scissorhands
29th March 2011, 10:11
I dont know if anyone watches the show Piha Rescue on the telly, but I can categorically state that many of the rescues are staged and fake.
The camera crew has set up and they need to meet the contractual arrangement and provide footage of rescues, while hamming it up for the ratings.
Many times I have body surfed away from the flags, only to be harangued into leaving the water... even after I have repeatedly communicated 'ok' either with thumbs up, or speaking to the crew in the inflatable. Anyone with any knowledge could quickly see I was very capable and adept in the sea, which I confirmed with gesture and language
The one time I was present during a fatal drowning, it was the surfers who retrieved the body to shore, as the surf lifesaving cluby rode a bicycle home to get some flippers (surf was tiny!). Other incidents that come to mind, it was a recovering alcoholic and p user surfer who was first at hand to assist a girl getting washed up on rocks during big seas.
If you watch the show closely and have a modicum of knowledge regarding surf, you will see the talked up hype and misinformation regarding usually the size of the swell, that the shows producers encourage to make ratings and money.
With all this cry wolf hysteria and TV time melodrama, the real job of policing the beach for safety often becomes secondary.
Much of the money NZSLA receives goes toward equipment and buildings, which again like a useless government department much is either corrupted away or such as the new tower at Port Waikato, which will be washed away within 2 decades like the last two towers (poor placement on the edge of eroding dunes). The local builder often gets the contracts.....
And on the front page of todays NZ Herald http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10715597
A dispute has flared between Piha lifeguards and a surfing instructor after eight children, some as young as 11, were taken into a rip and a three-metre swell during a lesson.
The children were with the Piha Surf School when emergency services were called to the West Coast beach after being told about 5.30pm that the students were in danger.
Lifeguards took a boy from the water, and the other children swam to the shore.
None of the students had any injuries, but Piha lifeguards say the children were put in unnecessary danger.
Lifeguard Duncan Clarke said the children should never have been taken into the rough conditions.
"I cannot believe he took them out in that. There was a three-metre swell and he took them into a notorious rip. It's completely unbelievable.
"When I pulled up I was in total disbelief and just started counting heads and thought this could only end badly."
Henderson senior sergeant Chris Whitehead said police attended the incident but would not be taking the matter further.
He said it was a misunderstanding between the surfing school and the lifeguards who thought the students were drowning.
Piha Surf School instructor, Phil Wallis, said his students were never in danger.
He and his 19-year-old son had taken them into a rip so they could learn how to get out of it.
"It was an exercise that we were doing ... We'd gone over it on the beach and they were never in danger."
Mr Wallis said the boy who was pulled into the lifeguards' boat did not need to be rescued.
But Mr Clarke said lifeguards thought the children were caught in a rip, and scrambled to rescue them before any of the leg-straps attaching them to buoyant surfboards snapped and the current pulled them under.
"They were terrified, you could see it in their faces. It's incredible no one was hurt."
The lifeguard was filming for the television show Piha Rescue and said the cameras filmed a large wave hitting the students and Mr Wallis calling to his son on the rocks for help.
Mr Wallis said he whistled to his son for assistance, but not because any of the students were in danger.
The lifeguard in charge, Jonathan Webber, agreed with Mr Clarke.
He said Mr Wallis should not have taken the children out when it was getting dark and into a notoriously dangerous patch of water.
"The parents should know they don't have to let their kids go out when it's dangerous like that.
"All the other surf schools around here cancelled their lessons because it was too dangerous."
Video here: http://nz.news.yahoo.com/video/watch/24699881/
END
Phil Wallis and his son are extreme watermen training kids to surf, something they have clocked up hundreds of man hours doing. A few times I have expressed concern for kids on the edge of a rip, and also questioned Phil regarding my concern. As always, Phil and his son who are the teachers at Piha Surf School, include a drill whereas they enter a dangerous rip so while swimming next to kids on boards, verbally instructing them throughout the staged ordeal....An exit is easily available, as this 'killer' rip then passes a calm area in the lagoon where the novices can easily wash up on a beach and walk back 5 min to their parents.
As much as I can sympathise with the clubbies concern, as I myself have also been worried, I can also appreciate the value of such a drill exercise, and vehemently question the authority the clubbies use unwisely due to over policing and ignorance.
However, as Piha is often frequented by drunk morons swimming outside the flagged area, clubbies then waste time on idiots who should know better.
The idiocy is not limited to drunk beach goers though, as the authorities are guilty of the same.
