Lifesaving Season 2021/22 Kicks off!

​I'd like to welcome back the returning lifesaving committee members, and welcome to our new Assistant Director of Lifesaving Services Darren Saunders and Education Coordinator Hunter Perry. A big thanks to Ben who stepped down this season as ADOL and who has recently became a new dad to a beautiful little boy. We also see Mike Fernandez step down this season from the education role after many years, thank you for all you have done. I'm glad we will still see both Ben and Mike on the beach, and remain with us as PCs. And of course a big welcome to all returning and new lifesavers. 

Our lifesavers hit the beach on Saturday 18 September to kick off the season. There has been a lot of work that went into getting us on the beach this season, with the ongoing changes to Public Health Orders, but we have got there in the end. Thank you to all the lifesaving committee for your help and to the PCs for being a great conduit of information to your teams! And also to Jennie Smith who has made us some great masks to wear on patrol and around the club! 

We had all our PCs on over the first weekend so we could be sure to be across all the changes and procedures. It's also a great chance for us to all work with our leadership team on how we can best run patrols and keep the public safe. You will see some changes including an exclusion zone around the patrol tent. Please note that if you are not on patrol you can not come into the patrol area. And we do ask if you can help by not parking within the club area on busy weekends so that our rosters patrolling members are able to access these spots. We do hope that within the next month or so we can move back to a more 'normal' patrol and see our younger members back on the beach with us!

Education
We have had a few queries about when we can kick off courses. As yet we do not know but there is plenty of work going behind the scenes to ensure we are able to kick off as soon as possible. There are of course more challenges when it comes to education with regard to COVID safety with the requirement of proximity between candidates and trainers. We will be sure that we will kick off in a safe manner as soon as we can. In the meantime, if you're interested in getting your SRC or upgrading from SRC to BM be sure to add your name to our list via this form so we can get in touch!

Until next month, stay well and safe. And see you all on the sand soon.

Nicole Cooney
Director of Lifesaving Services