"life savers"

[phil_mckrack]

just flicking through an old pile of newspapers today and i found an article about some random 50 year old woman becoming a life saver. this is shit, so many people are "qualified" to "save lives" when half of them cant even handle 2foot waves on a rescue board. when i did my test for my bronze medallion, we did it at shelly beach, becuase the surf was about 3ft at queensie. i know that if i had to save somebody in waves over a metre i wouldnt be very good at it and im in the surf a few times a week, and these people that go once a month - what chance would they have at saving a life in the ocean? they are probably the people being rescued.

what do the rest of you think about this life saving stuff, its way to easy to get qualified i think.

[One Mile Point]

on fear factor one of the girls was a life saver and she couldnt swim she had to pull out of the challenge

[LRSA]

Way to easy to get your bronze... I finished the swim with 1 minute and 30 seconds left. And nearly all of our weekend lifesavers live around Ryde and Dural etc and have never had ocean water experiences and they give the swim and board rescue etc on flat water because its cracked the 2ft mark!

[filthbarrel]

Certainly it is too easy for young people to get their bronze. I have brought the matter up with the Prime Minister and have made the following recommendations:

1. Young people between the ages of 17 and 19 not permitted to drive IRB with passengers

2. Young people between ages of 17 and 19 not permitted to use IRB at night

3. Young people between ages of 17 and 19 to only undertake bronze in winter swells from south ranging from 8-15ft

4. Make it really hard to get bronze so there is added disincentive to spend one's spare time at beach (besides yearly membership fee and rising insurance and need to be a fundraiser) attempting to assist dheads from western suburbs who want to fight because you have threatened their fragile masculinity by requesting them to swim between flags when it is 6ft shore dump with rip to New Zealand.

Actually, , it's all too easy. Let's abandon the whole surf club idea and let the public take responsibility for themselves -they seem pretty keen on self-regulation.

NSW surf clubs doing it tough now. Why Carr won't allow surf clubs to run a bar like they do in Qld is beyond me -maybe something to do with AHA lobby.

[Jessep]

did anyone see the news with the lifesaver that could only save one of thesse to guys. where was it at?

[Tahn]

One of 'em tried fining one of my mates $180 for not having a leash?!?

[willie]

haha fear factor.. so many hot chicks like on the model special n stuff hehe


neway lifesavers.. all they do is annoy ppl with their bloody whistles bloody hell they blow those things every two seconds. bronze medallion is too easy aswell... did the swim with plenty plenty times left... first in the class woo......
but yeh lifesavers do jack crap but blow their whistles n annoy ppl

[kookmachine]

yeah bronze is fair easy eh.....
but id rather have someone who had SOME idea about CPR and resusitation than a kook with no idea whatsoever.....

[buzzy]

I'm doing my bronze at the moment. I've surfed for 25 years, was a state level swimmer in my day and represented the school in middle distane running. I still surf 3 times a week and get to the gym once or twice a week, so I'm reasonably fit.

While I pass the fitness tests with a fair comfort zone it isn't "easy". And the technical bizzo of board rescues and tube rescues and CPR isn't straightforward. Manoevring a patient and catching a wave aren't the easiest things in the world, and nor is swimming a patient in with a tube.

[phil_mckrack]

yeh its not the easiest thing in the world, but if your being tested in dead flat conditions what chance is there that lives would be saved with swell?

[Dave]

phil, dont take things so literally.

the 'fifty yo women' in my club are the ones who make the tea and bikkies, organise the raffles etc. they are still members and still get the bronze etc. But when the shyt goes down and the rescues are required in big conditions its the fellas who surf and train and swim and stay fit who are the ones doin the work.

[Bananabender]

3. Young people between ages of 17 and 19 to only undertake bronze in winter swells from south ranging from 8-15ft

Isn't that a tad extreme?? You'd end up killing half of them in the process!!

[aaronn]

if a 50 years old women saves my life this year -
it's a good year