In defense of Piha Life Savers, they have erred on the side of caution regarding Piha Surf School, which is always a good thing to rev someone up who dances on the fringe of danger, especially a school with youngsters.
In defence of Piha Surf School, Phil Wallis and his son are experienced watermen with many years of time clocked up in the surf teaching kids, and from my own experiences of seeing capable people driven out of the sea by over zealous clubbies with big guts who couldn't swim to save anyone, and big egos to go with their nice shiny uniforms, made all the worse by TV falsely hamming up the reporting on actual events taking place, to gain money and position at the cost of the real reality and truth of the situation. Hence, the job of saving lives is diluted....
Crying wolf and scaremongering? This is what happens....AND this is after all the airtime of shows like Piha/Bondi Rescue, Danger beach Muriwai, and the massive amount of fund raising NZSLA has been driving for the last few years
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/70673/number-of-drownings-up-46-percent-on-last-summer
Thirty-five people drowned in the first two months of this year - 11 more than in January and February last year, or a 46% increase.
Water Safety New Zealand describes the increase as very discouraging.
General manager Matt Claridge says: "We know that drowning incidents will peak over the summer months as people take advantage of time away from work and the warmer weather to enjoy aquatic-based activities, but to have such a dramatic increase in terms of a comparison with last year's statistics is very discouraging."
Twelve of the 15 deaths by drowning in February occurred in the top half of the North Island, with five in Auckland, three in Bay of Plenty and two each in Northland and Waikato. Five were at beaches and four in rivers and streams.
Three children drown while unsupervised
Water Safety New Zealand is urging people to follow safety rules such as wearing a lifejacket and not swimming alone.
"People are continuing to ignore safety considerations when swimming," Mr Claridge says. "Whether it is swimming alone, swimming in areas that are obviously dangerous or beyond a person's skill level, the inevitable result is that lives are lost."
Three drownings in February were those of young children who had access to water while unsupervised.
"While we feel for the families involved," Mr Claridge says, "there is really no excuse for these incidents. Parents and caregivers must ensure that young children are appropriately supervised at all times when recreating in or near the water.
END
What about spending some of that money on swimming education and effective practises, instead of herding people out of the surf who are obviously are more capable than you, if you took the time to observe their abilities in the surf.
Another case of over funded, TV time bullshit officialdom which has run away with themselves, and no one there to reign them in.
The camera crew has set up and they need to meet the contractual arrangement and provide footage of rescues, while hamming it up for the ratings.
Many times I have body surfed away from the flags, only to be harangued into leaving the water... even after I have repeatedly communicated 'ok' either with thumbs up, or speaking to the crew in the inflatable. Anyone with any knowledge could quickly see I was very capable and adept in the sea, which I confirmed with gesture and language
The one time I was present during a fatal drowning, it was the surfers who retrieved the body to shore, as the surf lifesaving cluby rode a bicycle home to get some flippers (surf was tiny!). Other incidents that come to mind, it was a recovering alcoholic and p user surfer who was first at hand to assist a girl getting washed up on rocks during big seas.
If you watch the show closely and have a modicum of knowledge regarding surf, you will see the talked up hype and misinformation regarding usually the size of the swell, that the shows producers encourage to make ratings and money.
With all this cry wolf hysteria and TV time melodrama, the real job of policing the beach for safety often becomes secondary.
Much of the money NZSLA receives goes toward equipment and buildings, which again like a useless government department much is either corrupted away or such as the new tower at Port Waikato, which will be washed away within 2 decades like the last two towers (poor placement on the edge of eroding dunes). The local builder often gets the contracts.....
And on the front page of todays NZ Herald http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10715597
A dispute has flared between Piha lifeguards and a surfing instructor after eight children, some as young as 11, were taken into a rip and a three-metre swell during a lesson.
The children were with the Piha Surf School when emergency services were called to the West Coast beach after being told about 5.30pm that the students were in danger.
Lifeguards took a boy from the water, and the other children swam to the shore.
None of the students had any injuries, but Piha lifeguards say the children were put in unnecessary danger.
Lifeguard Duncan Clarke said the children should never have been taken into the rough conditions.
"I cannot believe he took them out in that. There was a three-metre swell and he took them into a notorious rip. It's completely unbelievable.
"When I pulled up I was in total disbelief and just started counting heads and thought this could only end badly."
Henderson senior sergeant Chris Whitehead said police attended the incident but would not be taking the matter further.
He said it was a misunderstanding between the surfing school and the lifeguards who thought the students were drowning.
