By RON LANE
FOR a lot of our clubs, the winter months can indeed be just as busy as our summer. Inshore Rescue Boat (I.R.B.) training and competition has been intense. As these craft are rostered on for patrol work during the summer months, their training and competition is naturally gazette for winter. At present the Noosa club is conducting training programs, and it is interesting to note that in a team of five, four are young girls aged in their late teens. When you consider the responsibility and sometimes danger involved in this type of patrol work, it speaks volumes for the type of members now joining the ranks of our organisation.
Another group that has a very busy winter schedule is the Pool Rescue teams. These are competitors who, apart from their normal competition in surf, do the still water pool rescues discipline. It is very pleasing to note that among the medal winners in the recent National Pool Rescue Championships held in Sydney, the team from the Sunshine Beach club came home with a swag of medals which, when totaled, placed them sixth overall.
When you consider there were 52 clubs competing, for a small club like Sunshine Beach this is indeed a great effort. Well done to all competitors but in particular a big well done to their coach Johanna Redwood and her support group.
“What makes the results very pleasing,” said Johanna “was that we were up against some of the biggest clubs in the country. The number of competitors was almost doubled on last year. Another factor was that one of our team, Ellie Bissaker broke the Australian record for the 100m Under 14 Manikin Tow with Finns.”
For Johanna, these results have indeed capped off a very successful season. At the Australian Surf Life Saving Championships held in Perth, her Under 17 Patrol Competition Team won the gold medal in this very prestigious event. Not only did they win the gold but leading up to the Nationals, they also won the Branch and State thus giving them the unique achievement, a clean sweep of the three major titles.
These were not Johannas first medals in top competition, for through the years she has coached in the Under 14 to Under 17 competition and won medals at all levels.
Perhaps the most pleasing aspect is that she has done so in the very prestigious Patrol and Champion Life Saver events. Despite not getting the publicity they deserve, these two events are what lifesaving is all about — patrolling and lifesaving.
When local parents are thinking about their children joining a surf club, our three clubs Peregian, Sunshine and Noosa have a lot to offer when it comes to coaching and training. At Peregian we have Rod Witham whose reputation in training cadets in basic lifesaving is second to none and at Sunshine there is of course Johanna and Max Pettigrove, with Max being a well-credentialed coach in big surf swimming. At Noosa a much bigger club, there is a coaching panel under the control of head coach Darren Mercer, former National Iron Man Champion. This consists of Clint Irwin, Sam Keelan, Omar Bakhach and David Tomba. With a panel such as this, it ensures that all disciplines, beach, boats, boards, skies and swimming are covered. At the recent Molokai to Oahu World Paddling Marathon in Hawaii, Jordan Mercers win in the ladies division and Lachie Lansdown second place in the 18/29 men’s division speaks volumes for the coaching of Darren Mercer and his panel. These results show that coaching available in our three clubs is second to none.
