STOP DELAYING FINGAL SAFETY
HUGS and grim faces. Could there have been anything more heart-wrenching and tragic than young adults, family and friends huddled together yesterday, mourning a mate who perished in the surf at Fingal? This is a time for family and friends of Dylan Carpenter to grieve, but in the weeks ahead the authorities must address Fingal’s unwanted reputation as a black spot.
The Gold Coast Bulletin wrote that plea to authorities across the border last October after another young life was taken off the notoriously treacherous Fingal Headland. It was the third drowning in two years.
Kingscliff man Dylan Carpenter had surfed Fingal beach hundreds of times, but on that fatal Sunday he lost his bodyboard and was knocked unconscious while trying to clamber up the rocky headland to safety.
The beach, which is classified as “dangerous”, was only patrolled on weekends, and only in certain areas.
Fingal Rovers Surf Lifesaving Club has 30 members who patrol and often use neighbouring Gold Coast clubs to bolster numbers. The day Mr Carpenter died, volunteers from Mermaid Beach Surf Lifesaving Club were patrolling at Fingal, an arrangement the clubs have had in place for some time.
Tweed MP Geoff Provest said at the time there had been calls for the beach to be closed, but ruled out taking such drastic steps.
“You don’t want to proliferate the area with too many signs, or fences,” he said, adding that closing the beach would not necessarily deter people from using the area.
“We’re working on Angel Rings (lifebuoys) for the headland and warning signage ... which we hope to have as a permanent fixture by December.”
Tweed Shire councillors did not return Bulletin calls for comment on how best to solve the problem after Mr Carpenter’s death.
On Christmas Day, two months after the Mr Carpenter tragedy, more than 10 people had to be rescued. In February, Japanese man Tomoe Ogisu died after being swept away in a strong rip.
Despite the promises and rhetoric, life buoys had still not been implemented.
Why? The Bulletin was told installation was delayed five weeks because the angel rings were “out-of-stock”.
The latest delay is believed to centre around the Tweed Council trying to gain final permissions from the Tweed and Byron Local Aboriginal Land Council.
Mr Provest tells the Bulletin today: “Hopefully they’ll be installed in the next four weeks.”
It is a broken record.
The whole sorry plight is beyond embarrassing.
Frustrated lifesaving managers have determined the best positions for the buoys, “but it falls back on council for installation”. They cannot do any more than continue to save the vulnerable souls caught in the treacherous currents.
What is it going to take? The loss of another life?
Spring is fast approaching. People will be back in the water soon, and dithering authorities need to stop being so wet behind the ears.