Traffic Is Er Was,
The two statements are not necessarily contradictory, holding at a lower speed, doing orbits at 500 feet 1 mile off the coast, if the engine fails when you are pointed out to sea you have to do a 180 degree turn (or potentially more unless you reverse it) before you start heading back in, you don't have the speed or the height to get very far. If you load mum dad and the kids into a 182 or Saratoga and are at ~130 knots and 1000 feet and 3 is miles off shore you have a very high probability of making the beech. For some people that distance would be close to a normal downwind leg. (just joking.... kind of)
When people on both side of the argument focus on emotional risks rather than real ones, we end up with outcomes that are less safe or efficient than if the risks were addressed objectively.