Lifeguard patrols start next week

St Clair junior lifeguards (from left) Carina Donegan (16), Flynn Steel (16), Max Wolf (14),...
St Clair junior lifeguards (from left) Carina Donegan (16), Flynn Steel (16), Max Wolf (14), Annie Kennedy Atchison (14), Lucy Duncan (15), Daizy Thompson-Fawcett (15), Nathan Wolf (17), Jody Mowat (17), Anaia Wiparata (15), Sebastian Prescott (15), Ben Hayward (15), Nathan Martin (15), Billy Smith (14), Sam Haig (15), Claudia Maker (17) and Anna Lindsay (18). PHOTO: STEPHEN JAQUIERY

The yellow and red uniforms of 115 St Clair surf life-savers are set to become a regular sight on the Dunedin beach once again.

Weekend patrols of the beach, which has suffered major erosion in the past 12 months, will begin next Saturday.

St Clair Surf Life Saving Club chairman James Coombes said last season the club carried out 14 rescues during 2000 life-saving hours.

However,  erosion, rather than rips,  posed the biggest challenge.

"We spent lots of time stopping people from going in the water. We probably stopped 30 to 40 people a day from going down the beach via the access points."

In February, a surfer narrowly escaped drowning when heavy surf trapped him against the  Esplanade wall at St Clair.

Life-savers were forced to operate from a temporary  tent several hundred metres down the beach from their clubrooms because of the danger posed by the exposed rocks near the wall.

A new access route and good sand dispersal, as a result of sand sausages which had eased erosion, would make it easier for the rescue boat to access the water this year, Mr Coombes said.

More than half of the club’s volunteer life-savers competed in life-saving competitions.

"Better athletes make better lifeguards," he said.

The season would be the first for 20 newly qualified life-savers.

Each life-saver did about 25 hours of voluntary patrols over the season, which ends in mid March.

"Many of our lifeguards are young. For people at the age of 14 to be giving up their summer time is a special thing to see."

Rescues were still likely despite the "strong" team of lifesavers.

"It is about preventing serious incidents from occurring rather than banking on not doing rescues, because the reality is, in this environment it is a real possibility."

Weekend patrols will run from noon to 5pm. Weekday patrols  begin in mid-December.

margot.taylor@odt.co.nz

Add a Comment

 

Advertisement