Aussies make brutal tide mistake at popular beach: 'When will people learn?'
Clint, who runs a towing service in the area, explained to Yahoo how the unfortunate incident occurred on Lancelin Beach in Western Australia.
A group of Aussie fishermen made a major "rookie error" when visiting a popular beach over the weekend, prompting locals to mock their glaringly obvious mistake. The two vehicles, a silver Jeep and a white ute — both with boat trailers attached — were spotted partially submerged in the sand at high tide at Lancelin beach in Western Australia on Saturday morning.
It's understood they parked in the area to release their boats into the water when the tide was low. However, they failed to move the vehicles higher up onto the sand and out of the way of the rolling high tide.
'Massive swells' proving problematic for beachgoers
Local man Clint, who runs towing service Lancelin Towing, told Yahoo News Australia, that while general bogging does occur, a "massive swell" is what caused this specific incident.
"We've had three, four days of three-metre-plus swells. In winter we can get four or five-metre swells. It's just the volume of water," he explained. "The swell pushes the water up and then it just came up under the wheels of the car, which made it like slop, causing the cars to just sink like that."
Lancelin Beach is known to get high tides and large swells during the cooler months, which is what's occurred here. "Check the weather and tides before you go anywhere," a resident warned online.
According to beachgoers, who mocked the images on social media, it's "common sense" for visitors to move their cars away from the shoreline. "When will people learn?" another said in condemnation.
When the photos were taken, it appears the owners of the cars — who Clint believes were commercial fishermen — were blissfully unaware of what awaited them on the beach. He was sent the images by a relative at around midday, but by then he said "I think their friends must have got them out".
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Calls for boat ramp to help avoid beach bogging
The "frustrating" scenes have reignited calls for a boat ramp to be installed on the beach to stop incidents like this from occurring. However, Clint, who's lived in the area for over 40 years, said there are "mixed feelings" about it.
"Some people want it, some people don't. But it would be very hard to get a boat ramp to work," he said.
In the summer months, he explained there might be 20 to 30 metres of beach, but in winter "we might only have five metres the whole time", noting another nearby jetty that's always "fully submerged" during "big tidal times" in cooler months.
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