Over the next few weekends Herts Canoe Lifeguards are going to be pritty busy.
We have a DVD to make. (more to come on that soon!)
Members attending a Level 1 Lifeguard coaching course.
Members taking various specific lifeguard awards.
And there is also the Canoe Lifeguard Convention! More to come on this also!
A few pictures from the DW below. All in all I think the event went well with many crews coping well with the cold conditions.
It was an early start! This was the time I left home.
This was the view from the start line looking back towards the competitors heading off in the first wave of racers. It was a bit dark!
Two of our Lifeguards on the Thames.
And two more.
The get out at Westminster.
Finally our boats and trailer next to the London Eye at 0900 am after we were all finished
The first event that Herts Canoe Lifeguards will attend in 2008 is the DW canoe race this weekend. This is a 4 day kayak or canoe race from Devizes to Westminster.
We provide water safety on the last day, where the race enters the tidal Thames near Teddington and ends at Westminster Bridge.
Its an early start as we have to paddle with the tide. I think I am leaving home close to midnight on Sunday to be ready at the start of the race Monday morning.
More info on the race can be found here http://www.dwrace.org.uk/
The weather is looking rather cold at the moment and it looks as though its not going to get much warmer! I am going to try and take my non waterproof camera with me to try and get some good shots, hope it survives.
Yesterday was our Canoe Lifeguards AGM.
It is all change on the committee, many thanks have to be given to the members who have stepped down. They have all worked very hard for the unit and have put in huge amounts of time to make sure the unit runs smoothly.
Thanks again and good luck to all the new committee members.
I was lucky enough to keep my position as publicity officer, hopefully I will be able to improve on what I did last year.
Mondays training session was based on our new radios. We practiced radio procedure, and how to operate the radios.
We reminded ourselves of the phonetic alphabet by splitting in to two teams (then moving in to different rooms!) and playing a game of battle ships, 13 letters across and 13 letters up!
Everyone one seemed to enjoy the evening, hopefully we will have a few more evenings to practice radio procedure before our summer season is in full swing!
Today a large number of full time Coastguard staff went on strike. Many of these are the staff in the operations rooms around the country who answer 999 calls.
The Coastguard manage all search and rescue operations around the UK coast and have even been known to help stranded UK sailors around the globe.
Fingers crossed that the contingency plans the Coastguard put in place for the 24 hour strike are working and help gets to those in need on the coast and at sea.
More info on the strike on the Swanage Coastguard blog and on BBC News
