# Ten airlifted from stranded boat ( BBC )



## Gavin Gait (Aug 14, 2005)

Ten airlifted with 2 left onboard , a SPEEDBOAT...... Personally I feel the time came over a decade ago to make it a legal requirement for everyone to have sufficient training in boat handling , navigation and safety. Had that been in place this sort of idiotic situation would be a rare event not the seemingly common summer rescue that we see all the time these days

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/7384519.stm


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## Coastie (Aug 24, 2005)

You should have heard the comments!!


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## Gavin Gait (Aug 14, 2005)

I can well imagine Coastie , between the "F'ing Idiots" to "braindead" type comments I wouldn't like to be the 2 left to take the boat in on the tide. In situations like this I think the owner(s) of the speedboat should have to pay ALL the costs of the rescue including the costs of the SAR Helicopter and RNLI. This was always going to be an accident waiting to happen. If they hadn't ran aground they could well have capsized killing most , if not all , those onboard. I would bet that there weren't enough ( maybe even any ) life jackets onboard let alone VHF / Nav Lights or a Flare pack. Willing to bet the rescue was initiated by mobile phone too...

Too much money and not enough sense .....


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## Pompeyfan (Aug 9, 2005)

Davie

I agree entirely. I have been saying for years that everybody taking a boat of any size out should have to pass a test to say they are able to handle it, navigate, understand safety and local conditions, tide times, tidal currents, and check weather forecast before going. Any test and training should include all this. In other words, the very basics. People can't drive on the roads without a licence, but anybody can take a small boat out.

As you know, before I retired I dealt with needless deaths involving small boats or seaside accidents. Almost always during the holiday season or a sunny day, people not having a clue of how to handle a boat or navigate it or how far the tide comes in. And it is not just small boats, speedboats or jet ski's etc. Go to any seaside resort and you will see blow up rubber dinghy's, floating mattresses and anything else that floats, kids paddling out with parents watching or just leaving them to it not understanding how dangerous the currents can be, that a calm scene one minute can become a far different place the next as the tide and weather changes.

I am not being a spoil sport but the sea is not a playground, not even that idyllic picture postcard British seaside resort because it can soon turn nasty, your child drifting out in seconds as the tide turns. If people want to float or paddle around then more canoe lakes, water parks and the like should be built where they can take part in all these water sports but in safety, especially kids. After all, aboard Independence of the Seas you can now surf, all within the safety of the ship.

As it is, my former department will not be short of work this summer, and neither will the coastguard. But more lives will be lost needlessly, many kids not going back to school after the school holidays simply because we are allowing them to do as they like at the seaside.

People have always accused me of wanting too many rules and regulations. It is not that at all because I, like those who work in the emergency service saw all the time how needless these deaths were, and how easy it was to avoid them. Yet we are labelled as spoil sports. There is something cock-eyed somewhere when all we are doing is trying to save lives, not end them?!.

David


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## Coastie (Aug 24, 2005)

Davie Tait said:


> I can well imagine Coastie , between the "F'ing Idiots" to "braindead" type comments I wouldn't like to be the 2 left to take the boat in on the tide. In situations like this I think the owner(s) of the speedboat should have to pay ALL the costs of the rescue including the costs of the SAR Helicopter and RNLI. This was always going to be an accident waiting to happen. If they hadn't ran aground they could well have capsized killing most , if not all , those onboard. I would bet that there weren't enough ( maybe even any ) life jackets onboard let alone VHF / Nav Lights or a Flare pack. Willing to bet the rescue was initiated by mobile phone too...
> 
> Too much money and not enough sense .....



No, I believe it was a Mayday via VHF.

As a few people on here know, the Menai Strait is not a place to be mucking around on, it is very unforgiving.


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## Gavin Gait (Aug 14, 2005)

Especially on a 23ft speedboat with 3 adults and 9 children onboard....


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## ddraigmor (Sep 13, 2006)

Send them a bill, Coastie! Were they near the Swellies or further down Beaumaris way?

Jonty


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## Coastie (Aug 24, 2005)

ddraigmor said:


> Send them a bill, Coastie! Were they near the Swellies or further down Beaumaris way?
> 
> Jonty


On Lavan between B5 and Aber.


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