You're not a party pooper. I was thinking that the entire time. Little kid loses his grip and tumbles into a wave that rolls him, or dad wipes out and it has the same effect. Small children can drown much more easily than adults.
Kid probably swims extremely well in surf and it probably a lot safer without a life jacket, if he knows how to dive under waves; meanwhile in the water with a life jacket on, he can’t dive under, can’t control his position and he is more likely to be tumbled by the waves badly and get a broken neck on a sand bar.
The safest alternative is staying out of the water, next is learning proper water skills and he is doing it with plenty of people around, yes they may not see an incident, but same in a busy pool, kids can quietly drown, but probably not this kid.
Little nippers programme in Australia has groups of kids swimming, paddling etc in surf all the time, and they are lifejacket free
Ah yes, in your very likely scenario I’d say it plays out like this: Kid swims to the surface, rescues dad by putting him back on the board and brings him to shore, becomes head lifeguard at age 18, then wins Hawaiian triple crown of surfing 10 years in a row.
I love how willfully ignorant people like you are. Experienced skydiver jumped to his death by forgetting his parachute. Plenty of surfers have been knocked unconscious. But go on with your “it can happen to anyone but me” attitude.
It sorta depends on how competent a swimmer the kid is, life jackets can be kind of a pain when dealing with surf because you can’t submerge and go under the breaking waves causing you to get caught and rolled.
But yeah I’m generally with you on the life jacket thing.
Meh, I don't think they are fine in this scenario, kid is with a group of actual professionals surfers and likely can swim better than most adults. It's a calculated risk but the experience level of the people around would make drowning very unlikely.
There's also lots of harmful effects in living life and growing up avoiding all risks and dangers. There needs to be a balance.
There's also lots of harmful effects in living life and growing up avoiding all risks and dangers. There needs to be a balance.
Wearing a safety device is not "avoiding all risks and dangers". When I went skydiving, I had a backup chute, just in case. I didn't avoid the activity...I just took precautions. A kid that young should not be excluded from the activity but should probably wear some kind of life jacket, just in case.
Guess we should ban kids from pools then too, and ban kids from playing sports, and ban kids from being in cars, or from
Eating solid food, or drinking water. Let's put them in a bubble and feed them by feeding tube.
The thing is, this kid is probably safer doing this than the average family going to the beach with their kids wearing life vests. Guess you think families should be banned from beaches. He's in familiar waters, surrounded by a group of professional surfers, and surfing with his professional surfer dad.
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u/rey_gun 14d ago
You're not a party pooper. I was thinking that the entire time. Little kid loses his grip and tumbles into a wave that rolls him, or dad wipes out and it has the same effect. Small children can drown much more easily than adults.