It really does beggar belief, but unbelievably emergency rescue crews were forced to save several people from drowning after they (obviously) got into severe difficulty while kite surfing and windsurfing during hurriance Ophelia.
Emergency services were deployed to both Galway and Louth today after windsurfers decided to ignore warnings and take to the seas.
A total of 4 people got into difficulty and had to have emergency services called out to literally save their lives and waste valuable time dragging these people out of difficulty.
These people aren’t thrill seekers – they’re idiots putting not only their own lives at risk but those in predomantly volunteer roles in the coast guard and other rescue personnel.
There should be a stern law imposed that anyone who purposely goes out in such extreme weather just so that they can say they swam in the event or surfed should be immediately arrested upon rescue and charged with public endangerment.
The public have been inundated with warnings and with three people dead from terrible accidents – there really is no excuse for idiots putting themselves in harms way on purpose.