Coastal Path

The south west coastal path runs past Sandy Bay. Many visitors get to the beach by walking; some stay and enjoy the beach while others enjoy the views as they march on towards Budleigh Salterton or Exmouth.

At low tide you can walk along the Sandy Bay beach to Exmouth, about 3 hours after low tide the Sandy Bay becomes cut off from Exmouth.

On high spring tides several small coves are created at the end of Sandy Bay beach they all are created by rock reefs sticking out in to the sea.  Part of our routine patrolling involves informing people about the tidal cut offs.  Some people are blissfully unaware that they will be stuck where they are by the tide, others know they will be stuck and are quite happy to sit and wait for the tide to go out.

The west end of Sandy Bay and the start of one of the rockey reefs.

The MSC Napoli

The MSC Napoli was taken aground by tugs early this year after it was damaged far out at sea.

For month’s debris and rubbish was washed up on Dorset and Devon beaches.  Over the summer the front section of the boat was detached and floated off to be scrapped.  As far as I am aware the back section of the boat will also be floated off to be scrapped soon.

We were very lucky at Sandy Bay, we didn’t receive any  rubbish from the Napoli,  other beaches in the West Dorset RNLI Lifeguard area were not quite so lucky getting oil and debris from the ship.

The photo above and photo below are of the Napoli, they were taken from the Exmouth All Weather Lifeboat, Forward Birmingham.

 

Exmouth RNLI All weather Lifeboat and Inshore Lifeboat

Here is a picture of Exmouth All Weather Lifeboat.

What a fantastic craft, moored in the mouth of the river Exe. The crew have to take a small inshore rescue boat out to the Lifeboat.

Below is a picture of the Exmouth Inshore Lifeboat at Sandy Bay. The Inshore boat is housed further east along the coastline from the All Weather Lifeboat. It is kept on land and has to be launched from its trailer by a tractor.

Over the summer Sandy Bay Lifeguards worked closely with the Exmouth lifeboat crews. On many occasions the Inshore Lifeboat visited Sandy Bay, this was very useful especially on the busy days. Extra eyes watching the water are always a good thing.

The RNLI have requested planning permison to build a new boat house in Exmouth.  The current location of the All Weather Lifeboat restricts its service and the current facilites for the crew are not fantastic.  More information can be found on the Exmouth Lifeboat website.

Main men!

Here is James,

and here is Barnaby

These are the Lifeguards I worked with at Sandy Bay this summer.

Below James training on a rescue board,

and Barnaby surfing at Sandy Bay.

Lyme Regis

Here is a picture of Lyme Regis Lifeguards hut and part of the Beach.

This is the part of the town’s beach that is not local! All the sand here was imported from France!

Due to the way the rota worked throughout the summer, I worked every other Saturday in Lyme Regis.

It is quite nice to work a different beach every now and again, but nothing matches the challenges of Sandy Bay!

Above: One of my colleagues at Lyme.

HYMB

HYMB is our base. Herts Canoe Lifeguards can be found training here almost every Monday night throughout the year. 19.00 to 21.00 hours come rain or shine!

We use a majority of the bases facilities, some weeks we are in classrooms learning all important theory other weeks we are out on the lake practicing rescues and other skills.

If you are interested in kayaking or lifesaving or both why not come and join us one Monday night.

Rescue Board

A rescue board is a very useful piece of lifesaving equipment. It is basically a large surfboard, used to paddle out to a casualty and to return them to shore safely. It can be launched quickly, you can paddle it faster than you can swim and once you have collected your casualty you can surf it back to the beach quickly.

Sandy Bay does not pick up a huge amount of swell but on the odd day we get a good few feet of ground swell, getting out in the swell is great training.

I would say our rescue boards were our main piece of kit at Sandy Bay, many patrols between swimmers and paddlers were done on rescue boards and lots of people were assisted using them.

Above: The use of a rescue board! Towing an inflatable that was blown offshore and could not return with out assistance.

Man Down.

We were a Lifeguard down on the Saturday of the London Triathlon. Due to one of our lifeguards competing.

This is the first time Des has competed at the London Triathlon. Below is a picture of him waiting for his race while the Canoe Lifeguards were getting on the water bright and early!

The next event for HCL, The London Triathlon.

The next event for the canoe lifeguards was the London Triathlon. The “worlds largest triathlon” – www.excel-london.co.uk. This event is huge. Over 13,000 people entered the competition this year, competing in varying distances of triathlons.

We aim to have 75 kayakers on the water to keep a watchful eye over the swimmers throughout their race. The kayakers work closely along side, inshore rescue boats, and spotters. It’s a long weekend with many races Saturday and Sunday. Luckily the weather was good for the whole weekend. Some say too good, with temperatures hitting 30 deg.+ in London.

One team of kayakers follows the swimmers around the course, one team grabs a rest and all the other teams are spread out around the course.

The picture above is taken from the balcony of the excel centre, this is a great viewing platform. Several spotters are placed along the length of the balcony. Communications are made between spotters, kayakers and inshore rescue boats using radios.

Competitors are all briefed before they start. Should they need assistance they should raise one arm out the water. I would put money on the kayakers, the inshore rescue boat crews or the spotters seeing someone in need of assistance before your average pool lifeguard would notice someone struggling at the local baths.

Summer For Herts Canoe Lifeguards

The summer has flown by. HCL have been very busy working hard at many different locations providing vital lifeguard cover for swimming events. After the ASA open water swim came two training sessions for the London Triathlon.

The training sessions are run for competitors to practice swimming in the deep, dark and cold London docks before they take on the triathlon swim its self.

Below are a few pictures of the training session in the Royal Albert dock.

Swimmers are split in to small groups, each group has its own instructor and lifeguards.