An Idiot in the sea

Standing in the centre of this picture is an example of a Prime Idiot. Yes he may be a very good swimmer and yes he came first in his outdoor swimming race today but it's a race that shouldn't have happened.

There is an annual outdoor swimming event between Musselburgh harbour and Portobello Beach. My husband did it a couple of years ago and it was well attended and well organised with lots of boats / canoeists out in the sea to support the swimmers. Earlier this week, this year's event was cancelled due to 'operational issues'. A day or so later my husband gets an email from the organiser asking him if he still wanted to do it 'unofficially'. Of course I think its madness but my husband says he'll think about it.

Last night he decided he'd do it. So, his parents and I headed down to Musselburgh this afternoon just in time see about 15 idiots take off in the water. We thought there would have to be a couple of boats / canoeists to support them but no there was nothing as they headed out into to deep choppy waters.

To say our stomachs were in our mouths was an understatement as we followed them along to Portobello. We could barely see any of them as they continued to get deeper into the sea, even with my telephoto lens. At times we could see them stop to tread water and many of then were pulled apart by the currents. Obviously, cos it was unofficial, there was no warning to any other beach / water users that there were swimmers so far out and when 2 jet skis stormed across the swimmers path and cut some of them up I was reaching for my phone thinking at what point do we try to contact someone to raise a warning about this - and who do we call?!

We got to the beach just in time to see my husband emerge from the water with a big stupid grin on his face, not expecting to see the fury on our faces.

Thankfully everyone got back safe but I have not seen anything so irresponsible for some time.