By RON LANE
THE 24-hour emergency call out group of which both Sunshine Beach and Noosa Heads Surf Life Saving Clubs are members was activated about 6.20pm last Monday evening.
Response to news that a child went missing in the National Park region was immediate and in no time IRB teams from both clubs were activated. Happy to relate the Sunshine crew patrolling from the southern end of National Park area located the child alive and well.
These teams consist of volunteer lifesavers from local clubs all up the Sunshine Coast. They respond to callouts at any time during the night and will always go regardless of weather conditions. As stated many times before, the old days of just patrolling between the flags from 7am-5pm daylight hours are well and truly a thing of the past.
On Saturday morning, the Noosa IRB racing team received an emergency call during a training session west of the flags on Main Beach. A report was received that a spear gun could be seen in deep water near the river mouth and it was feared that a spear fisherman could have gone missing. However lifesavers on arrival checked and found the gun wedged in some rocks and the diver unable to free his gun simply left it. Strange sighting but as always these incidents have to be checked. The hard work and long hours that the teams working for the Noosa Seahorse Nippers have put in are paying dividends. Following their very successful trip to North Burleigh to run a pilot program, the lifesavers in far Northern Queensland Club of Palm Cove Cairns, are indeed very interested. Overall, the results of the Noosa Program are something in which all concerned can take pride.
“At present, Noosa, North Burleigh and Redcliffe are up and running,” Noosa co-ordinator Steve Mawby said.
“The next will be Collaroy in Sydney in February. Also three clubs in Hobart are looking at making a move. So at present, it is all very positive.”
Patrols on our three beaches Peregian Sunshine Beach and Noosa Heads are looking more balanced than ever. With a good mixture of the older veteran members plus the youth coming through, the future for our three clubs looks good. With our ever increasing visitations, this is exactly what our organisation needs.
Sunday morning Patrol One at Sunshine Beach was a classic example. Patrol Captain David Woithe said, “We have a great mixture of veterans and young ones. Some of our young members are our patrol competition champions from the National Titles, mix these with old heads and you couldn’t get a better team.”
As we spoke, the Sunshine ATV patrol had just returned from a courtesy visit into Alexandria Bay. When possible this is done once a day, but only when the duty patrol captain is agreeable. Saturday Noosa competitors in age groups ranging from Under17 through to Masters took part in a craft carnival at Met. Caloundra. Despite being early season Director of Surf Sports Peter French was happy with the overall results.
“We were very happy with the performances of our young members. The board, ski and the taplins in particular, were a great result for Noosa.”
On Sunday, Sunshine Beach Under 11 to Under 14 competitions also went well. Club captain Scott Summers said, “It’s only early but we came away happy with the team performance and attitude.”
On Saturday, the Nutri-Grain Iron Woman Series will start at Smiths Beach W.A. a beach that on occasions is noted for big surf. We wish Jordan Mercer of the Noosa club, every success.
