I almost died.

[Mobius]

If anyone didn't know, my family emigrated to Australia a month ago, any way...

My family wanted to go to the swimming bars, but I wanted to go to the beach. After some argument, I won.
So we went to the beach in the evening, on Thursday and swam in an unflagged area (which was a dumb idea, but the sea looked calm.
I swam out really far, then started struggling, as the tide was so strong. It seemed to pull my feet from under me. Every step towards the beach I took, I was pulled into the ocean more.
I began yelling for help, and my brother came out with his boogieboard (like a small surfboard) and I grabbed hold of it, and we were both stranded. My dad came out screaming at us to swim, but no matter how hard we pushed, we were being pulled further out. My mum and sister were on the beach crying, and fortunately there was a police station nearby which my mum ran to and 3 policemen came. An ambulance came, but no one would come and try to save us. It felt like we were out there for ages. My dad drifted even further out, and I flung the boogieboard away from myself in a last attempt to swim to shore. I realy thought I'd had it. I had no energy left at all, and my brother who is 2 years younger than me and underweight, was probably struggling even more.

Eventually, somehow I managed to force my way out after around 30 minutes and vomited all over the place. My brother was out there for around 40 minutes, and finally he managed to get out. The police wouldn't let me go in to help him. My dad wasn't even visible anymore, and my mum was crying her eyes out. The police radio'd in a speedboat, which found him barely conscious, clinging to the boogieboard I'd let drift away. They pulled him to shore and took him in the ambulance, and after some oxygen and water we were all okay, just exhausted. Were it not for the boogieboard finding its way to my dad he says he would definately have drowned.

It was the most harrowing experience of my life, and I don't think I ever want to go into the ocean again. My mother always warned me about the sea, but I never listened. It was a good thing we had bought the boogieboard with us, else none of us would've survived I don't think.

 

[Wij]

Fark :/

I'll stick to pools. Hope your Dad's ok.

 

[ECA]

O_O sounds like you had a lucky escape.
I'm a pretty strong swimmer and my best swim was lake wolfgangsea in austria in summer, around three miles each way ( just so you know I'm not talking paddling pool you sarcastic fuckwits, you know who I'm talking about ), I asked my dad to come across with my in a rowing boat as I was unsure of the currents etc.
Got to say swimming in unknown waters is a pretty dodgy thing, glad you're ok.

Chalk up another good pub/dinnerparty/b3taqotw story.

 

[Gray]

I dont like Oceans or open water

Too much Jaws when i was a kid, specially in places like Australia...

 

[Tilda]

Criky, im glad your ok mobi.
The sea should never be underestimated. You go swimming and its all calm, and then when your next in a boat, theres waves the hight of houses and you think what it would be like if you were swimming.
I'd go swimming again soon so you dont get out of habbit too far, but just be careful!

 

[Damini]

Wow Mobius. I'm so glad that you, and your family, are okay. It must have been terrifying. Did you have any epithanys? Any life altering decisions made? Something like that must really knock the dust off those life priorities.

 

[Mobius]

Wow Mobius. I'm so glad that you, and your family, are okay. It must have been terrifying. Did you have any epithanys? Any life altering decisions made? Something like that must really knock the dust off those life priorities.

It just made me want to come back to England even more than before. I really don't like it here. It was a mistake coming over. Actually one of my first thoughts was "This'll make a great thread" ... I'm dead inside.

 

[Ono]

Can't have been nice.

I've only ever swum in the sea once and that was with a life ring since I erm, can't really swim.

 

[Cdr]

In that situation (I believe you were caught in a 'rip tide'), you swim parallel to the shoreline for say 20 metres (as they are generally narrow bands of very strong current). You can waste all your energy trying to swim against it and it's one of the most dangerous things for swimmers - as it's relatively unseen.

This is prob the reason why that area was unflagged.

I hope everything's okay and don't let one incident spoil your view on what is otherwise a fantastic decision.

(Oh, and buy yourself a kayak, then you can use the rip tide to your advantage )

 

[Chilly]

fuck me mobius - glad it was all OK.

