Bear Grylls in hot water after stranding son, 12, on rocks for lifeboat exercise
SURVIVAL expert Bear Grylls was at the centre of a safety storm l ast night after stranding his young son on rocks out to sea as part of a lifeboat training exercise.
Jesse Grylls, 12, was marooned off the resort of Abersoch, North Wales, to play the part of a distressed child in need of help.
But a row erupted after Grylls posted a picture of him on Twitter, with the caption: ‘Jesse and the @RNLI on a training exercise to rescue him off the rocks!’
One lifeboat crew member replied thanking Grylls – who is an ambassador for the RNLI – for ‘organising the exercise’ last week.
But when manager of the lifeboat station, Gareth Hughes- Jones, returned from holiday he was appalled at the apparent risks taken. And he condemned the former SAS reservist for deciding to put his son in potential danger as part of the exercise.
Mr Hughes-Jones, an experienced manager at RNLI Abersoch, said: ‘The crew tell me they didn’t know Bear’s son was going to be on the rocks, as there is an element of risk.
‘I certainly wouldn’t put my young son there – also it could encourage people to do the same, which would be unfortunate.
‘As I understand, it was supposed to be a low-key exercise. I believe no photographs
‘Thankfully no one was hurt’
were supposed to be taken. Thankfully, no one was hurt, but in his efforts to give the RNLI some publicity this is the wrong kind.’
Grylls, 41, has three sons – Jesse, Marmaduke, nine, and six-year-old Huckleberry – and is understood to be on holiday on nearby St Tudwal’s Islands.
The lifeboat incident happened on Thursday evening as hundreds of tourists enjoyed the sun at the popular seaside resort.
Jesse was dropped on the rocks around 100 yards from shore before a lifeboat came to pluck him to safety. The whole operation was over in a matter of minutes, a source confirmed.
Yesterday Lee Firman, divisional operations manager for the charity, said: ‘The RNLI has worked with Bear Grylls over a number of years and he has been a great ambassador, which we are very grateful for.
‘Last Thursday, on their normal training evening, the crew at Abersoch agreed to carry out a joint exercise with Bear. The lifeboat was in close attendance, the boy was in sight at all times and wearing a life jacket.’
Last night Grylls did not want to comment on the incident, but said: ‘I am so proud to be an ambassador for the RNLI and full of admiration for all their work.’
On Friday he opened the new Aberglaslyn Mountain Rescue headquarters – a base for the team which covers a large area of North-West Wales – after spending the morning with Prime Minister David Cameron in Llanrwst.
More than 200 people die each year in accidents around the British coast and it was the RNLI who approached Grylls to act as an ambassador.
Earlier this year it launched a campaign to halve the number of coastal drownings by 2024, calling on people to ‘Respect The Water’.
Grylls faced criticism earlier this year when he admitted he took his sons paragliding without insisting they wear safety helmets.
The adventurer – who has become a household name thanks to numerous television series – said he does not need to make the boys wear protective gear for the extreme sport because he ‘knows how to do it safely’. However he came under fire from instructors for the remarks.
Patrick Court, who runs High Adventure Paragliding on the Isle of Wight, said he always made sure his 16-yearold daughter wore safety equipment.
He said: ‘If I took my own child paragliding I would make sure she wore a crash helmet.
‘It’s a risky sport and you want to minimise that. For no extra disadvantage you are protecting your kid.’
The l atest risk taken by Grylls emerged just days after Olympic rower James Cracknell saved a boy from the sea in North Devon. Emerson Fairclough, seven, had got into difficulties while swimming on Saturday.