous circumstances. As for "theft" of the dinghy, I wouldn't read too much into it - who's to say they didn't have every intention of returning it. How many people on here have "borrowed" a dinghy without permission?
 
So if its ok to "steal" borrow, call it what you like , a dinghy what size boat would YOU call inappropriate to borrow ???
It was n't their property , they had no right to borrow it at all . Play with fire and you get burnt . No sympathy at all I'm afraid
 
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No sympathy at all I'm afraid



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What a very sad attitude.can you put your hand on your heart and say that YOUhave never ever broken the law.

If we are taking such a strict attitude this has to include all laws.Motoring , tax avoidance ,paying cash in hand to a tradesman for a discount?copyright laws ?The list is endless ,there cant be many of you perfect human beings.
 
I didn't say it was ok to borrow any size boat if you read my post. I would say though that I don't think it should be a capital offence.

I was just commenting on your ability to exagerate and inflate a situation which you clearly have limited knowledge of, and could well be completely different from your impression, in order to turn it into a personal rant. And a bit of a viscious one I think, considering it is about the death of a child who may well have been a pleasant and good character for all you know.
 
Well, as a 14 year old I was quite athletic and could easily climb out of a window in the early hours for some adventure or other. This happened both at school and at home, and we considered it great fun. Probably been watching The Great Escape or such like. Giving us rock climbing training probably contributed

In hindsight I shudder to think of some of the daft risks we took, but fate dealt kindly with us for whatever reason

And on one occasion we even borrowed a dinghy to row out into the lake and eat our sandwiches! There, I've said it

That's me off your Xmas card list then
 
Never sailed a snapdragon, but see you have one, where do you keep her? I'll pop up one evening and borrow it, /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif I fully intend putting it back though,(honest officer) so do not worry. Not trying to be funny but where do you draw the line I for one will lend out practically anything, But heaven help anyone who helps themselves. I might also point out at no time have I said they deserved to lose their lives but at the end of the day they shouldn't have been there. 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.
 
To read some of the comments, one could conclude that there must be some hypocritical or memory-impaired sailors out there.

All teenagers do stupid things - it is part of the normal condition of being a teenager. I would guess that almost all teenagers break the law at some time or the other. Shop-lifting, under-age drinking, under-age sex, drugs, driving without a licence, speeding with a licence....many parents of teenagers have had to help their children through such episodes, and I would guess that those who are not aware that their children have done such things, are probably poorly informed.

Very, very, very few parents are so neglectful that they don't care what happens to their children. Most parents cope imperfectly with their teenage children but most of them 'get away with it' and their children grow up into lovely young adults. Our hearts should go out to those parents who appear to have lost their child in this tragedy.

Could those who wish to display their ignorance, arrogance and lack of human compassion please do so elsewhere.
 
As regards to showing no sympathy--- . I feel sorry for the poor sod who has lost his dinghy

The bottom lone is ,they were 14 old enough to know the dangers . they stole the dinghy they paid the price . Darwinism?? no comment .
 
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As for "theft" of the dinghy, I wouldn't read too much into it - who's to say they didn't have every intention of returning it. How many people on here have "borrowed" a dinghy without permission?

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What on earth difference does that make Mark? To take someones property, without permission, is just wrong! It doesn't matter whether you intend to permanently deprive or not, although that is worse. At 14 years of age, I expect a child to have a grasp of what is right and what is wrong, and to try and suggest (if indeed you are), that they are to immature at that age to know right from wrong is ridiculous.

It seems to me that most of the people that have contributed to this discussion have an understanding of what is wrong, that allows this sort of thing, (and worse) to go on unchecked in our midst, but somebody please tell me why none of us seem to want to or are able to do something to prevent the intervention of the bloody social worker parasites and do gooders, and say, HEY!! enough, is ENOUGH!

Seems to me that never before has there been a more urgent need to get back to basics. We need to get discipline back into the schools and into the home, we also need to take steps to instil self discipline, into the kids we are bringing up in the world.

We are already a long way down the slippery slope, and to climb back up, will never be easy, but if we don't I tremble at what lies before us. I am not by nature anti Brussels, but we really do have to stop idiot politicians interfering in our lives.

The idea that a child, can take it's parents to court for giving him or her a slap because they have got out of line is totally ludicrous!

OK, rant over
 
Devoid of compassion, humility or grace. What a sad individual you must be, and of course it won't occur to you that this teenage misadventure will have left his parents anxious and grieving - full of guilt about what more they could have done, and still clinging to a thin thread of hope that he might yet be found alive

Shame on you. You feel sorry for the poor sod who lost their dinghy? What a sad and desperately sheltered life you must be trapped in
 
With respect, what we have here are a number of forumites expressing their personal opinion of a tragic situation. Whilst there are a number of very different opinions aired (what use a forum if everyone thought exactly the same?), everyone has up to this point remained polite. your post sadly is not. rather than posters who do not agree with your personal opinion going elsewhere perhaps you should. Mike
 
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