At the mercy of a cruel sea

THE latest surf tragedy again raises the question of safety gear for competitors.

Matthew Barclay search

THEY found Matthew Barclay just after 9am yesterday, in eerily still conditions on Kurrawa beach, just as they knew they would. His body was pulled from the water with all the tenderness and care that could be mustered in the trying circumstances.

At barely 14, full of vitality, a champion junior surf lifesaver who was excited beyond measure to be competing in the Australian championships had been killed before the disbelieving eyes of thousands of his peers. Not again, people said in anguish.

Matthew's death during the under-15 rescue board event on Wednesday is the second in two years to cast a pall over surf lifesaving's showpiece carnival at Kurrawa, overlooked by the glittering towers of the Gold Coast. A competitor also died there in 1996.

It will trigger police and coronial investigations, an internal inquiry by the surf lifesaving movement and deep soul-searching about whether the iconic sport has moved too far away from its safety-first ethos and is pushing young competitors too hard or allowing them to take too many risks in competition.

The tragedy will also renew debate about the suitability of Kurrawa as the venue for the national titles, with its brutal exposure to the elements that can turn the surf from testing to treacherous in a twinkling.

Unprotected by a headland or other barriers that might dampen the surf, Kurrawa beach is seen as a fitting proving ground for the iron men and women who descend on it for the finale of the Australian surf carnival season.

About 7000 competitors, ranging from juniors to masters and of course the elite open competitors, were on hand before the competition was suspended and shifted to nearby North Kirra.

Ross Bell could only shake his head when he heard about the latest death. He used to compete in the masters competition at Kurrawa, but gave it a way a few years ago after concluding the beach was dangerous.

"It's treacherous . . . a swirling maelstrom," he says.

"It's an open beach and there's almost always two breaks. There's a (sand) bar parallel to the beach, so there's a big first break, which re-forms and then breaks on the shoreline, where there's a gutter.

"The water swirls in different directions and there's rips. If it's small, it's not going to hurt you.

"But 1m high (swells) at Kurrawa can be dangerous. At any other beach it's not a problem."

Perth lifesaving stalwart Greg Smith, who arrived home from the over-35 masters titles at Kurrawa yesterday, believes governing body Surf Life Saving Australia should move the titles to nearby Burleigh Heads, a more sheltered spot, or back to Perth's Scarborough Beach.

It's a matter of saving fearless young lifesavers from themselves when they enter the surf at Kurrawa, he contends.

"You should know your own limits -- all surf lifesavers should -- and they should respond when they know the conditions are dangerous. This kid was just a baby, you know, and he's been put at that risk," Smith says, more in sorrow than anger.

Just what happened to Matthew, of Maroochydore on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, on Wednesday afternoon is still not clear. Earlier in the day, the conditions were challenging enough to force the relocation of surfboat racing to the placid waters of Coomera Lake.

But SLSA chief executive Brett Williamson insisted yesterday Kurrawa was still safe for board paddlers and swimmers, even juniors such as Matthew.

The boy was one of 16 who took to the surf for the under-15 rescue board race at about 3pm. The boards used in this event are longer and heavier than a standard surfboard, and have handles so the rider can turn turtle and roll under a wave.

Williamson said the surf was running between 0.8m and 1m when Matthew went in. Not long into the race, a wave reared up. The boy had three options: he could paddle through it in the standard position on his knees, lie on the board and punch through prone, or roll under. It is not known which option he chose.

He and at least one other board rider collided. Matthew's head slammed into his board or was hit by the other one spearing across his path. He would have blacked out immediately.

The groups of boys were accompanied by a safety crew in an inflatable boat. Byron Bay Surf Life Saving Club president Glen Lawrence said two of his juniors were on the wave with Matthew.

"He just disappeared . . . they were looking for him instantly and they still couldn't find him," Lawrence told the ABC. "It was terrifying when it happened."

On the beach, word of the boy's disappearance triggered a frantic response. Within minutes, hundreds of trained lifesavers were in the water, duck-diving under the waves or peering into the shallows from boards.

No trace of him could be seen and the search was called off at nightfall in the grim knowledge that he would not be found alive.

The known circumstances of Matthew's death have parallels with those of Saxon Bird in 2010 and Robert Gatenby in 1996. Both died at Kurrawa during national titles after sustaining blows to the head during competition. In each case, however, the conditions were markedly worse than those Matthew encountered on Wednesday.

