Happy New Year

what a year, what an amazingly successful, magic and fun year

its that time of the year when we get to sit down and look at the plans for next year.

2007 was a strong year, our defibrillator is now in place and we are working with sponsors to help install many many new AED accross Ireland. We will run courses at least monthly in DCU to keep up with demand.

j.e.d.i. our latest rescue boat had her launch - a long time coming but wow - what a sight.

The beach hut has imporved beyond recognition and was geared up to a standard that everyone wanted but so-one thought possible.

Sundays go from strength to strength, pool and beach lifeguard registrations start January

and a plan .......... great work continues to be done to reduce the levies paid by volunteers - we now are expanding out to support anyone who wants access. Multi discipline TA courses will be the order of the day and thats only one step on the 10 point action plan

so now to write an annual report...................... how on earth are we going to put that year in one page ?

;-) - happy new year everyone - thanks for all your hard work

and special thanks to Laurie, Olivia, Keith and Peter who continue to show what true integtrity is at great personal cost - all we have asked for and continue to ask for is transparency

Christmas

It can't be a month - well ok

lots up - will update over the break - remember no swim 23rd - see you first Sun in the new year.

Code of Ethics: completed and repeated

Many of the team have been attending Code of Ethics courses over the last couple of weeks - with such a large support team (and compulsory attendance) there has been some serious effort put in to get everyone on courses. another nine completed and repeated today

Remember if you are an AT, a TA, mentor or NTA you must hold the cert

questions or not on a course yet speak to Kate M.

cheers to our friends in Fingal County Council for their continued support and sponsorship of this programme.

keep up the good work

pics up 9.45

Beach, gear, festival, birthday night, blood night just to name a few - from 9.45 on the pictures section of Dublin Lifesaving @ sthoee.com

have pics ? send them in

oooops theres hundreds of them - taking a little longer than thought to compile

still crazy after all these years

That was fun! Birthday night egg-travaganza

From the giant screen projecting the best of season 15 pictures the size of a house to gazillions of helium balloons and party packs stuffed with goodies including the new personal safety kit

The night kicked off with each group on the tiered seating for competitions involving building a first aid kit blindfold with hands behind your back ........ strange and funny in equal parts

not forgetting a giant balloon bridge , part one of the birthday competition and towB's annual visit

Its important to thank everyone who puts this show on the road - particularly the 27 member Trainer assessor and assistant teacher team - the work that it put in week on week by this volunteer team is awesome and is very special to be part of. (not least putting together 150 grab bags and first aid kits)

Big thanks to each and every one of you

lots of the stuff we did tonight was new thats what makes it such craic.

photos up this week including that awesome towB one - stick a comment on the bebo and remember to win NEXT week you need to assemble your personal safety pack

everything has to fit in the container and on presentation on Sunday you get an entry ticket
##again thanks its been an amazing sixteen years

still sane !

we've never tried this before

I want it known we've never tried this before.

mix a lifesaving club's birthday night tiered seating helium baloons, more goodies and spot prizes than we've ever had

sneak preview of the birthday posters .........

when you arrive tomorrow ................

LOOK UP

Birthday weekend

start spreading the news - we're sixteen this weekend

this sunday you only have to turn up to have the chance of winning a sthoee hoodie, a wetsuit sthoee caps

everyone gets a resus face shield
everyone gets a sthoee goody bag

and the birthday poster is awesome

wear your surf clothes - dress to impress

blood night !

magic - over 100 ghouls wandering around DCU

limbs hanging off, blood oozing, eye popping, seeping sores, bruises, bones and everything in between.

magic blood night thanks to Keith and everyone who put it together - and even more important those who tidied up

No swim this Sunday - (bank holiday)

and the week after - on November 4th

Birthday Night '07
wear your surf clothes
we're having a party

Bloodnight 2007

The week before Halloween join us for an evening of blood, guts and gore sthoee style We’ll show you how to make up and treat wounds, seeping sores, bruises and bloody cuts, chopped off bits, burns, breaks and all sorts of nasty ugly injuries...........

......... and if we have time we might even show you how to fix them......

Wear your oldest clothes so they can get good and messy and we will supply everything else

dig out your old clothes - might be some ghouls around Sunday....

classes now settled with some shuffling around in the second session to better use space.

might be a very big surprise on Sunday ;-)

TA course now in plan for Christmas

after the swim Sunday some of the founder members met up to catch up on old times - the old guard say "hi" and wow at all the successes

.....dig out your old clothes - might be some ghouls around Sunday....

