By RON LANE
THE safety record on all three beaches – Peregian, Sunshine Beach and Noosa – continues and happy to relate no major incidents occurred during the school holiday period.
Last weekend was indeed a big weekend for our Nippers with the annual Rainbow Beach Nipper Carnival being contested over the two days.
Regarding the success of the carnival, captain of the Sunshine Beach Senior club Scott Summers, summed it up well when he said regarding the whole concept: “The Rainbow carnival is a definite path to life between the flags.’’
Sunshine Beach was represented by some 70 Nippers and club president Craig Law was also supportive in his praise of the carnival.
“Rainbow is always a great carnival and this one was no different; it is definitely good for the future of lifesaving,” he said.
Noosa’s JAC director Sam Smith was also impressed by the weekend.
“It really was great; it had everything. Big attendance from the clubs, good weather and tough conditions. Noosa had about 45 competitors and we were pleased with the results. Some events had to be called off because of the sweep, too tough for the smaller Nippers but ok for the bigger kids. It was definitely a great start to the season.”
Noosa coach Tom Dritten was very happy.
“Our Under 13 boys and girls did well in the Cameron Relay with the girls finishing second and the boys third in their finals and for the second year in a row Natisha Fox won the Under 12 beach sprint. There were lots of our kids showing promise with Zale Outram, Tommy and Maggie Harmer showing good form. But perhaps our biggest assets were the age managers – they were outstanding. Great all round team effort,” Dritten said.
For Noosa community the competition season will really kick off in earnest next week with the kids’ triathlon being contested Wednesday morning on Noosa’s Main Beach. This will be followed by the Arena 1000 Ocean Swim on Friday afternoon; Saturday will be a Legends Surf Swim followed on Sunday by the Noosa Triathlon.
As in previous years all swim events will be covered by our local lifesavers with Noosa /Peregian, Sunshine and Mudjimba, providing IRB and Rescue Board Patrols.
For the first time ever the swim section of the Noosa Tri will be an ocean swim conducted at Noosa’s Main Beach.
Recently there has been two call outs for our After Hours Emergency Response Group. Happy to say that on both occasions, the incidents finished well with no drama. However there has been one vital factor that has drawn praise from all concerned – the response time.
As we have stated on previous occasions, from the time the alarm is raised to the time that all crew personnel are geared up and craft ready for launching is of the utmost importance. This is what we refer to as the Response Time.
Fast well trained teams must keep this time to the minimum and happy to relate to our sea-going public, this has been achieved.
The response time on the two call-outs bought praise from all involved. To all trainers and crews well done.
Next week will be a big one for Warrick Redwood. Warrick, a life member of Sunshine, was this year named Queensland Volunteer of the Year, an award well deserved.
Now he flies to Sydney to contest the final judging for the big one, the Australian Volunteer of the Year. Win lose or draw it is great to see one of our local clubbies in this final for it is one of the most prestigious awards of our Australian Life Saving Movement. We wish him well.
