A group of Nippers (young like savers) hit the surf at the start of a board race as part of their training at North Burleigh early Friday morning.
For O/S 365ers, the surf life saving movement plays a massive role in the Australian psyche.
Surf Life Savers are volunteers who patrol the Australian surf beaches, primarily on weekends and perform rescues of people who get into difficulties in the surf as well as rendering first aid to surfers who get injured in the surf or are stung by marine stingers etc.
The life savers belong to clubs (SLSCs) with each club responsible for patrolling their beach.
In Queensland there are 57 clubs with some 35,000 members who in 2020 provided 334,000 patrol hours, performed over 2,500 rescues and rendered first aid to almost 50,000 swimmers.
Of course, as soon as you have a group of people form a club, you will get competition between the clubs as to who is the best and the clubs compete against each other on a regular basis across a range of disciplines. If you ever get the chance to watch a major SLSC carnival, it is well worth the time. Their organisation is fabulous and if the surf is pumping, you get some spectacular action.
Funding for the clubs is primarily by donation from the public as well as some Government grants.
Super photography! The comp the reflections of those pops of neon! Super fun! What a brilliant club! I’d feel safer in the surf knowing some of these noble volunteers are about.
