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Young Cruiser Killed in Moorea

In a tragic accident in Moorea on August 9, a young cruiser was killed after being hit by a speedboat. According to reports, Eddie Jarman, 14, was checking the anchor on his family’s UK-based Discovery 55 September A.M. in Opunohu Bay when he was struck. Efforts to revive him at the scene were unsuccessful.

Eddie and his sister Amelia
Eddie Jarman and his sister Amelie aboard September A.M.
© 2020 Genda-Jarman Family

Eddie and his family — parents Harry Jarman and Barbara Genda, and 13-year-old sister Amelie Jarman — had departed Lanzarote, Canary Islands, about 18 months ago, and had been cruising French Polynesia for the last nine months.

“Eddie had an amazing zest for life,” wrote his mother on the family’s Just Giving page, which was set up to repatriate the young man’s body  to England. “He was bright, with talent and kindness, blessed with musical talent, and expertly played the piano, violin and a double bass. Mature well over his 14 years, he made an indelible mark on everyone he met. In memory of his life and his love for music we are setting up a trust fund which will fund music and school tuition for talented youngsters.”

Cruiser's farewell in Moorea
Barbara Jarman (left) comforts her 13-year-old daughter Amelie during Saturday’s memorial for Amelie’s brother Eddie. During the simple ceremony, attendees tossed fresh-cut tropical flowers into the sea in Eddie’s memory.
© 2020 Andy Turpin

No further details were available regarding the speedboat, its driver, or the exact circumstances of the accident. According to sources, it was a speedboat rented by a tourist from one of the area hotels.

Back in March, 52-year-old Ellen Tischbin of the New Jersey-based Miclo III was also killed after being struck by a ‘motorized dinghy’ while swimming near her boat in Falmouth Harbor, Antigua.

We don’t have any hard numbers, but our feeling is that incidents like these are thankfully rare. Collisions between dinghies and other small craft such as pangas are probably a bigger problem.

Yes, there are rules in Moorea and most other populated harbors in the world governing speed and safety. The reality is, operators of powered craft often ignore them and go too fast anyway.

Our hearts go out to the Genda-Jarman family. We hope anyone reading this will be extra diligent when swimmers are in the water, be they from your boat or another. You can never be too careful.

Update: According to a report in the Mid Sussex Times, Eddie’s family has now returned home and plans to lay his body to rest in their local churchyard in West Hoathly.

4 Comments

  1. Ken Brinkley 4 years ago

    So sorry for your loss ,as long as you remember him he will never be truly forgotten!

  2. Craig Russell 4 years ago

    I have done a bunch of swimming during the Haha stops. You have to situational awareness out in the water as you are hard to see from even a small dingy and especially from a larger boat. Always be looking around and never let your guard down. My heart goes out to the family of Eddie.

  3. Briny Litchfield 4 years ago

    I’m so sorry to hear of this horrible loss. Praying for your family. RIP Eddie

  4. Christine Weaver 4 years ago

    Dear Readers — We had a phone call from Eddie’s mom, Barbara Genda, on Friday, August 21, with a few corrections to this story, which I have made. The most important of them is the link to the fundraising page. Genda told us that a fraudulent GoFundMe page had been set up. We’ve changed the link in the story to the correct Just Giving page, https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/eddie-jarman.

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