Heartbroken. The ocean is no place for children

[tavernier]

no matter how experienced.

I live in the Keys and our children are taught from an early age to swim and boat and kayak and surf.

This doesn't make them immune to the dangers of the sea. Experienced lifetime sailors are no match for what the ocean can do to a large ship, let alone a small boat.

Please, parents, teach your kids the most important lesson: NEVER underestimate the power of nature, be it the ocean or the mountains or the wilderness.

[AtheistCrusader]

1. Any loss of life is tragic but I would point out

it might not be healthy for our society to so completely insulate itself from an awareness of nature, that the only environment we interact with is 'safe'.

It's good to have a respect for the power of nature, and you don't learn that from a 'safe' distance.

Though, I am sorry for the loss of life you appear to be grieving. Maybe it can be channeled into others living longer/better?

[elehhhhna]

2. isn't that the point of the op?

[AtheistCrusader]

5. Perhaps I am reading too much into the absolute qualification of the OP's subject line.

I wouldn't say it's 'no place' for a child.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/17/movies/setting-sail-alone-around-the-world-at-14.html

[pnwmom]

19. The ocean isn't a place where two kids should venture alone. n/t

[AtheistCrusader]

23. Every kid is different.

Some will amaze and astound you.

[pnwmom]

24. No kids should be out in the ocean in a small boat that doesn't even have a radio

for calling for help.

The fact that they did that shows they weren't responsible enough.

[AtheistCrusader]

25. I don't know they didn't have a radio.

I do know their sailboat capsized, so that might rule out the radio anyway.

Fourteen is two years shy of a drivers license.

Life is a balance between risk and reward. Teaching our kids in a safe environment has to be balanced against letting them grow.

Bad outcome this time, good reminder nothing in life is guaranteed.

[pnwmom]

26. And 14 should be at least 2 years shy of going out alone on the ocean. And they never should have

taken a 19 foot boat into the open ocean. Their parents said they were supposed to stay within inland waterways, and so does common sense.

http://www.tampabay.com/sports/outdoors/missing-boaters-reinforce-need-for-safety-precautions/2239051

Steve Wacker of St. Petersburg's Thunder Marine has sold numerous boats to parents who planned to give them to their children.

"We spend a lot of time educating both the parent and the child," Wacker said. "We even have a Coast Guard-certified captain deliver the boat and spend several hours with the customer so they know how to use the boat, and more importantly, that they know the vessel's limitations."

Most experts agree that a 19-foot single-engine boat might be fine for the Intracoastal Waterway, but it is not suited for the open ocean.

"I tell all of my customers that if they are planning to go offshore, out 30 miles or more, they need a twin-engine boat, a minimum of 25 feet long," he said.

[flamingdem]

3. Two stories on my Facebook feed today

one may be the cause of this post, the two boys missing in Jupiter but up the coast was the revelation of the find by a young man of over a million in gold coins. The sea gives and takes but let's not teach fear, and there is plenty to fear but that's the risk.

[Facility Inspector]

9. Aye

the sea! she be a cruel and wily mistress!

[truedelphi]

4. Life carries great risk.

My household lived near a very busy rather deadly street crossing when my son was in grades four to six.

Each day, from 2:45 to 4Pm, I would agonize knowing that while I was at work, he had to cross that street to get home from school.

It was so awful a crossing that the County Supervisors implored the highway engineers to put in a light or at least a stop sign. That action took over ten years!

I don't know all the details of what happened to the two teenagers and their boat. My father was making deliveries in a Model A when he was only twelve - so "safety standards" can depend on what the local standards are, in terms of how something is viewed as being safe or not.

And I am betting that those two young teens had a great deal of awareness of the risks inherent in their going out in a boat - probably more than that of many teens in their parents' shiny automobiles who text and GPS and are continually on their cell phones.

[pnwmom]

20. The parents said the boys knew they weren't allowed in the ocean alone.

I think the boys didn't have ENOUGH awareness of the risks. Otherwise they wouldn't have put themselves in a life-threatening situation, without a means of calling for help.

[Whiskeytide]

6. You can teach skills, and preach awareness...

... of dangers, but normal youthful exuberance should never be underestimated. Young teenagers believe they are invincible, and simply don't always genuinely appreciate risks of their actions.

