The owner of a Keswick-based adventure company has spoken of his horror at seeing two women and their small children desperately clinging to an upturned canoe on Derwentwater.
Lee Simpson was with a group of clients at Kettlewell car park when he heard cries for help coming from the water.
Grabbing a couple of kayaks, Lee and his team from outdoor activity operators Keswick Adventures quickly paddled out to the stricken canoeists, pulling the children to safety before returning to rescue the women.
“There were two ladies, both in their mid-40s, four kids aged between one and five, a dog and a cool box,” Lee said. “Nobody was wearing a life jacket, and only the dog seemed able to swim.
“It was lucky that we heard the commotion and that they were so near to the shore, because otherwise we could have been looking at a major tragedy.
“It just defies belief that people could be so stupid as to go out on the water without even the most basic instruction or without wearing life jackets. Yet this is the third time we’ve had to rescue people from the lake this summer.”
Lee added: “I’ve been teaching for 28 years and I have never seen anything like it. It’s absolutely unprecedented.”
A combination of hot weather, the easing of lockdown restrictions and uncertainty over foreign holidays has led to a huge increase in visitor numbers to the Lake District National Park, with Derwentwater and other lakes particularly popular for swimming and watersports.
However, there have also been three drowning deaths in Cumbria this month with bodies being recovered from Brothers Water, Crummock Water and the River Eden. The last being of a 16-year-old boy from Carlisle – the other casualties were from out of area.
Inexperience and alcohol have been blamed for the spate of emergency call-outs, which included fire and rescue teams being dispatched to Ullswater last week after reports of a male in distress.
Owen McCarney, station manager for Keswick, tweeted his frustration at the incident.
“The intoxicated male managed to get out as teams arrived. Resources were unnecessarily tied up when they may be needed elsewhere. Alcohol and swimming do not mix.”
Meanwhile Tony Watson, head of visitor services and communications at the Lake District National Park Authority, said: “What we are seeing is a massive desire to be near the water, and what used to be lake shores are now beaches, and there’s a lot of booze consumed.
“That booze really reduces people’s common sense and fear factor. We might be having Mediterranean air temperatures but we’ve still got traditionally cold northern English waters.”
Mr Watson also blamed sub-standard equipment, often bought cheaply from supermarkets. “Visitors turn up with cheap paddleboards without the right safety equipment.
The middle aisle of Lidl is often on our lakes. We see Lidl selling paddleboards but we don’t see them selling buoyancy aids.”
He also said he thought TikTok and Instagram were leading visitors to party in isolated locations where there have never previously been issues.
“A waterfall or a little water pool will appear on Instagram or TikTok and it will become an attraction that we’ve never had a problem with before.”
An estimated 40 people have drowned in the UK since the heatwave began on July 14, triple the normal rate of water deaths, according to the National Water Safety Forum.
A man in his 30s drowned after getting into difficulties in Brothers Water, the body of a swimmer was retrieved from Crummock Water and a 16-year-old boy drowned in the River Eden, near Carlisle.
