The Kintyre Forum

Batton down the hatches! What a night!

Found this on the BBC website:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/glasgow_and_west/7835625.stm

Someone had a very lucky escape.

One very very lucky guy and I hope it's a hard lesson learned to some of you surfers!
Here I am turning into a nagging old bird !! I have lived in Machrihanish for the best part of 12 years now and I have never seen the sea just as bad as it was for a brief period this afternoon! Surfers were backwards and forwards from the beach all day, barely able to walk to the water with their boards at times because the wind was so strong!
I know most of you are extremely enthusiastic about what you do and for a time today the thrill must have been huge but as the weather got up - AS THE FORECAST ALL WEEK SAID IT WOULD! - it was very very stupid and completely irresponsible to be in the water!! Rant over - I hope everybody concerned is ok and it must have been awful! It was bad enough watching the drama unfold from the window!! Does anybody know how the surfer is?

Very strong winds indeed just checked the met website and gusts were as strong as 77mph this afternoon.

This is also a good website for actual and forecost wind speeds, and directions:

http://xcweather.co.uk

Sorry but I'm with Ags on this although I am a bit more in your face than she is - was it not a bit mental to go out in 60mph winds? Someone her did exactly the same this week in my neck of the woods and the lifeboat had to be called out. Totally irresponsible I say!

People that cause emergency services to be called out through blatant stupidity should be billed for at least part of the cost. Maybe then they wouldnt be wandering about hills in shorts and flip-flops or pratting about on ironing boards in hurricanes.

gizmo wrote:pratting about on ironing boards in hurricanes.

Seriously, hear hear!!! I totally agree!

gizmo wrote:People that cause emergency services to be called out through blatant stupidity should be billed for at least part of the cost. Maybe then they wouldnt be wandering about hills in shorts and flip-flops or pratting about on ironing boards in hurricanes.

We spoke about this yesterday when all the activity was on-going. Are the people concerned billed for any of the rescue mission!? There were coastguards, police, lifeboat and the Sea King Helicopter all involved!
A danger in itself to all these people out doing their jobs in horrendous weather! The visibility was so bad at a point that we wouldn't even have known the helicopter was hovering a few hundred metres away had it not been for the flashing light on it's tail!

Would it have been prudent(or possible)for the relevant authority to close the beach for a while?

Missed all the goings on yesterday but i believe the surfer involved was from up the road, already spoken to a few of the guys that were around and they said till the winds picked up it was classic surf. Think it comes down to lack of expierence and over enthusiasm..and maybe a little bit of stupidity. Just back fae the beach and it wasnt any of the Glasgow Uni club that were down as they were too busy gettin some drink at the time(you can always rely on students for a good party )
Off to the beach now for a surf. If the wind has eased off that is.

Yesterday I left town about 11.30 to go to Lochgilpead. As we were passing Muasdale I said that the surfer's would be pleased with the waves. It took us about an hour an a half to get back from Lochgilpead beacuse of the weather. The wind was so strong you could feel the car moving on the road. At about 4.30 we passed Muasdale-only to see four surfer's out on the water. Mental. It was pure and utter madness going out in that, I know the weather can change really quick, but surely they could see there was an element of danger-but maybe that is where they get the thrill from.

Like they say ignorance is bliss, dont think any of the local surfers were in the water much past lunch time due to the conditions. Like with any sport or hobbie anyone can go and buy the kit, what you can't buy is experience, just look at how many people have to be rescued from the hills every year, or how often is the lifeboat out in the summer rescueing in experienced or fool hardy sailors. Hopefully the individuals involved will have learnt their lesson( all be it the hard and nearly fatal way) and others will have heard of the incident and think twice about their own abilities in the future.

Good point Landrover Rodger - I considered reporting them at a point - but who is the "relevant authority" in a situation like that?
I hear from one or two "reliable" sources that our surfer friend was a bit of a cocky lad who couldn't understand what all the fuss was about and would have come to land eventually!! I wonder if he would have been so "brave" if darkness had come down before they got to him!
The tiny little bit of sympathy I had for him yesterday has long gone
As you say Ross - lack of experience - but surely he should be made to pay for his irresponsible behaviour??????????

What we are all missing is, the helicopter battled against winds to get across to Cambeltown to rescue this man and then had to sit it out at the airport because the by that time winds were so high it was unsafe for the crew and the aircraft to take off and return to base.

This in turn meant that the already over worked search and rescue teams were an airframe and crew down. My appreciation and admiration goes out those brave fellas who turn out in some really bad weather to search and to rescue those of us who are stupid enough to venture out in conditions that not only endanger our own lives but those of others.

I agree with you Dunc R. The stupid fool didn't consider that, did he?
I wonder how he would have felt if the helicopter and crew were not available for him.
I read today that twins were delivered in stornoway . If that had happened on saturday night and the only sea king available was stuck in machrihanish, there would have been a delay in getting the medics to the twins.