I heard yesterday that fishermen who had decided to stay in saw the boys setting out as a storm was approaching. So sad and tragic. Prayers with their families.

[Warpy]

7. Likely the boys were well taught about that

but went out, like boys do, to follow the fish.

Would it have been better to protect them away from doing what they loved?

[pnwmom]

21. Yeah, it would have been better to protect them from killing themselves

in a boat on the open ocean that didn't even have a radio for calling for help.

But I've read that the parents didn't allow them in the ocean by themselves, so I'm not blaming the parents. These wouldn't be the first kids who ever took a stupid risk, even though they were forbidden to.

[AtheistCrusader]

8. Edit: Redacted

Fucking, my friends are useless, damn it. Why would someone send me that article as if it was current... argh. Sorry everyone.

[YvonneCa]

10. 2005? :(

[AtheistCrusader]

14. Yeah, I just got screwed. Sorry.

I almost ALWAYS check the published date of the article too. Damn.

[YvonneCa]

17. It happens to all of us. No problem...

...

[snooper2]

11. yep that is them and of course GOD is on everyones mind

You would think after a week at sea that would look up and re-think all that mythical nonsense



One of the boys-
“It was the first time I got mad at God in my life,” Driscoll recalled Monday. “I asked ’Why me? What did I do to deserve this?”’

the father-
"“I screamed at the top of my lungs that they’ve got our boys,” he recalled. “We never gave up hope. That’s the bottom line. God had his angels around those boys the whole time.”


I guess "god" is just sitting or squatting up "there" somewhere just fucking with people LOL

[Arugula Latte]

13. Why did their god cause/allow this in the first place?

That supernatural a-hole never gets any blame, just credit.

[mentalsolstice]

12. Nope, not them. eom

[JI7]

15. people underestimate nature and those with experience

Probably do it more because they are able to do things most without training and experience can't.

I wonder if the boys were fans of tom sawyer and huck finn.

[jwirr]

16. Good advice for those living on lakes also.

[tavernier]

18. I should have guessed that this would become

a "my god, your god, no god" free for all between the folks who have all the answers.

I'm so sorry for this. My OP was just meant to express my heartbreak for the youngsters lost, and to remind other parents to be extra vigilant when giving a child access to adult toys such as motorized boats. They may have clear knowledge of the craft, but an adult with experience of the waters and weather conditions should always be on board to accompany.

[DFW]

22. Not just in boats

We were at Long Nook beach in Truro, Massachusetts today. At low tide, it is normally a docile beach, but there is a full moon now, and the waves are often stronger, as are the tides. My wife wandered briefly off a sandbar, and was suddenly over her head and being swept around by currents so strong, she almost couldn't get back. And this was less than 20 meters from the shore.

Seals were swimming nearer to us than they usually come, and the water is so much warmer than it usually is, shark warnings are out, as they feed on seals. Still, parents come out when the weather is beautiful and the water looks clear (crystal today) and let their 7 year old children swim out as far as they desire. They all figure nothing will ever happen to THEM. And it won't----until, of course, it does.

There are signs at every beach saying go up or down only on the provided paths, do NOT go up or down the broad flat surfaces of the sand dunes. Every day, there are parents who let their little children run down the broad face dunes and think it's cute. And it is, until it isn't. Several years back, one such cute kid was buried alive on one of these beaches when the sand dune the child was running down collapsed and they uncovered the suffocated body hours later. I don't think those parents found it so cute after that, and yet still today, so many people think the warnings apply to everyone but themselves.

[AtomicKitten]

27. How parents could allow two 14-year-olds to take a boat out on the open sea is a mystery to me.

They'll have the rest of their lives to ponder that tragic error in judgment.

[truedelphi]

29. I am not sure the parents gave permission.

Sounds like the kids snuck out on the boat.

In any event, the parents will no doubt spend the rest of their lives regretting/blaming themselves for not having a safeguard in place.

I think the very worst thing about being a parent is knowing that your child is just one bad decision away from being crippled or killed.

[RandySF]

28. I took my son to Ocean Beach when he was very small.

A wave surprised us and knock him over into the water. I learned my lesson very quickly.