Herts Canoe Lifeguards have a new website.

Check it out http://www.hclifeguards.co.uk/

I receieved a letter today letting me know about the latest RNLI campaign.

A great video showing the work of the youth of today who are part of the RNLI.

The RNLI are going to be setting challenges for young people over the next few months. The aim of these will be to raise money! Eventually raising enough to buy a Lifeboat.

Check out more information on the youtube campaign here.

I came across this photo in my collection from this summer. Bit of a cloudy day looking up towards the Exmouth Docks. In the foreground you can see lots of people walking on water! This is known as stand up paddle boarding (SUP boarding) it has become very popular over the past year and thanks to the local surf shop Tad and it is growing in popularity each week.

At the start of this season each RNLI Lifeguard undertook the RNLI First Aid For Lifeguards course. This is a very similar course to the RNLI First Aid For Lifeboats. The course was written and created by the RNLI clinical lead Paul Savage.

Lifeguards do not often have to deal with large groups of casualties at the same time; it is probably more common for Lifeboat crews to come across multiple casualties. When dealing with multiple casualties we are taught to categorise patients P1, P2, P3 and P4. P1 needs treatment first and P3 last. P4 was the category that was given to those obviously dead.

Over on http://lifeboatscrapbook.blogspot.com/ one of the latest posts was about a change in the way we categorise casualties. Previously we were taught to use the P1, P2, P3, P4 categories but it seems that P4 has recently been changed to “dead” in order that the RNLI fits in with other organisations. Paul Savage has posted some info about the changes on http://lifeboatscrapbook.blogspot.com/.

We all hope that we never come across anyone that is dead but it is a really possibility in work on the beach and out at sea and something that we all have to be prepared for.

Although the season has finished in Exmouth many other beaches patrol right until the end of September.

I have been lucky enough to work a few days up in Poole Bay and few days down in Carrick area at Perranporth.

Check out a few nice pictures of Perran at www.coastalbritain.com

For the four beaches in East Devon yesterday was the last day we patrol this year.

It was an amazing season and everyone is looking forward to next year.

Even on our last day we did one rescue returning a kite surfer back to the beach using our RWC after they could not relaunch their kite from the water.

There are still many beaches that have Lifeguards on them through september and some of the more popular beaches stay lifeguarded at weekends in to october.

If your not at a Lifeguarded beach over the winter and you do see someone in difficulty make sure you dial 999 ans ask for the coastguard. Try to remember the 3 p words when calling. People, position and problem. People- who is in trouble male, female, age swimmer not swimmer. Position- give the best description of the location you can. Problem- what is the problem an inflatable drifting out or a swimmer in difficulty.

Have a good winter!

Photos below are all from Burts kite camera, click here to see more of his photos!

Exmouth Lifeguards RWC, Exmouth ILB and Exmouth ALB driving past the beach.

The new boat house.

The new boat house, which housed fundraisers, the Exmouth RNLI Guild, sea safety advice and the beach safety roadshow.

See more photos here http://www.flickr.com/photos/burtskitecam/

Exmouth Lifeboat day 2009 was a huge success with a great number of people visiting the new station and watching the rescue demonstration at 2PM.

A few photos from the day below.

Lifeboat men, Lifeguards and fundraisers.

Our RWC returning after the demo.

Fundraisers and mascot Stormy.

Tomorrow is Exmouth Lifeboat Day.

The All Weather Lifeboat will be moored up at the docks for people to view it. The ILB will also be about for the public to view, as will the new ALB tractor.

At the new Lifeboat Station there will be a whole host of people to chat to from sea safety experts to Lifeguards, Lifeboat men and women and fundraisers.

At around 2PM there will be a rescue demonstration with Both Exmouth Lifeboats and the Lifeguards.

Things have been fairly quiet for the Lifeguards in East Devon over the past couple of weeks. The normal minor first aids, lost children and a few kite rescues have kept us busy.

Next week we have another beach safety talk in Exmouth for some cadets, which will hopefully involve a demo with Exmouth ILB.

A week tomorrow we also have Exmouth Lifeboat day which will be based at the new boat house at Foxholes.

Only two weeks of our season left this sunday!