By RON LANE
DURING the weekdays our beaches are under the care of the lifeguards and they’re happy to relate that for the Christmas break no fatalities were reported on our Noosa Shire beaches. However, lifeguards recorded several rescues at Peregian and two spinals which occurred in the same region.
It is sad to note that, despite the lack of big dumping surf, spinal injuries seem to be occurring more frequently. This causes us to again repeat the message that surf does not have to be big to cause havoc. Noosa lifeguards Sean Farrell and Liam Toohey also extend the invitation to talk to them if you are not sure of conditions.
Sean said, “we are only too happy to point out the difficulties that can occur and we can offer advice that will enable our visitors to have a safe time at our beaches. Remember it only takes a couple of minutes, but it can be time well spent.”
At the weekend, Sunshine Beach patrol members had to contend with some really trying conditions. Club captain Scott Summers said, “Because of some dangerous rips and gutters we were compelled to keep shifting our flags and at one stage we were at least 150 metres south of our usual bathing area. This created a problem with some people because they came down the stairs and wanted to swim there. They just didn’t want to walk the 100 metres or so to a safe area. But sanity prevailed and they made the walk.’’
This week it was on again. The annual Camp Commando Leadership Training Course for Sunshine Coast Lifesavers. Held at Alexander Headlands, all 16 clubs stretching from Rainbow Beach to Redcliffe were represented. For the 81 delegates, the majority of who were in the U/14 and U/15 age groups, it was indeed a very busy time. The course went from Monday to Wednesday with their day starting at 7am sharp and finishing at 10pm. During this time, the participants were under the care of Leaders and Mentors and among the leaders was Archie Glassock from our Noosa Club. Archie, at 17 years of age is himself a veteran of four such camps, plus two state-run camps, first as a participant and now as a leader.
“After what I have been through, I can highly recommend these camps,” Archie said.
“We have really good guest speakers with some coming from the Defence Forces. Their speeches centered on leadership and others spoke on the various skills needed for lifesaving. The group is broken up into teams of 12 and it is our job as leaders to help guide them through activities and on some occasions give advice.”
Everyone was billeted at the Alexander Headlands Conference Center and conditions were very good. On Saturday, the Noosa Training Team is conducting another joint session with their mates from the Sunshine Beach club. This time it was a Patrol Captains course. It is interesting to note that of the seven members from Sunshine, the majority were nipper parents who have come up through the ranks from the nipper club where they started their career as Water Safety officers. In the words of Bill Twigger Sunshine Beach C.T.O. (Chief Training Officer), “These courses are a win-win situation for lifesaving. It helps bring our two clubs closer together, and remember both clubs roving patrols get callouts into National Park. For our club, the fact that we have older members being trained as patrol captains really strengthens our patrols’’. Congratulations to Jordan Mercer, chosen to represent Queensland at the Interstate Championships in Sydney Friday 23 January. We wish her well.
