Walking down the Ruakākā beach today, the three of us saw a Surf Life Saving Carnival in full swing, plus the little nippers nearby being introduced to the world of surf sports.
For readers outside the Southern Hemisphere, with few exceptions, all beaches in Australia and New Zealand are patrolled by volunteers called Life Savers, who are members of the local Surf Lifesaving Club, better known as the Surf Club. Any town, except the very tiniest, which have a beach will usually have a Surf Club, ranging from a tin shed to a million dollar venue with restaurants, bars, and what not. Noosa Surf Club is a good example of a rather swish establishment.
Similar to how rodeo emerged out of day to day cowboying, Surf Sports are the competitive activities that replicate life saving activities. The swim is a classic, but other events include the board (a large surfboard like device which is used for rescues), surf kayak, and back in the day, the winch race (swimmers would race out to a buoy while connected to a long rope, and then their team members would winch them in with a pulley. No longer used, this WAS the preferred method of surf rescue back in the day).
Today’s racing was the rubber duckies, or more formerly, the motorized inflatable boat.
They’re very effective, quick, and unlike other methods, far less exhausting. For racing, two people launch the boat into the surf, start the engine, then race to a buoy about 100 meters out. Once there, spin round, and hammer home before hitting the beach and sprinting on foot the last 10 or so meters. In big surf, it is mostly a tactical event, as mistiming your run can result in you wiping out. Sadly, the surf was extremely flat, so it was more of a drag race.
With that said, it was still a lot of fun.
A fun fact: while many think of the rubber ducky as the most common surf rescue technique, they are in fact mistaken. Despite their effectiveness and speed, only a handful of clubs own them, and they can’t really go out in massive surf or very crowded beaches. For those reasons, the swim remains the most common method, and has been for the past 150+ years of the organisations existence.
Tomorrow I’ll share with you my experiences of Surf Life Saving, but until then, make sure you swim between the flags!