whale beach tragedy

[fisholb]

a rocks fisho died this morning at whale beach. he was swept off the rocks and drowned. he wasnt wearing a pfd. condolence to the family.

[mr.e.p.d]

No fish is worth our life. Why do people fish risk their lives or try these spots without experience. A sad costly reminder

[sam_chamoun93]

Some people fish the rocks their whole lifetime. But it only takes one moment. Vigilance is the key.

[Scratchie]

That's sad. Safety first, fish second. Always!!!

[Day's Fishin]

Rest in peace is all I can say.

Jeff

[rockfisherman]

A sad end to what was supposed to be a relaxing day of fishing...

When will they make it compulsory for rock fishos to wear life jackets??

It's not a lot to ask...

Fishingphase

[Choicebro]

Sad to hear, condolences to the family.

It seems to be happening all to often these days....

May we all take heed and take appropriate cautions when on the stones.

Cheers

Choicebro

[chilliman]

Condolences to the family

All the PFD and everything else that is talked about will not help you in certain conditions, a few places we looked at today for a fish was cancelled after watching the water for 15 minutes. We searched a few more places ( some well known for wash ins and lifes ) to see a special type of people that give the sport a bad name fishing in one Sydneys most dangerous rockfishing spots, with a rising swell and wind picking up a recipe for disaster but the ol fish seems to be more important to them.

So what do you do? You can explain the dangers to people, but if they choose to listen is another thing.

Rorz

[SargeRX8]

RIP.

I don't believe wearing a PFD will be the difference between life and death, but it may give you a chance. Ive seen the way swell and waves break on rocks and it looks nasty. If you're floating in that, you better hope you're a powerful swimmer to get away from the shore line before you get pounded against the rocks. These days when I go rock fishing, you can see alot of people are now taking precautions, cleats, fishing in groups, PFD's etc but at the same time there is always that group or that one person who thinks hes indestructible. I mean no offense by this but by my own observations at a few popular locations, middle aged asian men seem not to care about safety. I saw one guy wearing thongs trying to land a ****** salmon off the rocks at curl curl. Wave came and knocked him onto his knees. He was a very lucky man. From what I saw, those jagged oysters which cut his legs up probably held him to the rocks. All that for a salmon. They don't understand what could happen, and when something goes wrong, they still don't care because he was patched up and back on the edge of the ledge in about 30 minutes.

[rockfisherman]

Yes there is nothing to say that a PFD will save your life, but pretty much every one that has lost their life fishing off the rocks was not wearing a PFD (from a news report). My days fishing off the rocks are numbered, with not as much time on my hands and other commitments, but in that time I witnessed a lot of people who were under equipped for fishing off the stones ie not wearing cleats, wearing clothing that would be heavy and make it difficult to swim if they were to fall in, and I bet good part of them could not even swim properly.

It's against the law to not wear a seatbelt while driving, why should it be any different for rock fishing??

Fishingphase

[nbdshroom]

Sad to hear. Let's hope it serves as a wake up call for some.

[barnzey]

Recognise rock fishing can be a dangerous sport. Negate the risks by learning to swim, fish with a mate, choose a spot sensible for the conditions, wear the correct footwear and clothing.

I am sorry to hear about this, I'm sure it could have been avoided. RIP mate.

[mimyo]

Sad to hear it. My condolences to the family.

Sorry to say this but more people will die rock fishing this year and the next and so on.

Before I bought my boat, i used to do a lot of fishing off the rocks, the number of times I've told people off for wearing thongs or fishing in places where it was just way to dangerous, lost count of. The only answer is more education, especially to all our non speaking Aussie friends. I fear that one day all fishing off rocks will be banned.

May all those people that lost their lives to our great sport rest in peace.

[Whatacatch]

Lads I always wear a life jacket but my mates and I now are considering upgrading to the helmet as well. I ski and snowboard and don't think twice about the helmet..... Not worth taking the risk

[matt84]

There was at least one drowning last year were the guy had a PFD but it barely made the news.... Hmmm wonder why, wouldn't want to contradict anything that's been said.

