A deadly summer in Australian waters

By Fenella Souter
Updated February 12 2017 - 10:27am, first published 10:26am

We like to think of ourselves as a nation of champion swimmers and surfers, but this summer huge numbers of people have been dying in Australian waters.

If swimmers caught in a rip stay calm and float, 90 per cent will be returned to somewhere they can stand within a few minutes, according to one oceanographer's estimates. Photo: Stocksy
If swimmers caught in a rip stay calm and float, 90 per cent will be returned to somewhere they can stand within a few minutes, according to one oceanographer's estimates. Photo: Stocksy

I had known my friend Merav for a long time before she told me the story of how she almost drowned one summer and the hand of God had saved her. Or so she was convinced at the time. Later, she'd put the whole thing down to coincidence, dumb luck and extreme circumstances. So you could see it as a miraculous story about divine intervention, with God ready to set aside bigger problems to answer the prayers of a reckless teenager alone and sinking in a turbulent sea off the Mornington Peninsula, or you could see it as a story about what happens to the mind when a body of water threatens to claim you for its own.

Subscribe now for unlimited access.

$0/

(min cost $0)

or signup to continue reading

See subscription options

Get the latest Nowra news in your inbox

Sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date.

We care about the protection of your data. Read our Privacy Policy.