Daredevil rock jumpers risk lives at Curl Curl

IN THIS dangerous spot, fisherman have been swept to their deaths. So why are kids still risking their lives for cheap thrills?

CHILDREN are risking their lives jumping off cliffs along a notoriously dangerous stretch of northern beaches coastline where a rock fisherman perished last year.

The youngsters, all boys, have been spotted taking running jumps below Carrington Pde, at the Freshwater end.

They have to clear 20m to avoid smashing into the rocks at the base of the cliff.

The Manly Daily also has incredible video footage of a group of boys at another section 100m north, near South Curl Curl pool.

The youngsters were this week seen diving off rocks into huge swells.

A 59-year-old fisherman died along that stretch of rocky coastline in November last year. The waters there have been described by experts as like being in a “washing machine” at times.

Young teenagers take a death-defying leap from the rocks at Curl Curl. Picture: Edita Pahor.

Ron Phillips, from Freshwater, said he didn’t regularly walk past the spot near the Harbord Diggers, but he had spotted the cliff-leaping daredevils twice since mid-December. He feared it would only take one small error and someone would be dead.

“As I watched them, I was thinking someone was going to be killed or break a lot of bones at the very least,” Mr Phillips said.

“All it would take would be to slip or misjudge it slightly.

“The first time we saw them, there was quite a few of them jumping. One of the younger ones, aged around 14, seemed a little hesitant.

“A couple of the others were yelling, ‘hurry up, hurry up’.”

One boy takes a leap of faith at Curl Curl. Picture by Edita Pahor

Mr Phillips’s friend Edita Pahor, who took photographs of the boys leaping this week, said that, on the first occasion in December, a couple of them were “egging on” one boy, who managed the jump, but only just cleared the rocks.

“I just thought it was incredibly dangerous,” she said. “It was almost like a virtuoso act.”

Mr Phillips, 67, said he would like more action taken to stop teenagers taking such risks at this spot.

Warringah Council beaches services manager Clint Rose said the antics were happening quite a distance from Curl Curl beach and out of sight of lifeguards.

He said the lifeguards, when alerted, would warn the kids to stop. However, it was a losing battle, because they tended to “sneak back” when the lifeguards were gone.

The Warriewood Blowhole where several people have died. Picture: Samantha Studdert

Mr Rose said the emergence of these new pictures should serve as a warning to parents to talk to their children about taking risks.

“A lot of parents probably don’t know their children are doing this,” he said.

Mr Rose added that it was a good time to remind children about behaving safely around water because there were other jump rocks along the beaches, as well as the Warriewood blow hole, where people had died.

Surf Life Saving NSW lifesaving manager Andy Kent said submerged rocks were not always visible from the top of the rocks, and swift-moving currents and unpredictable swells were also a danger.

* Our video shows boys aged from 12 to 15 diving off rocks, which are being battered by waves, into treacherous churning water. It’s undeniably dangerous. In another scene, boys dive off a rock shelf at the end of South Curl Curl rock pool and are being washed back on to the rocks. One has a ripped wetsuit. If that’s the only damage they suffer, then they’re extremely lucky.

Originally published as Daredevil rock jumpers risk lives at Curl Curl