YOU HAVE to admire the dedication.
A 28-year-old man has been jailed for four weeks for breaching the Isle of Man's coronavirus restrictions after he bought a jet ski and crossed the Irish Sea to reach her.
Dale McLaughlan, from Scotland, told authorities he had never used a jet ski before, and bought one solely so he could reach his girlfriend on the Isle of Man, between Britain and Ireland.
He had estimated the trip would take around 40 minutes, but instead he was travelling through rough waves for almost four-and-a-half hours, the BBC reports.
Dale McLaughlan was on the water for four-and-a-half hours, despite the journey usually taking less than an hour (stock image / Getty)Once he reached the Isle of Man, McLaughlan walked 15 miles to reach his girlfriend's home in Douglas, and the two spent the weekend together-- before he was arrested for breaching the Isle of Man's strict coronavirus restrictions.
The Isle of Man has seemingly managed to beat the virus, having gone more than six months without a case of local transmission, where health experts cannot track where a patient has picked up the virus.
The island has only been able to accomplish this by extremely strict measures on who enters the Isle of Man, and citizens of other countries-- even other parts of the United Kingdom-- may not enter without express permission from the Government.
Mr McLaughlan did not have this permission, and the chief minister of the Isle of Man, Howard Quayle, said in a statement that he "was aware of the law and showed a flagrant disregard when they chose to break it, mixing in the community and potentially putting lives at risk".
The BBC adds that Mr McLaughlan had twice applied for permission to visit his girlfriend from Scotland but was both times denied.
The couple had met in September of this year, when McLaughlan travelled to the Isle of Man as part of his job as a roofer.
