By RON LANE
THE reputation that Noosa’s Main Beach has for being a one of the safest family beaches in Australia was certainly endorsed on the Australia Day Weekend.
Families turned up in droves to enjoy the sunshine and safe surfing.
Despite the crowds stretching from the First Point to West Wall, life savers reported no major incidents.
A big plus towards the safe atmosphere at Main Beach has been not only the patrol work of local life guards and life savers, but also our local police. The sight of their one-man Segway patrol vehicle moving slowly along the beach area is, to say the least, re-assuring. The occasional stop to chat with beach-goers or a child getting a tour guide of this small, one-man vehicle is good to see. A big well done to all concerned.
The amalgamation of Noosa and Peregian members has been a matter of interest to many of our locals.
After a chat to life savers patrolling Peregian Beach, indications are that all is going well.
Dave Williams, captain of Patrol 4, said: “Patrol rosters have been settled and the help from Noosa has made things so much easier. The past few seasons have been pretty hard. Also Noosa has helped to upgrade our rescue equipment, in particular our vehicles. Now the feeling is really good.”
As we spoke, the ATV (all-terrain vehicle) on a roving patrol, could be seen some 200 metres south of the flagged area.
Parking the patrol vehicle on the water’s edge, a patrolman had entered the water to escort a family, mum, dad and two children, off a sand bank through a gutter and back on to the beach. As we watched it was obvious from his arm actions, what he was explaining – the flagged area back to their left, was the safest place to swim. Life saving at its best.
On the weekend, the Sunshine Beach club conducted their second day of competition in the three-day series for the Nipper club championships.
The first in the series was held in December and the third will be on 8 February.
“The reason for the three days is that it can give the competitors experience in different conditions,” said Dave Gleeson the junior activities chairman.
“The other thing that we now do is to run the carnival exactly like a major branch championship. By doing this the novice kids who are a bit nervous about going to major carnivals, will then be happy to give it a go. The age limit is under-8 to under-14. It is a great learning curve without the pressure of a major title,” he said.
Last season, Sunshine Beach won gold at the branch, state and national titles in the patrol championships.
This year they have backed up for more. At the recent branch titles held at Alexandra Headlands they finished second overall in the patrol and champion life saver events. As with last year, Jo Redwood is leading the coaching squad, and with her back-up team in full support a repetition of last year’s record-breaking results is definitely on the cards.
For Noosa, it was also a successful carnival. Charlotte Webber and Emily Letheridge won gold in the under-19 and under-14 divisions of the champion female life saver.
In first-aid, Sally Wytenburg and Sarah James finished second in under-15; under-19 Elvie Wytenburg and Olivia Blight finished second. And in the open division, Elisa Thomas and Julie Stanton finished third.
Despite the fact that these championships get little recognition the dedicated patrol people know that patrolling and first-aid is what our job is all about. Therefore, these events are the real deal.
