ISLANDERS will be relieved and pleased to hear that the 15-year-old boy who injured his back when pier-jumping at Bouley Bay last week has returned to his home after receiving treatment in Southampton and is expected to make a full recovery.

He is, however, lucky, having escaped serious spinal cord damage by a fraction of an inch.

The knee-jerk reaction in the aftermath of this incident might be to try to introduce a formal ban on pier-jumping. There would undoubtedly be some support for such a move because the activity is manifestly risky.

Unfortunately, in spite of the underlying logic behind any measure designed to protect young lives and to prevent injury, a ban would almost certainly be ineffective.

If the piers were put out of bounds, the jumpers would simply move en masse to the cliffs – which, with even higher potential risk of injury, some of them already frequent.

Quite clearly, a blanket ban on jumping into the sea is out of the question, but if, absurdly, one were introduced, many teenagers would actually take pleasure in flouting it.

This is no argument for positively encouraging pier-jumping, let alone ‘tombstoning’, its big brother involving greater heights and more dangerous locations. It is recognition of the enduring principles that boys will always tend to be boys and that it is impossible to eliminate all risk from daily life.

Like it or not, pier-jumping must probably take its place alongside other pursuits such as skateboarding and BMX biking.

That said, there are vital messages that must be conveyed to young beach-goers as the summer stretches out before us. Anyone who jumps or dives into the sea must make themselves aware of what lies beneath the surface before taking the plunge.

Equally, only the idiotically foolhardy compete to see who can jump from the highest, most precarious positions into narrow gullies or water of unknown depth.

Meanwhile, it is worth remembering that there are well regulated and well supervised opportunities for older people as well as the exuberant young to scramble over rocks and plunge into the sea. The activity known as coasteering is becoming increasingly popular.

Coasteering has all the ingredients of pier-jumping and more, plus safety equipment that includes wetsuits, life jackets and helmets – not to mention the reassuring presence of experienced guides.