Has been more then a few drowning on the rocks by people that were NOT fishing.

If u make it compulsory to wear PFD while fishing u'll need to make it compulsory for everyone standing on ocean rocks. How is it any different if I'm stand on the edge of the rocks taking a walk?

Lets just make it compulsory for swimmers as well, people drown on the beach also.

If u can't swim shouldnt be near the water or in a situation were u might end up in the water full stop.

Edited March 19, 2013 by matt84

[bombora]

Wasn't a rock fisho. Was a young bloke jumping into the blow hole there and hit his head on a rock. And despite what the SMH wrote, the North Curly death was also not a rock fisho.

[lee8sec]

Wasn't a rock fisho. Was a young bloke jumping into the blow hole there and hit his head on a rock. And despite what the SMH wrote, the North Curly death was also not a rock fisho.

Sad for the family's to loose a loved one, but may keep rock fishing out of the media for a bit longer.

[Mousse]

Many people learn how to fish by reading forums such as this, and magazines and TV shows. They spend hours and hours learning about rigs, techniques, spots, baits, lures, etc.

If all of them put in a fraction of the time reading up about safety there would be much, much less injuries and deaths.

It's harder to learn how to catch a fish than it is to use common sense to save your life.

Might have to resort to an L-Plate / drivers licence type test before you can get your fishing license.

[abecedarian]

A PFD will improve your chances but it shouldn't be used as an excuse to fish dangerous conditions. If you wouldn't be comfortable fishing the area without a PFD then putting one on doesn't automatically make it safe to fish.

A PFD should be thought of as a safety device for the unexpected like a freak wave in relatively calm conditions. If people start fishing more dangerous conditions because they are wearing a PFD and think they're safe then far more education is needed as this is a dangerous attitude to have and will surely result in greater injury/mortality stats.

PFDs are great and every rock fisho should wear one. But they shouldn't be used as an excuse to fish dangerous conditions where one would usually go home.

[arpie]

It is always sad to hear when a fisho has been swept from rocks & drowned - hopefully a Pressure Sensitive PFD will be the answer for Rock Fishos to wear some time soon.

The worst thing about being washed in from the rocks is that you will most likely be knocked around (possibly knocked out) even before you are IN the water - ie head injuries that render you unconscious or worse.

Most people don't like wearing the bulkier 'jacket' PFDs as it restricts their casting & they think they look stupid in it anyway. HOWEVER - if you fall in - at least it will immediately keep your head floating above the water (or in theory - it SHOULD!)

If you are wearing an inflatable PFD, then you still need to be able to ACTIVATE it (unless you have an automatically inflating one, which can be annoying if you are wet by a wave splashing over the rocks etc & it inflates on you when you don't want it to ......) If you've been knocked unconscious, then you are unlikely to be able to inflate the PFD in time to save your life.

Never having tried it - apparently, trying to activate a manual PFD once you are actually UNDER the water (even if NOT unconscious, just 'stunned') can be quite difficult, so you really need something to activate it for you.

Soon, we'll be able to add a simple 'depth sensor' to your existing Inflatable PFD & it then becomes becomes a REAL life saver - called the EBBS - hopefully it will be coming onto the market some time this year. You add the pressure sensor to your existing PFD - it will automatically activate the gas bulb to inflate the vest once it is submerged to a depth of 1m. It can be tuned to activate immediately up hitting the water (especially for kids around home pools & farm dams), or if the person sinks to a level of 1m underwater, the pressure sensitive switch (with a time activated mechanism from 1 - 10 seconds - you decide on the time variance) will activate the PFD & bring you to the surface.

Check out this video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qij8NobPG4&

How a regular PFD is turned into a Pressure Sensitive PFD

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5QxtyV5D38

I can't wait to get one, as I see it - it is a a step up in personal water safety. I see it as an "emergency use" system - if conditions are rough & I feel threatened at all - I will still manually inflate the vest so that I have sufficient buoyancy in case I fall in from my yak & floating, in case I am unable to retrieve the yak - but still have the confidence that if I am injured & knocked off the yak unexpectedly & start to sink, it will inflate & bring me to the surface!

Roberta