happy new year - a busy day on stanwell park beach to start the new year. a relatively uneventful morning for patrol 5 despite the large numbers (estimated to be over 1200) of locals and tourist coming for their first swim of the new year.
then the blue bottles turned up for patrol 2 right on the shift change, with many stings being treated by the patrol during the afternoon. our first aid team with the assistance of a City of Wollongong lifeguard treated a surfer with a nasty gash to his calf from a fin chop resulting in a NSW Ambulance call, the surfer ended up making his own way to treatment.
patrol members utilised all surf life saving assets including Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service - Official Site uav and The Tops Conference Centre irb during the day.
right on packup a member of the public came running up the beach to advise of a rescue taking place by a surfer off the northern lagoon. this was an indication of how fast people can get into trouble in the water, the patrol had only just completed a sweep of the area and saw there was no swimmers in any danger. it is a hazardous area to swim. many thanks to the anonymous surfer who definitely saved this swimmers life, surfers are often the unsung heros of a busy day at the beach Surfing NSW fortunately the swimmer was ok and needed no further assistance from the patrol.
#hspslsc #mysurflife #helensburgh #stanwellpark #2508 #coalcoastnsw #northernillawarra
