RLSS Beach Lifeguard Course this week

Tomorrow I am head down to Cornwall to re-do my Beach Lifeguard qualification. Your qualification only lasts 2 years if you are with the RLSS and has to be re-validated every year if you are with SLSGB.

I have booked a 4 day course with ERA Adventures Based in Polzeath. The course is run by a few of the people who ran the first Beach Lifeguard course I did.

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RNLI Beach lifeguard inductions start after next weekend and last a couple of weeks then we are patrolling full time until September.

2012! My notes….

Interesting meeting.

It was a pre-planning application meeting.

Quite a few local boaters turned up to hear about the course, the regional access officer was there, memebers of the local outdoor education centre and shop were there so the paddling faternity were well reprisented.

Presentations were given by the Olympic Development Authority, Lea Valley Parks and the course designer.

The course is going to remain pumped at 15m3 post games.

There is going to be a smaller loop of the course running off diffrent pumps that will only be pumped at 10m3, which will be easier so can be used for warm ups and teaching.

The course will be owned and run by Lea Valley Parks post games. They have comitted to run it to the end of its design life(25 years)

It is possible that it will be opend up pre games for testing.

I got the feeling that Lea Valley parks are happy to run the course to break even but if they make a profit great. Kayakers will be subsidised by rafters as we all expected. I think they are hoping to make huge amounts out of the rafting being so close to London.

I also asked about local access to rivers and how the olympics was going to benifit the whole area and there were a lot of possitve comments about getting better acces to local rivers, flood relief channels and weirs, including getting Dobbs Weir up and running again.

I have requested the artisit impression of the course via email so will post them up when I get them!

2012!

Instead of going and training at Herts Canoe Lifeguards tonight I am going to a meeting about the 2012 White Water Canoe Course.

Should be interesting.

I will report back later.

This winter and the summer to come.

The sea is cold and the surf not that good in the UK this weekend.

Luckily I have just had a great winter break, surfing and kayak surfing in Barbados.

The surf was not huge but regular clean 4ft sets hit the south coast of the island all week.

Beach Lifeguard News

It is looking like the RNLI will take over the Lifeguarding on Exmoth Town beach. So next year there will be Sandy Bay and Exmouth Town beaches in East Devon both under RNLI control.

Surf At Sandy Bay

I was going past Sandy Bay today, rude not to pop in.

The surf looked wicked. Shame I didn’t have time to stay.

Lovely 3ft clean faces. Notice the ship in the background seeking shelter from the storm swell. I counted 10 ships all seeking cover in the bay.

The world wide interwebnet.

I have never run, designed or made a website and don’t claim to be a computer wizard. However, hopefully I will utilise this space on the world wide interwebnet to show you some of the work my local voluntary lifeguard unit do and the some of work the RNLI lifeguards do.