After Surfing yesterday at Sennen i have finally cracked. I can hold my anger no longer, I have come to the conclusion that the lifeguards at Sennen beach are on their own planet, not ours. After red flagging the beach all morning due to some good size swell they decide to open a small area for swimmers. I wish for the day when a lifeguard in Sennen would get on a paddleboard and coral the swimmers, talk to them face to face, get to know their customers and earn their money. Instead we had the air raid siren, whistles, quad bike hooter, load hailer, and then to top it off they launched the jet ski. Bearing in mind that no swimmer is out of their reach if they were on a board, these poor tourists were circled in a haze of two stroke fumes for the afternoon with the ski coming in turning fast and heading back out and going between the swimmers. A number of us watched in amazement and not a good word was said by any. The surfers were then subjected to a lifeguard riding in and out of the set waves and up and down the beach. At one point there were also Dolphins out yesterday, I wonder what they think is happening to Sennen. Our lifeguards seem to have lost the plot. If they lose the ski in the swimming area people will get hurt, try taking off the helmets, put a wetsuit on and paddle those rescue boardsor atleast put a wetsuit on and get amongst the tourists in waist depth water, let the people see who you are and build a relationship with surfers and tourists, you may find people more responsive than being coralled by a quarter ton machine that pollutes our beautiful environment. I'm aware you have a duty of care, a responsibility to the people in the water but how many people will continue to come back if they're memory of Sennen is not the sweet smell of coconut oil but petrol, not the sound of kids and families playing but a whining engine. Please Mr Lifeguard, ask yourselve is it really necessary to launch a jet ski or is their a more people friendly way to manage the tourists safety? How many people will become a member the RNLI if that is the all they remember? I subscribed eight years ago to support the RNLI lifeboat crews not to put fuel in a Jet Ski. Apology for the rant, back to my happy place tommorrow.