You shouldnt let one bad experience fuck you up, swimming the flagged area where there are always lifeguards about is pretty safe. Once again - fucking glad you all made it OK in the end.

 

[Moo]

glad ur ok but swimming areas are marked safe and unsafe for a reason

 

[throdgrain]

And of course the police were probably thinking "fucking english noobs" too

Glad you're all alright though

 

[Sar]

It just made me want to come back to England even more than before. I really don't like it here. It was a mistake coming over. Actually one of my first thoughts was "This'll make a great thread" ... I'm dead inside.

Heh, don't worry. You'll need time to settle in, and this experience won't have helped that at all.

Definitely glad you're ok though. Just be a bit more careful in future - the respawn time's a bitch.

 

[Trem]

You giant spazmong Mob, don't do it again



Glad you and yours are safe though.

 

[~Yuckfou~]

Riptide

 

[old.user4556]

Omg, glad you're alright - i'd truly shite my pants.

Personally, I agree with Billy Connoly; we don't belong in the sea, it's full of stuff that bite us, hurt our feet etc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rip_tide

 

[Louster]

Why didn't the bloody police or whoever yell at you (or failing that, use a megaphone or something) to swim parallel, if that's the easy way to get out? Surely they've had experience with this kind of thing before?

 

[old.Tohtori]

Well, can't say much about riptides or whatnot, but i canassure you that the est way to get over it is to get back on the bloody horse.

GEt to the ocean asap and swim your a** off. If you don't, you could get all twisty in the noggin and never swim again. With time, it doesn't get better.

 

[TdC]

I'm not going to yell at you Mob read up on how to counter tides and currents, so you don't get in the situation where you don''t know what to do. Perhaps take some advanced swimming courses. And get your scrawny arse back in the ocean. Maybe learn to surf proper. Or sail a bit on a little hobiecat or somesuch. The water is a combination of hte best toy evar and a nasty bitch, so stay on the good side

 

[lilmissnaughty]

aww well im glad that u r safe to tell the tale but i agree with others sayin dont let it put u off swimming or take a hold on ur life.. learn from the experience an move on.
ps have some hugs

as for this

The water is a combination of hte best toy evar and a nasty bitch, so stay on the good side

sounds like how some men describe their gf/missus

 

[TdC]

mine's just the latter. but I like her that way we're going away for a long weekend off now, and she's already swearing like a little trooper

 

[tRoG]

I feel really sorry for you. Same thing happened to me when I was a teenager in France, though luckily there was a professional swimmer nearby to help me out. It was definately one of, if not the most, petrifiying things I've been through. The feeling of helplessness was awful. I'd advise going for a swim again as soon as possible - the longer you leave it, the harder it will be.

 

[Doh_boy]

As everyone has just said, it was a rip-tide and just to counter your arguments against australia, I've surfed a little (and I mean a little ) in england. Cornwall to be exact and I've managed to get stuck in rips twice. I've got out of them both times. Both were within surfing flags and not far from shore; Which , iirc, are very weak rips. But the feeling of total helplessness is still aparent. I spent around 20 mins trying to avoid some scary looking rocks(both times), while trying to surf at the same time. The one thing I've learnt from this is always to ask people on the beach before going deep into the sea. In cornwall there's usually some surfers there to give you some usefull tips, which mainly say; Avoid such and such a place (in the cove near the beach, e.g. "stay away from the rocks on the left of the beach, the rip there is a bitch")

So give australia a chance, everyone I've asked said it's a great place. my sis spent a year there and would gladly go back if she could afford it.

 

[Tom]

Blimey. Nasty experience that. Glad you're ok.

Was Clown there?

 

[TdC]

If I saw a clown on the beach running about brandishing a large purple novelty dildo I'd stay the heck in the water tbh

 

[Mobius]

Bastard cops took photos of us and we're in the local paper! I'm a minor celebrity after only being here for a month. I'll see if I can get a copy of it.

 

[Gray]

And the headliner was.... ?

 

[ECA]

"Fuck, they only went and saved the bastard"

 

[TdC]

"Pom shows excessive fear of dildos"

 

[Ch3tan]

Lol