On Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning, a total of 12 rescues were performed in what senior lifeguard Adam McKane described as a good team effort by local lifeguards and lifesavers; all rescues were at West Beach and Rock Wall. The first and most difficult occurred at approximately 3pm Saturday when a 13-year-old was swept out in a bad rip on the west side of the Rock Wall. A 15-year-old boy on a boogie board immediately went to his aid, but big surf knocked both off the board resulting in both being caught in a gutter 1m from the front of the Rock Wall.
Lifeguard on duty in the tower called for the wave runner and on arrival he was able to back- up to the end of the wall. The driver was able to hold his position, thus enabling the swimmers who by then, were being hammered by 1and 2 m waves, to get hold of the rescue mat. Moving out to sea the driver was able to turn about and return both youth to the beach. It was a good rescue as both lads at the end of the wall were definitely in a bad situation. If caught by a big set serious injuries could have occurred. The duty lifeguard had left the tower after seeing the lads swept on to the rocks: if this prevented the wave runner getting closer it would have been necessary for the lifeguard to perform a tube rescue and drag the swimmers away from the wall. However all went well and the lifeguard was not required to do the swim.
On the Sunday the rescues were performed by rescue board patrol and in many cases by the tube. A spokesman for the lifeguards said, “It was actually a good week end. The young lifesavers were able to see how easy the rescues were carried out: under the lifeguard supervision the rookie clubbies worked well. It was definitely a great example of teamwork between the guards and the clubbies. In particular when you consider that a lot of work was close to the rocks.”
For the First Aid and Champion Lifesaver competition teams it was Noosas’ weekend to travel to Bundaberg for the Queensland Laerdal Championships. Performing in their grade divisions from U/15 to the Opens, in the First Aid Noosa came home with 1 gold medal and 4 silver. In the U/19 it was a double result; with 2 teams competing they won the gold and the silver medals. The other 3 silver medals were won in the U/15,U/17 and the open.
In the Champion Lifesaver Noosa came home with 3 medals: 1 gold 1 silver and 1 bronze; and once again they performed a double when in the U/17 Male with 2 teams competing they won a silver and a bronze. Competing in a field of16 clubs Noosa finished in 4th place overall with Northcliffe Maroochydore and Dickey Beach taking the top honors.
This weekend will see the biggest surf boat carnival of the season in Australia when 439 crews assemble at Elouera Beach Southern Shire in Sydney. It is now bigger than the Australian Titles; however, with the Aussies having been on the calendar for many years they still have the prestige of being number one. The carnival will be run over 4 days: Masters on Thursday, Reserves and U/23S,will row am. Friday with the Interstate Carnival in the afternoon. Saturday will see the U/19s to Opens and Sunday will be the finals. Weather forecast states, surf will vary from 1m-5.m but that can change over- night.
For Noosa we will be represented by 5 crews: 2 Junior U/19 Female, 1 Reserve Grade Women’s crew and 2 Masters. The crews will be under the control of sweep’s Mick Gardner and Stewie Cooper. For Stewie who has now been sweeping with us for three years it will certainly be a carnival to remember. Prior to this Stewie, who hails from England was sweeping boats in Cornwall but now after three years with Noosa all is going well. For the women’s reserves, it will be a big trip to compete for their club, as they hail from Yeppoon: they fly from Rockhampton to Brisbane then from Brisbane to Sydney. Their loyalty and dedication is what club legends are made of. We wish one and all involved with this journey the very best
