By Ron Lane
It is that time of the year again when we give a big welcome to those wonderful young people the Schoolies.
Both lifesavers and lifeguards have noted an increase in groups that have arrived on our beaches and both have reported good conduct. To our young people, remember if you have a question or problem talk to the red and yellow army.
One of the most pleasing sights on Noosa’s Main beach during midweek is the large number of primary school children who come to partake in the Surf Awareness Training. This week it was a team from Pomona and for many it was their first visit to a beach.
Some parents unfortunately pay little heed to programs such as these but they are of the utmost importance. Proud to say that these Surf Education programs on Noosa’s Main beach, run by the Noosa Surf Club, have now been in operation for some ten years. I wonder how many mums and dads have teenagers walking around alive and well because of what they learned during their younger years. Unfortunately there is no way of knowing.
With Christmas fast approaching both Sunshine and Noosa Surf Clubs are busy continuing their IRB courses. Noosa has a course well under way and Sunshine is working on a new crew of ten. It is good to note that three at Sunshine are from Noosa; the fact that the clubs are working together on these most important programs is good to see. With their ever-increasing workload and responsibility mixed group training can only strengthen our teams; and with unpatrolled beaches and the ever dangerous Alexandria Bay in our National Park this is a massive step forward.
To both our training teams Noosa and Sunshine – keep up the good work.
Last weekend our competitors faced big surf at Coolum Beach for Round 2 of the Navy Surf Boat Series and the second round of the Nutri Grain Iron Man Series.
For the Noosa boat crews it was again a very good carnival.
In the Masters age groups, the Condors (20 years plus) won and Emus (Under 20) took third. In the ladies Under 19 representing Noosa were two crews, the Scrub Turkeys and the Spangle Dragons and these crews tied for first place overall.
The men’s Under 19 crew known as the Peacocks (who have only been together for eight weeks) performed well to finish second overall. “We are very happy with the performance of all crews and our young girls in particular are starting to be noticed. Our next big carnival will be at Kurrawa for Round 3 Navy Series,” spokesman and boat sweep David Tomba said.
In the Iron Woman Nutri Grain Series Noosa’s Lana Rogers performed well in tough conditions to finish in fourth place and the ladies Taplin was won by Noosa.
Jordan Mercer took second in both the ski and board and Sunshine’s 15-year-old Ruby Nolan put in a great effort to finish third in the women’s open surf.
Great effort from this young lady, and well done to all our girls.