Lifesupport - in the community

As part of project AED and the Apache Pizza Community AED programme we host and run introduction to Lifesupport sessions with community groups


Today saw us work with 25 people from yet another local school (Donneycarney) to introduce lifesupport and community AED

The session was well attended and had double the expected attendees - not only that after finishing the one hour session we offered the attendees the chance to hang on after and do more hands on work - no one moved !!! The more of these sessions we run the better the response.

The awareness sessions (soon to be known as radar sessions) cover
- Presentation on Lifesupport & AED
- Basic lifesupport / AED demonstration
- Hands on practical
- Q&A session
We then can either facilitate attendees at lifesupport / AED certificate courses or arrange to host one at their venue

With the sheer volume of requests at the moment we will be looking to train a support team and new TA - this wil be open to both RLSS members and STHOEE members

we are also on the verge of making another massive announcement in this area ........ mums the word

Don't say it - Winter Timetable

Back to the winter timetable - and another busy Sunday

Another AED Course under our belt well done to all attendees - new courses for those who have out their name down Sunday on the Noticeboard

Theory is back - massive turnout times settled at 6.30 and 7.30 from now on (no swim bank holiday)

Wild first hour with the new recruits doing what seemed like army drill - looked like fun and was certainly hilarious from the other side of the pool

Seniors got down to some serious business - Birthday night - ideas to blog, website or to Jen & Ciarán (our very own ant n' dec)

"AT, TA and volunteer staff if you have not yet confirmed details to kate you need to be in contact this week - if you are not sure just speak with Kate - she will give you any guidance you need.

S³ - We are still working on the new session - as well as pool, aed and TA courses , one job at a time!

Anyone looking for more information on the AED sponsorship from apache pizza can grab a card from us or visit the website on www.apache.ie

Things are going great - keep up the good work !

:-) up and up

In order .......

AED - next weeks course is full !!!!! Joining details will be texted to everyone on it. If you wrote your name down we will start running a course a month until we are clear! The certified extended life support programme is going from strength to strength

ATs : changeover will be mid October

Theory: starts next week 6.30 & 7.30

Pool Lifeguard: Mid Term Break

BIRTHDAY NIGHT: we want your ideas - rookie lifeguard beach party??

Surf trip - if you are on it make sure John has your details (and your €)

Bank AT / TA : if you have not booked your course dates contact us here or speak to Kate ! ! ! !

that was a rock & roll night

AED and ......

another successful multiple AED today - things are really taking off ! Keith & Mark are helping local schools start their programmes - remember the demo team are available for everyone for free - so far its been schools, scouts, pools and community groups

next Sthoee autumn AED course is Sunday 7th in DCU from 2pm - attendance free to members. you can put your name down on Sunday

and speaking of Sunday - rugby .................

ancora impara - still learning

Back to a routine - almost - good night with the balance of the team now back and firing on all cylinders

Exams next week theory back week after

Starting to put plans together for blood night and birthday night - its over to you - send in your ideas make it yours !

All volunteer staff
- The 9 club - sessions start next week - details by text this week
- if you have not given your email address for the code of ethics course to Kate please contact Kate , Michael or www.sthoee.com for course details includes all at, ta, mentors and NTA
13th Oct|27th Oct| 10th Nov|24th Nov
- Surfers speak to John about surf weekend

and we're off

Great night - we are settled in and back to normal - assessments planned for next week




Assistant teachers: sessions agreed for the new AT moderations
AED: sessions
Sept 26th - Triple course (full)
Oct 7th : AED Full course DCU - availability
Oct 12th: AED briefing (full)
Nov 10th: AED Full course - availability
Cork sessions x2 tba

open water

awesome day

blue skies, big group, one of those long days we had few enough of during the summer.

some exams, some skills work, some games and a lot of messing - why does summer have to be so short?

tons of pics - will upload them when theres time ! ! ! ! !

Project AED: Saving Lives with Apache Pizza

> If you are looking for membership information click here <

supported by the Dublin Lifesaving & Lifeguard Club (us!)

The Big News - during the summer we have been working with Apache Pizza to develop their AED project - we want to get AED into community venues and support the programme with our AED training programme

Check out the Apache Pizza Website to find out more about this great community initiative HERE

What can we help with ?
1. Demonstrations of Lifesupport and AED for your community group, committee either at your venue or come to us in DCU or at many locations nationwide
2. All the assistance you need to put your AED programme in place with full support and guidance
3. Certified Courses for community groups
4. Public awareness sessions

The generous sponsorship programme from Apache will spend over two million euro putting essential equipment into the community throughout Ireland

If you know of any school/club in the area that would be interested in getting involved in our program for saving lives in the local community ask them to contact us through www.apache.ie or call into your local store.

