Australia Up Close

Lifesavers Live Up To Icon Status On Beach

By DARREN McLEAN

Just like the Aussie swagman, the surf lifesaver is one of Australia's most renowned icons. Australians' two favorite pastimes are sport and the beach, so when our country's best surf lifesavers compete there is a lot of interest and excitement.

The 1999 Australian Surf Lifesaving Championships were held in March this year at Kurrawa Beach, a 10-minute drive from where I live on the Gold Coast. Over 6,000 competitors from Australia and abroad and 500 officials participate in the carnival each year. In fact the Olympic Games is the only sporting event with more competitors.

At this year's championships, competitors took a bruising from rough surf conditions. Several competitors were taken to the hospital with concussions or broken bones. But the lifesavers know that for all the sport's thrills there will also be spills, inevitable when competing in the unpredictable ocean.

It is the diverse array of events at the surf lifesaving championships that make the carnival so exciting. The traditional individual events are surf swimming, ski, board paddling, and the ironman and ironwoman races, which are a grueling combination of the three. The beach sprints are the only "dry" event. Competitors lie face down in the sand to start and then race to be the first to jump on a beach flag buried in the sand.

Team events include rescue and resuscitation, march past, first aid, beach patrol and inflatable powerboat rescue. The most spectacular event of all is the five-man surf boat race, where teams of five row wood and fiberglass boats out to sea through crashing waves and then back into the shore. Several of these 8-meter boats overturned and sank this year in the rough conditions.

At this year's championships Clint Robinson became Australia's most successful surf lifesaver, winning his 14th gold medal and the crown of most outstanding competitor of the 1999 championships. Robinson won a kayaking gold medal at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, but has since taken to the ocean with enormous success, eclipsing the record set by ironman legend Trevor Hendy.

Eighteen year-old surf sensation Ky Hurst won the popular ironman competition while world ironwoman champion Kerri Thomas retained her ironwoman title for the second year running.

The surf carnival action continued on into the night as Surfers Paradise hosted the "World's Biggest Beach Party."

When they are not competing, Australian surf lifesavers carry out the important role of patrolling our beaches, protecting the coastal environment and rescuing people in distress. Most surf lifesavers perform their duties as an unpaid community service.

Children from the age of 7 join their local surf club as "Nippers" to learn basic surf lifesaving skills. Also, most schools near the coast have surf survival programs that involve learning surf theory, resuscitation and fitness testing.

As a result, most Australian children are well-educated on beach safety and survival. However, many tourists to Australia's beaches are blind to the many dangers that exist in the surf. Several people tragically drown each year, most of whom are inexperienced swimmers who venture into dangerous waters off unpatrolled beaches.

Dudley Williams started surf lifesaving at the famous Bondi Beach in Sydney in 1931. He has watched surf lifesaving grow from its start in 1920, when young men would gather regularly to bathe, surf the waves and keep an eye on other swimmers. Over Williams' 80 years, surf culture has developed to a point where the bronzed lifesaver is the king of the beach.

Williams made front-page news in 1933 after helping to save three people who were drowning at Bondi Beach. "In those days we would jump into the surf with a belt and line attached to us and be reeled back in by someone on the shore," he said. The reel and line rescue remains an event at the surf lifesaving championships.

Surf lifesaving is as much a passion as a vital community service. The sport of surf lifesaving is best summed up by motto of the Australian Surf Lifesaving Association — "vigilance and service."

Shukan ST: May 14, 1999

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