A day at the beach, a day to remember

[mal]

Semaphore Beach
Our favourite beach
The family had our usual lunch at the Sotos fish shop on Sema4 Road
The chips are the 2nd best after Chicken Chef
Today it was crowded so we drove 2kms towards Grange Beach
It was a section with a mass of rocks near the shore, where a kiosk is
In we went for a swim
We were throwing a tennis ball and catching
A poor return saw the ball float to the rocks
I went towards the rocks, there was a sudden dip in depth, and a swirl in the water
1 step was enough for me to abort getting the ball
We didnt bother risking ourselves to get a tennis ball
Then ....

A lad in his teens got caught in the swirl, he yelled frantically
The boy was fighting for his life
Other boys swam out to save him
Then the 3 got caught in the swirl
It was frenetic

Then a middle aged man saved the day and the boys
He clung to the rocks, manouvered himself thru the swirl to save the boys
He saved them

Afterwards the hero could be seen splattered in blood from where his skin was cut by the rocks
His chest and hands were a bloody mess

I then brought up the subject as to why there are no signs to warn swimmers of the potential dangers
I was shown a warning sign
A sign I didnt see when walking to the area [nor would most other people]

A day at the beach, a day ro remember

[LMA]

Wow. If it is the section at the end of Bower Rd, that is known for being dangerous at times I believe someone drowned there in recent years

[gadj1976]

Holy sh1t Mal.

I consider myself an ordinary swimmer at best. I used to think I was pretty good, then went swimming at a local pool in Melbourne when I lived there and couldn't do 50m freestyle without stopping.

The concern being, if I saw some kid in trouble, I'd jump in. Not a great idea given the state of my physical stature now I'm 40. Good on the bloke who helped out. I never hope I'm in the situation, but you can certainly understand why people who jump in save others finish up sacrificing their own lives for the sake of others.

[Sojourner]

Scary stuff Mal and not something anyone wants to see happen!

Its a real worry when you see the sheer number of adults in SA that cant swim at all, or who are poor swimmers to the point that if they did fall into deep water they would likely drown.

I do wonder why so many adults are reluctant to participate in Learn to Swim classes at State Swim and so on, not only do you learn to Freestyle, yet can go all the way and learn how to actually save someone that is in distress in the water, it makes for common sense, especially if your first reaction to seeing a drowning is goinig to be to immediantly jump in and try to save that person - its much much harder than what it looks like on TV - as your friend above is good evidence of!

[Johno6]

i literally cannot swim to save my life.
never been to keen on teh water

[RustyCage]

Scary stuff Mal and not something anyone wants to see happen!

Its a real worry when you see the sheer number of adults in SA that cant swim at all, or who are poor swimmers to the point that if they did fall into deep water they would likely drown.

I do wonder why so many adults are reluctant to participate in Learn to Swim classes at State Swim and so on, not only do you learn to Freestyle, yet can go all the way and learn how to actually save someone that is in distress in the water, it makes for common sense, especially if your first reaction to seeing a drowning is goinig to be to immediantly jump in and try to save that person - its much much harder than what it looks like on TV - as your friend above is good evidence of!

I'm one of those people who can't swim at all. Looking at changing that this year.