Beachgoers should take responsibility

I AM very sorry about the three fatal accidents at Westcountry beaches, over the bank holiday weekend, some say, because RNLI lifeguards were not deployed because of Covid-19. It must be impossible to rescue anybody while remaining two metres apart.

I hate saying this, but bathing, boating, and even beach-walking risks could be reduced with better understanding and some basic information, which people needed before lifeguards were invented.

But, once invented, they became a necessity because so many people abdicated from their own responsibilities, passing them onto the shoulders of very fit professionals. It is like the Chinese proverb: “Give a man a fish and his family eats for a day and is hungry the next. But teach a man to fish and his family feeds for a lifetime”.

We could be on a slippery slope towards boating and beach-going licences, boat MOTs and a mountain of paperwork for all concerned. Not my idea of freedom of the seas.

The other problem is, of course, too many people turning up at a beach, harbour or beauty spot they don’t know will be crowded until they get there.

Then there is parking cars and the dreaded campervans. All of which might be better managed if numbered tickets were issued, online or by telephone, with all the relevant information printed on them, with the day’s tide-graph and a map of that particular beach, estuary, cliffs or rocks, marked-up with where and when tides and riptides are likely to become dangerous.

For example, at what tide-height, and therefore what time, a beach walker can’t get back after exploring the “wrong side” of a headland or other obstacle?

There would have to be a charge, probably much less than the cost of getting there or buying refreshments, and very much cheaper than calling out lifeboats, ambulances, rescue trucks, police cars and helicopters.

Tony Maskell Newton Ferrers, Devon