Hard to put some perspective on this. But that island is about 90ft tall at its peak Anyway, big churning sea today. despite the warnings, there were several rescues last night from people not taking heed of the advice to stay away from the water
The second pic is a zoomed in shot of the first. Those waves are breaking on a reef about a mile offshore. probably 20-25ft waves
Not my pic (obvs) but this gives a better idea of the size of the waves down here today. please log in to view this image
Been a few people plucked out today. Mainly holiday makers who got caught out by the spring tides. Coastguard heli had to winch somebody off of a rock after they clambered onto it to 'get a better view' and then got cut off by the tide.
Morning. Put Sky News on and they’ve been talking for a good ten minutes about Taylor Swift getting engaged.
Was having this chat with somebody yesterday. I see why people think they should be fined or billed for the costs of rescuing them, but I don't agree with it. I've got friends who volunteer in the RNLI and Coastguard and it goes against the very principle of why they joined up, which is to preserve life no matter what the circumstances of the people who are being rescued. People get into difficulties for all sorts of reasons. Yes some are just negligent and put themselves in danger because they haven't bothered to check the conditions, tides etc. But loads of people get caught out due to sudden changes in weather or sea conditions, or they sustain injuries or have medical emergencies. What I think the RNLI (who run the lifeguard service) could do is give way more education and information at beaches about how to stay safe. My local beach has a board with the tide times on it. And the lifeguards operate a flag system for swimming area, surfing area, or red flag for do not enter the water. But I think there should be more info about the swell conditions, tides, rip currents, local geography about where people might get cut off by the tide etc.
Should treat each case as individual then maybe? I dunno…I wouldn’t want to rescue someone who decided to hang off a cliff edge for a selfie for Instagram…would probably throw stones at them till they fell off tbh but I get what you sayin
Yeah I hear you. I just think the mentality of emergency workers is that we will do whatever we can to try to save this person's life, regardless of the circumstances in which that person has come to be in that situation. And that's right imo, you don't want a Firefighter turning up at a house fire and saying 'Well that stupid **** shouldn't have been frying chips, so we're gonna let him burn' But, I do understand the sentiment when people clearly take risks that they know will put them in danger, and then they've racked up a £50k bill to launch the Coastguard Heli and get winched off of a rock.
I think other countries do charge people for rescues though. I know some mountain resorts and ski resorts will charge people if they need plucking off the side of a mountain. You have to take out insurance to cover the costs (or pay it yourself if you decide not to)
Everyone gets a free hit to be saved by the coastguard once. Need them twice and you cover it and do a year inside.
because it’s voluntary init bro it deserves a different kind of respect and approach than doing it coz you get paid a wage imo I get what you mean though I like Windy’s solution seems fair