By RON LANE
ON Saturday morning the lifeguards will once again hand control of Queensland beaches back to the volunteer life savers.
The summer patrols are on again with Noosa Peregian and Sunshine working at full strength to maintain their record of no lives lost while members on patrol.
For all our local clubs, it has been a busy winter with a heavy emphases placed on training for IRB crews. The competition and experience gained during the winter carnivals will come to fruition, and the major recipient of all these hours of training and travel will no doubt be those who come to visit our shores.
We wish them welcome and safe bathing, and to remember whenever possible – bath between the flags.
However, as with the start of every summer season, we take the opportunity to remind those who choose to do the tourist walks through the beautiful National Park or into that Devils Playground known as Alexandria Bay, of a few safety rules.
If you do choose to bath on an unpatrolled beach, don’t go in above your knees – and if you have children, please leave them on the beach.
If on a walk you see people in trouble remember, don’t panic, ring triple-zero (000) and give the following information: location, details of incident (number of people and how far out) and remain where you are. By doing this, you can if necessary, wave a towel or shirt to attract the IRB crew’s attention, thus assisting them in quickly finding the right location.
For the visitor on the scenic walk, please feel free to talk to the duty life savers at Sunshine Beach and Main Beach Noosa before you go. This applies not only on our local beaches but also anywhere in Queensland, for our Red and Yellow Army is there for you and your family. They will be only too happy to help with advice.
At Sunshine Beach, they have the largest crew ever for their patrol rosters and once again these teams will be under control of the Sunshine Coast captain of the year for 2014/15 season Scott Summers.
At Noosa the patrols will again be under the watchful eye of club captain Ian Widdicombe.
Good to see the Noosa Club continuing with Surf Awareness Training.
This week some 190 students from Iona College Brisbane, aged 12 and 13 years, are attending two three-day camps.
One group of 100 worked Monday to Wednesday and the remaining 90 will work Wednesday to Friday.
Their program will cover activities such as the surfboard, stand-up paddle boarding and cable skiing – all under the supervision of highly trained life savers.
Well he is home and despite feeling slightly exhausted he is a very happy and proud young Australian Clubbie. His name is Lachlan Lansdown and at the ripe old age of 19 years this Noosa life saver last month set the American surfing fraternity on its ear when he won the Catalina Classic Board Race (a 53km race, off the coast of Los Angles) in a time of 6 hours and 30 minutes.
“I was told there were about 100 entrants but only three Aussies, so we were stoked that it was won by an Aussie,” he said with a laugh.
“I was the only teenager to enter and by winning I have become the youngest to ever have their name engraved on the trophy.”
As we talked it became quite apparent that despite his youth this young lifeguard possessed a determination well beyond his years.
His contribution to his club is also outstanding.
Surf sports director Peter French said: “At training sessions he is always one of the leaders; he is on the coaching panel for the JACs (Nippers) and has been a worker in the Seahorse Nippers right from the very start. A member to be proud of.”