We want to install 150 defibrillators per year all over Ireland.

Our program should last at least five years at a cost of in excess of 2.2 million.

apache locations nationwide

- Membership - Good news

We'll we are back firing on all cylinders none of the magic is missing. Welcome back one and all - we will work on pool only basis (except Paul's group) until October.

Unfortunately we now have a clear picture on numbers and have no availability for new members but read on ........

We have made a decision on this and will be launching Sthoee³ a specialist awards based lifesaving class running alongside the usual Sunday Sthoee lifeguards Dublin on Sunday Nights in DCU. From October waiting lists members will have the opportunity to join this lifesaving group and train to Bronze medallion level giving you the skills that will allow you to integrate into the standard lifesaving sessions as space becomes available. You will also get full membership benefits including alumni status for courses.

This will take a little organising at our end to get our "ducks in a row" as it were so we are aiming for a full launch Sunday October 6th. information will be here, in the post, on the website as it is confirmed.

Thank you all for your continued support and patience - we are all amazed by the success of what is essentially a small voluntary lifesaving and lifeguard club

Open water swim - all members - Claremont Howth Saturday @ 1pm
too tired to fill you in on AED - more this week

online lifesavers

we've had a busy couple of days on line -the busiest ever.

40,000 and counting (nearly 41,000) mainly from Google but we have about 6 big referrers

Our stats are based on the three sites sthoee.com, our bebo and the blog. The other two sites on line are not tracked as we don't update them - but they are cool to keep up not least because one of them was the first Irish Lifesaving site on line over a decade ago.

anyho - some stats on the site - sthoee.com is most popular with average visit time a shade over 5 minutes - very long by any web standard

where do they come from? In order of popularity Ireland, USA, UK after that it varies Germany, Australia, Canada, Poland, China, Philippines, France, Argentina, Czech Republic, Italy, Mexico, Belgium, Kenya, Lithuania, Spain, Turkey and Portugal all made a visit this week - all continents feature regularly.

We regularly get asked for guidance on anything from AED to qualifications. Sometimes we get old members stopping by.

Site is due a couple of big refreshes - a maintenance update is overdue, a big upload of pictures and after that its up to you - what do you want ? email or bebo suggestions

big open water next weekend and AED announcement tomorrow

Membership Update

We are getting multiple reminders on membership - we are unlikely to have word until Saturday - apologies - even volunteers need downtime

We are looking at all options open to us and and have some imaginative solutions to our ever increasing popularity

normal service has been restored

Those of us around long enough remember when first night was not so hectic.

First of all welcome back its great to see everyone in good form - we have a great season planned with loads of new extras. stay tuned!

Membership: we have done the tallys and it looks like we will have a very restricted entry for new members - we will do the math and update the blog during the week.

Assistant Teachers start moderations shortly - if you don't know what team you are on shout
Team Shark Sept 16th
Team Piranha Oct 14th
Team Stingray Nov 11th
Team Merlin Dec 9th


Open water to be announced but it looks like Sat afternoon - have a great week and keep in touch in the meantime check out the new and improved Dublin Beach guide


View Larger Map

Joining Sthoee

Over the weekend we have been contacting everyone who has been asking to join. Three things you need to know if you are interested in joining

1. we're sorry - we've never had a year like it for space - if you've been waiting sorry there was simply nothing we could do

2. We are opening for existing members this weekend and new members next week with whatever space there is available

3. our phone is playing up but we are working on replying to phone calls, post, email and sms messages this weekend - if you have not heard from us and were expecting contact get in touch

we will be updating constantly this week - everything we know - as we know it will be on www.sthoee.com and on our blog and bebo site

sthoee 2.0

Hi folks

very conscious that we have promised to make a flickr account available for easy sharing of pics - its now live under sthoeelifeguardsdublin on flickr.com - if (as I do) you find yahoo accounts an absolute pain feel free to email pics and video to info@sthoeelifeguardsdublin.com

google groups account also live - mail for info

we'll take it from there

the end of the day

well the nights, its the time of year when the night swims get short, perhaps too short.

coming off the beach brought back memories of the old days when we would be packing cars in the dark and heading back home for unloads in the pitch black autumn nights.

