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Sort of bizarre watercraft incident

PostPosted: Thu 10 Jan, 2019 12:26 am
by trekker76
Edit to title 'watercraft' incident. Typing late at night lol.
Anyway I took my brothers kids to one of the local lakes and inflated one of those large lounge rafts that can seat several adults( complete with lunch eskies as well lol). We floated it out past the usual crowd in the shallows to about 30-35m out and they were having fun jumping off it etc and paddling about.The kids can swim but being around 8yrs I keep a close eye on them. My sister in law was there as well to assist. The issue was several other kids and teens who for some reason decided it was novel enough sight to swim out to us to take a look and then of course also try and board. Which I could not refuse them as I don't want to send back some tired kid swimming 60m without a break. But it was a pain as I didn't want to be responsible for them, so told them once they had had a break they needed to return to shore. Also I felt fairly ridiculous yelling to other kids at the top of my voice swimming out to us to "go back don't come near us!". I had to bring it in early as a result and I got a comment from one of the parents which I assume was half joking being a 'big meany'. I said its inflatable but still a water craft, you wouldn't just swim out to some guys rowboat and demand to be let into it. Also if a kid drowns or even has a head clash on it I could be up the creek. It was actually a fairly bizarre situation, didnt anticipate the attraction of it. Being locals we can pick better times in future to avoid the tourists. Anyone had similar issues?

Re: Sort of bizarre watercradt incident

PostPosted: Fri 15 Feb, 2019 2:45 am
by icefest
That was a difficult read. A bit more punctuation and some paragraphs would make it easier to follow.

I've had to rescue numpties in bicycle helmets on whitewater before. Don't get drunk and think you can whitewater kayak...

Re: Sort of bizarre watercradt incident

PostPosted: Fri 15 Feb, 2019 6:29 am
by Gadgetgeek
I think you made the right call, tough one though. You were not there to look after other people's kids, and they should know better than to presume they were permitted to come and play. One thing many people don't realize is just how difficult it is to watch others in the water. You can only look after so many kids, and the extras were adding unnecessary risk.

Re: Sort of bizarre watercradt incident

PostPosted: Fri 15 Feb, 2019 5:30 pm
by trekker76
icefest wrote:That was a difficult read. A bit more punctuation and some paragraphs would make it easier to follow.

I've had to rescue numpties in bicycle helmets on whitewater before. Don't get drunk and think you can whitewater kayak...


It was not pretty I admit but you actually found it a difficult read? My 4th grade nephew could read that out at normal speed and comprehend it.

Re: Sort of bizarre watercradt incident

PostPosted: Fri 15 Feb, 2019 5:45 pm
by trekker76
Gadgetgeek wrote:I think you made the right call, tough one though. You were not there to look after other people's kids, and they should know better than to presume they were permitted to come and play. One thing many people don't realize is just how difficult it is to watch others in the water. You can only look after so many kids, and the extras were adding unnecessary risk.


Thanks Gadgetgeek, I looked back and have been thinking the parents were remiss. If I saw kids I was looking after swimming out to some guys boat/raft etc they would be called back smartly.

Re: Sort of bizarre watercradt incident

PostPosted: Sat 16 Feb, 2019 12:02 am
by icefest
trekker76 wrote:It was not pretty I admit but you actually found it a difficult read? My 4th grade nephew could read that out at normal speed and comprehend it.


Could be because it was on a big screen on a desktop computer, but I had to re-read several bits. Precocious nephew. :)

Re: Sort of bizarre watercradt incident

PostPosted: Sat 16 Feb, 2019 12:19 pm
by north-north-west
icefest wrote:
trekker76 wrote:It was not pretty I admit but you actually found it a difficult read? My 4th grade nephew could read that out at normal speed and comprehend it.

Could be because it was on a big screen on a desktop computer, but I had to re-read several bits. Precocious nephew. :)


Maybe your nephew equivalents are a little . . . (without wanting to be ableist) slow? Grade 4 is nine years old. I read War and Peace at that age (well, two thirds of it. My mother caught me with it and for some reason went ballistic and confiscated it. Still don't understand why.)

Re: Sort of bizarre watercradt incident

PostPosted: Sat 16 Feb, 2019 1:36 pm
by trekker76
war and peace, thats not a bad read.

Re: Sort of bizarre watercraft incident

PostPosted: Sat 16 Feb, 2019 7:58 pm
by Moondog55
Not sure how to responds as water and I do not get along. But when I was a kid and when among my mates kids and my grandkids now any raft in the water is an irresistibly attraction, such things are natural targets for swimmers and kids of all ages.
I think its unreasonable to think kids would not stay away. They are kids, kids don't think ahead they just react in the moment, you gave them a target and the went for it. Throw a raft in a swimming pool and you would have a similar reaction. Also I do think that rafts and boats are different in the way people look at them, I'd not bard somebody else boat but a raft I would not hesitate to go onto, in my mind and I guess kids minds they ate totally different things. We used to make them out of 44 gallons drums and scarp timber, drag them down the beach and leave them as community property when we were kids