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The Evening Star WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1928. THE ST. CLAIR SURF.

Monday night’s tragedy at St. Clair Beach emphasises once again the lolly of those bathers who are not intimate with the peculiarities of this nmeh-fre-quented part of the ocean front. Conditions are by no means always the same. They are largely governed by wind and tide, and as both these are variable factors the combinations possible arc more numerous than might be thought. The prevailing winds are north-east and south-west. When the north-easterly blows the set of the water along the foreshore is in the direction of the St. Clair baths, and the frequency with which bathers have experienced grave, and sometimes even fatal, trouble through being swept seaward by the current in this channel, particularly on the ebb tide, has possibly led to attention being concentrated on the danger in that direction to the exclusion of thought of danger in the other direction. On Monday night the set was in the direction of St. Kilda, and the tide was going out. It was high water at St. Clair at 1.57 p.m. on Monday, and again at 2.110 a.m. on Tuesday. Allowing equal times for ebb and flow (which is near enough for our purposes), it would be dead low water at St. Clair at about 8.15 p.m. on Monday. The tragedy took place about 7 p.m.—i.o., just when the ebb tide was running strongly an hour and a-quarter before low tide slack water. This is a most perilous time for the incautious or the inexpert to indulge in surf bathing. That recreation is most exhilarating and least dangerous if the time chosen is the very reverse of that which marked the tragedy. The best time to bathe is on an incoming tide, perhaps an hour before high water. The rollers are then at their best tor riding, the undertow least pronounced, and sufficient depth can be achieved without encountering any pronounced current which may be setting parallel with the shore in either direction according to the direction of the wind.

As to tho precautions that might be taken to avoid repetitions of Monday’s tragedy, which may always be looked for as long as people unfamiliar with this beach continue to enter the water thoughtless of what the conditions existent at that particular moment may be, the suggestion has been made that an alarm bell, audible for a considerable distance, should be placed on the beach to notify members of the Life Saving Club that their services are urgently needed. By the irony of fate on Monday night the most prominent members of the club held the concluding section of their life saving competition for the Sagar Cup, this being tho resuscitation of tho apparently drowned, and the venue was tho municipal baths, and not St. Clair. In consequence they were absent from the beach, but the probability is that, had an alarm sounded, the life saving apparatus would have been speedily and adequately manned by those expert in this admirable work, and no loss of life might have been recorded. But because of tho existence of this club the public has no right to unduly and needlessly trespass on the altruism of its members. Doubtless tho club is justifiably proud of its record of good work done, but it is safe to say that all its members would much prefer that the public who bathe should exercise such caution and common sense as would ensure tho minimum of calls on the lifeline and reel. In fact, it would be all to the good if compulsion were brought to bear on the foolhardy. Thus it might be made an offence against the law for people to enter the water at any other spot than that marked out for tho time being by flags as the safest spot under the existing conditions. And we would impress on bathers that it is not enough merely to enter tho water between the flags; continual watch should be kept when in the surf that one is not unconsciously being drifted away from tho marked area by the set of the water parallel with the shore. Possibly also it might be advisable to have a placard notifying bathers whether the tide is ebbing or flowing, for there are some intellects to whom the mere announcement of tho hour of high water that day conveys nothing. This would perhaps involve an attendance and attention for which the surf club might not be willing to accept responsibility. In that case the need for a paid patrol might be coiir sidered, an expert swimmer and surfer such as tho authorities engagp at Sydney’s favorite surf resorts. This, of course, raises the question of by whom should the cost be defrayed—on which we have no suggestion to make at pre-

sent. In the meantime, for the balance of the current surfing season, the installation of an alarm bell should be promptly attended to, for it is evident that there are in the community people who decline to take warning from the misadventures of others and persist in jeopardising their own lives and the lives of those who go to their rescue—always, we are proud to recognise, coming to the fore when the call for help is raised.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD19280222.2.35

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Evening Star, Issue 19797, 22 February 1928, Page 4

Word count
Tapeke kupu
879

The Evening Star WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1928. THE ST. CLAIR SURF. Evening Star, Issue 19797, 22 February 1928, Page 4

The Evening Star WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1928. THE ST. CLAIR SURF. Evening Star, Issue 19797, 22 February 1928, Page 4

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