jump forward to tonight and what we did on the beach


1. pre-season registrations
2. ski work
3. skim boarding
4. h2open (open water lifesaving)
5. voice overs and filming for lifeguard TV
and some fun with an underwater camera



somehow I think that these are the good old days that we will look back on - its been a pretty amazing season

exams over the next couple of weekends maybe a few bbqs

back to the pool Sunday - remember you must be there to hold your space

oh and...

we hit 50,000 visitors this week

Dublin Beach Guide

The Dublin Beach Guide has had many versions on the various websites but is getting a facelift using google earth starting this week. Users of maps will have seen a certain shipping container appear both on the satellite pics and as a graphic using 3d drawings.

anyho - the new one is in test and you can get a first look here Dublin Beach Guide Live


View Larger Map or
view beach guide online here

only one beach matters this week - see you there for 7 Thursday
and Pool on Sunday for existing members
TA, AT and the new assistant teacher panel are invited for a short chat in the syndicate room from 6.30 members reg shortly after in the foyer

one hell of a winter season planned - wait till you see the plan !

new member registration Sunday 9th

hmmmm vroom vroom

So we took J.e.d.i. out last Sunday and the weather was the same as launch date but tonight.....

flat water.

Team did swims , rescues and lift outs, some low key ski work and in alternating groups , in a clear bay we got to see what J.e.d.i. is made of.

And we were not disappointed.

Howth sunset

sometimes we have nights when everyone arrives in good form, perhaps a little giddy and its not unlike lighting the fuse on dynamite.

skimboards out - not exactly rescue gear but sometimes you just gotta have a little fun on a beach. games, challenges, sprints and skims.

good laugh

check your post

Its that time of the year again - rereg

You should all have received a copy of the sept 07 reg form in the post this week - please read it carefully its important that you follow all the instructions on it carefully in particular that you MUST be down on Sept 2nd to keep your place - remember we do not reserve places

New members will be welcome on Sept 9th - we will be in contact with everyone who has been in touch about joining too.

remember we are oversubscribed every year and this year we were unable to tackle the waiting list in any meaningful way if there are problems (broken leg, brain surgery etc is a good reason) get in touch before the end of August. Please contact Mark / Michael @ info @sthoeelifeguardsdublin.com or visit the website

Open water swimmers - you can preregister at certain swims - your forms must be in an envelope for this

August 2007 - prereg at certain H₂Open events
2nd September - member registration
9th September - new member registration

Its going to be a great year

Lifesaving Courses
First Aid courses
Project AED - all members
Pool Lifeguard Courses
Beach Lifeguard - Early 2008
Assistant Teachers Programme
Powercraft - rescue boat training


trainers - loads including
Lifesaving Trainer assessor
Pool lifeguard TA
Specially safe

ftr
Small Craft Warning in effect

a non standard, standard swim

A good session, sprints, long paddles interlaced with sprints, running, swimming, swimming sprints, girls v. boys races and some down time on the ski.



An incredible evening with a staggering sunset but the early signs of dark evenings......

double ae d-day

double aed day - two lots trained up, some chill time checking out what exactly we want to do to upgrade tes'b and some time getting up to date on paperwork with the assistance of some volunteers

we'll chalk today up as a success

swim tomorrow who-ho

those snrs out this weekend enjoy, those doing next week... enjoy - everyone else we have a plan for the island ..................... keep in touch

:-)

Launching day - Lifeguard Style

we agreed no speches. just a large bottle of fizzy wine, two boats, a beach a lifeguard club.

The line was simple - two working rescue boats no more no less.

j.e.d.i. and Tes-B after a liberal dose were put though their paces in conditions best described as ........ fun. more to follow

Nunc est bibendum

it may not have been the best evening all summer, it may not have been the highest attended, it may not have been the clearest view, best sunset, cleanest water, everyone may not have been smiling.....
.........it just seemed that way

The soon to be named J.e.d.i. had her outboard go through its final tests - green light.

so there we are - we said that the big job could be done in little steps and little steps we took. one after another until we reached tonight.

Session started with some final mods to the ramp and J being brought to the water for on trailer tests and some tweaks on trim.

Swim group did short sprints at the back of the harbour and did a run swim run to the wreck (nessie) had a good root around and paddled to Burrow (hole in the wall)

Run swim run back to the boat with a short break for a waterfight. well you have to. really you do. really.

boat prepped and cleaned for her big day out and brought back to the boathouse.

see you Sunday,

its been a long time coming.

