25 Oct 2019
Surf talks – Water Safety Summer 2019 Friday 25th October 2019
Tacking Point students K-6 welcomed guest speaker James Turnham from the Australian Surf Life Saving Association, (SLSA). James came to share important information about how to make good choices when swimming at beaches or rivers, so that you can have fun, but also return home safely.
A timely reminder for all of us to think before we choose where to swim. Three beaches in Port Macquarie over the summer months are patrolled, Town Beach, Flynn’s Beach and Lighthouse. Three beaches south are patrolled, Lake Cathie, Bonny Hills and Laurieton.
Life Savers are constantly monitoring the movement of the ocean waters which are never static. With their specialist expertise they are able to choose the safest part of the beach for us to swim. Being mindful of your swimming ability, keeping sunsafe, listening to the Life Guards on duty and heeding signage will help ensure we all keep safe this summer and get to swim another day.
A key point that the children found illuminating was that rips don’t pull you under the water. Rips will drag you out and away from the shore with their strong currents. It is swimmer fatigue that drags a swimmer down. Essential advice James shared is to keep calm, breath, float and raise your arm for assistance. Don’t try and swim against the rip and wear yourself out trying to fight it.
The Port Macquarie community is very fortunate to have the professional services of James who is an award winning Life Guard. He has dedicated much of his career to education. His services were formally acknowledged last year at the 2018 SLSA National Awards of Excellence where James was presented with the “NSW Lifeguard of the year award”.
“Education has been a vital aspect of James’ role with the Australian Lifeguard Service. Over the past season he has delivered presentations to over 4,000 school students as well as leading pilot Surf Rescue Certificate programs to year 11 and 12 students. James has been a first responder to numerous incidents as well as being a media spokesperson for some very high-profile incidents. James has shown courage, strong leadership and compassion in some very challenging situations. James also coordinated the Department of Primary Industries Unmanned Aerial Vehicle program in Port Macquarie and provided UAV surveillance for the NSW State Championships.”
https://sls.com.au/aoe/