Gatenby, 15, was a member of Kurrawa's under-18 surf boat crew and drowned after it flipped in a thundering swell, flinging him unconscious into the water. Bird, 19, was confronted by 2m waves, whipped up by a cyclone, in the ski leg of the under-19 ironman event on March 19, 2010. He was struck in the head by the loose ski of another competitor and was found, dead, 53 minutes later.

Matthew was wearing the fluorescent vest recommended by the Queensland coroner, Michael Barnes, who investigated Bird's death and criticised the running of the titles at Kurrawa.

It was supposed to have made him visible in 10m of water, but that evidently wasn't enough in his moment of need.

Barnes's searing findings in relation to the Bird case will now be raked over by those calling for even sterner measures, perhaps a full-blown royal commission into safety at lifesaving carnivals.

He considered the argument for lifesaving competitors to wear helmets and flotation vests and came out in favour of both, though he did not recommend this be made mandatory.

In advocating the use of vests, the coroner noted that a design had been trialled successfully for iron man racing. Many in the sport now agree that lightweight helmets are a good idea in boat and surf ski events, and some competitors have taken to wearing them.

SLSA says it is hoped to have helmets and some form of flotation device available for the next competition.

But others wonder at the practicality. How is a competitor expected to swim in these things or ride a board, bobbing up and down, under and through surf, champion ironman and Olympic kayaker Grant Kenny asks.

While helmets may work in surfboat and surf ski racing, boards are a different proposition.

"There's more than just protection of the head to consider because head strikes are a very, very infrequent occurrence," Kenny insists. "What's more common is that you'll pop your head over waves or dive under waves and it could make that more difficult.

"I'd have to see the helmets, but if you take it to the furthest extent and they're like motorcycle helmets, you might save people from injury being struck in the head, but it could cause more people to drown."

Kenny is also sceptical at whether leg tether ropes such as those worn by surfers would work with the bigger rescue boards raced by lifesavers.

"You can imagine being tethered to something like that; if it gets dragged off by a big wave you'll be dragged off after it, feet first," he says.

"I can understand the rationale that you would be able to find people faster because they'd be with the floating board, but if we had them I think we'd be forced to look for people more often."

The future of the surf titles at Kurrawa is equally open to question. The beach, between the golden expanses of Broadbeach and Miami beach on the Gold Coast, is the traditional home of the national championships.

They moved to Perth a few years ago, but this was not a success. Eastern state competitors grumbled at the expense of getting themselves and their gear to Western Australia, and there was dismay at the paucity of the Scarborough surf.

Kurrawa has big waves in abundance. The southerlies blow hard and direct, and there's nothing to stop the swell pounding straight in to the beach. When the water washes out, it creates rip-tides and channels in the sandy sea floor, all immensely dangerous. So, too, is the chop when the wind gets up and turns the surf rogue.

Bell is far from alone in being wary of the conditions at Kurrawa.

But Matthew knew them well. He had won two medals in a junior carnival there the weekend before last, and would have considered the beach his home away from home on the Sunshine Coast.

Kurrawa has much going for it as a venue for surf titles, especially the national championships, which are a vast enterprise. Competitive lifesavers work towards them from the start of the season in October. Not only do the thousands of entrants need to be accommodated, so too their families, friends and support staff from their clubs. The Gold Coast is one of the few destinations in Australia that can handle such an influx.

All the top clubs turn up, and they bring with them boards, skis and other equipment by the container-load. Kurrawa is one of the few centrally located beaches in the country that backs on to a reserve large enough to handle so much gear, as well as the crowd.

Barnes has touched on criticism that commercial considerations were also in play at Kurrawa -- the beach and the approaches are festooned with sponsors' signage during the national championships -- but came down on the side of SLSA. "There is no evidence to support the suggestion that financial considerations influenced the organisers against relocating the competition, nor that time constraints made this impossible or even difficult," he reported after Bird's death.

Williamson yesterday said he was disgusted by the suggestion that lifesaving would put profit before people.

Kurrawa surf lifesaving club member Steve Harris, who runs a personal training business, agrees the beach has its dangers, but no more than others when the surf is up. "It's the perfect venue for this event," he says.

After all these years the veteran Kenny remains an unabashed Kurrawa fan. "That's the environment surf lifesavers work in, and that's the atmosphere we cannot control," he says. "It's the nature of the ocean."

Additional reporting: Sarah Elks and Margie McDonald