Piha Surf School instructor, Phil Wallis, said his students were never in danger.
He and his 19-year-old son had taken them into a rip so they could learn how to get out of it.
"It was an exercise that we were doing ... We'd gone over it on the beach and they were never in danger."
Mr Wallis said the boy who was pulled into the lifeguards' boat did not need to be rescued.
But Mr Clarke said lifeguards thought the children were caught in a rip, and scrambled to rescue them before any of the leg-straps attaching them to buoyant surfboards snapped and the current pulled them under.
"They were terrified, you could see it in their faces. It's incredible no one was hurt."
The lifeguard was filming for the television show Piha Rescue and said the cameras filmed a large wave hitting the students and Mr Wallis calling to his son on the rocks for help.
Mr Wallis said he whistled to his son for assistance, but not because any of the students were in danger.
The lifeguard in charge, Jonathan Webber, agreed with Mr Clarke.
He said Mr Wallis should not have taken the children out when it was getting dark and into a notoriously dangerous patch of water.
"The parents should know they don't have to let their kids go out when it's dangerous like that.
"All the other surf schools around here cancelled their lessons because it was too dangerous."
Video here: http://nz.news.yahoo.com/video/watch/24699881/
END
Phil Wallis and his son are extreme watermen training kids to surf, something they have clocked up hundreds of man hours doing. A few times I have expressed concern for kids on the edge of a rip, and also questioned Phil regarding my concern. As always, Phil and his son who are the teachers at Piha Surf School, include a drill whereas they enter a dangerous rip so while swimming next to kids on boards, verbally instructing them throughout the staged ordeal....An exit is easily available, as this 'killer' rip then passes a calm area in the lagoon where the novices can easily wash up on a beach and walk back 5 min to their parents.
As much as I can sympathise with the clubbies concern, as I myself have also been worried, I can also appreciate the value of such a drill exercise, and vehemently question the authority the clubbies use unwisely due to over policing and ignorance.
However, as Piha is often frequented by drunk morons swimming outside the flagged area, clubbies then waste time on idiots who should know better.
The idiocy is not limited to drunk beach goers though, as the authorities are guilty of the same.
In defense of Piha Life Savers, they have erred on the side of caution regarding Piha Surf School, which is always a good thing to rev someone up who dances on the fringe of danger, especially a school with youngsters.
In defence of Piha Surf School, Phil Wallis and his son are experienced watermen with many years of time clocked up in the surf teaching kids, and from my own experiences of seeing capable people driven out of the sea by over zealous clubbies with big guts who couldn't swim to save anyone, and big egos to go with their nice shiny uniforms, made all the worse by TV falsely hamming up the reporting on actual events taking place, to gain money and position at the cost of the real reality and truth of the situation. Hence, the job of saving lives is diluted....
Crying wolf and scaremongering? This is what happens....AND this is after all the airtime of shows like Piha/Bondi Rescue, Danger beach Muriwai, and the massive amount of fund raising NZSLA has been driving for the last few years
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/70673/number-of-drownings-up-46-percent-on-last-summer
Thirty-five people drowned in the first two months of this year - 11 more than in January and February last year, or a 46% increase.
Water Safety New Zealand describes the increase as very discouraging.
General manager Matt Claridge says: "We know that drowning incidents will peak over the summer months as people take advantage of time away from work and the warmer weather to enjoy aquatic-based activities, but to have such a dramatic increase in terms of a comparison with last year's statistics is very discouraging."
Twelve of the 15 deaths by drowning in February occurred in the top half of the North Island, with five in Auckland, three in Bay of Plenty and two each in Northland and Waikato. Five were at beaches and four in rivers and streams.
Three children drown while unsupervised
Water Safety New Zealand is urging people to follow safety rules such as wearing a lifejacket and not swimming alone.
"People are continuing to ignore safety considerations when swimming," Mr Claridge says. "Whether it is swimming alone, swimming in areas that are obviously dangerous or beyond a person's skill level, the inevitable result is that lives are lost."
Three drownings in February were those of young children who had access to water while unsupervised.
"While we feel for the families involved," Mr Claridge says, "there is really no excuse for these incidents. Parents and caregivers must ensure that young children are appropriately supervised at all times when recreating in or near the water.
END
What about spending some of that money on swimming education and effective practises, instead of herding people out of the surf who are obviously are more capable than you, if you took the time to observe their abilities in the surf.
Another case of over funded, TV time bullshit officialdom which has run away with themselves, and no one there to reign them in.