Nunc est bibendum

Gale Warning in effect

Small Craft Warning in effect

White smoke

small pall of white smoke over Claremont

second outboard passed its pre-launch test

see you all Thursday and Sunday

tomorrow

Never a good day saying goodbye.
Good job guard of honour

mass 10 tomorrow

Downtime

Downtime on the beach today. Tesb and ski in the water, full tide, sunny day. again sessions are getting longer - people were on the beach anywhere from 3-5 hours.

It will be no secret shortly so we may as well start leaking here - covers came off the outboards today as they are prepped.

Senior staff - pls contact Michael, Mark, Paul or Keith for funeral arrangements

Swims this week
Tue (closed session kit prep)
Thur - 7m Claremont
Sunday 4pm Claremont

Asgard Howth Harbour - 26 July 1914

Weather great, water great, beach TA taking skills sessions great, all the gear on the beach .... great. and some new faces - even better.

Golden sunset reminded us of just how nice the place can be as we chatted about local history - 93 years ago today a couple of hundred meters from where we swam Erskine Childers and the 5 person crew of the yacht "ASGARD" landed at Howth harbour and became a legend in Irish History.


Whole new section on the website going live this week.
www.sthoee.com

FTR:

Small Craft Warning in effect

that was good fun

This night one year ago on a balmy sunday night in Clontarf we packed up the gear for the last time and moved out (info). We had no pool to go to, were traveling around meeting managers and had the inkling of an idea for open water and an AED programme.

Roll forward one year. What a year. Without question our most sucessful, our most imaginative and our most positive - perhaps a quick overview

> Lifesaving - increased numbers, massive growth in attendance, incredible new venue, loads of new gear
> Open Water - our own boathouse, great changing facilities, loads of new gear
> Pool Lifeguard - re-established the program removing a key issue - a lot of development work required here
> Beach Lifeguard - Claremont - need we say more
> AED - live defib in place, 6 trainers, great sponsorship and community involvement
> Boat programe started
and our great new Assistant Teacher team

absolute magic

so this week 4 nights of sthoee events, pool session this evening was probably the highest attended we have ever had. chill out, nothing too serious or strenuous.

so end of the night as people were packing up one of our younger member came up to the training team and said "that was good fun - thanks"

and that is about the best summary of the last 12 months we could have

Dublin City University Lifesaving

On the beach

quiet day , small group and more work in the boat house. about 80% of the floor space is now clear and we are close to having only the boats low.

On the water a small team did a tour of the back of the harbour - a great day for seeing things that most people never knew existed. Orla and Niall had some serious swimming and paddling probably more than the rest of us put together.

This week will be one of anniversaries and special dates as we move to the beach for the summer. Last full Dublin City University Lifesaving swim in DCU as we move to specialist lifeguard courses from Sunday.

Time for everyone to start keeping in touch on line, on the notice board and on the phone. Weather has to improve

interesting note that swims are on average 150% longer than last year - can't think why ! !

keep in touch: Dublin City University Lifesaving

Lifeguard equipment

undo the torp net
measure
unload the torps
cut a strut
roll out the boats
put up a strut
cut a strut
put up a strut
measure
roll out the boats
redo the torp net
4 people 3 hours but its worth it - we are looking good on ski and boards, torps are much improved - the next step is better use of the space on the right. This is what so much gear does for you but it is refreshing.

Good swim session along with skiwork in balmy weather. beach had some interesting visitors, unfortunately sun brings them out but in total a good night

Beach Lifeguard - Aug Bank Holiday
AED Wed 8th Aug

you heard it here first.

plan b

quick update - demo team did an introduction to Lifesupport session today with a group who want to implement lifesupport and AED - come Autumn all the work promoting the society this summer will pay dividends - anyone want to put bets on how many RLSS AED awards we can clear by year end?


Please let the weather be good on Thur!

And remember last pool night (bar courses) THIS SUNDAY

see you seven Thur on the beach

DCU Home of Champions

DCU Home of Champions - that's what it says on the wall - Dublin 3-14 Laois 1-14 a great result for our friends on the Dublin team - the city and the university were draped in blue for their homecoming.

Fantastic session in the pool with merged lanes. One final moderation for Kate who is now a fully fledged TA. Congratulations.

Swims Thur 7pm sat 3pm - both maintenance sessions too

Demo team at work on Dublin AED training tomorrow - updates will be published on Project AED on the website. you can also check out the different AEDs we use on the AED Training site

The plan is simple - push the RLSS AED programme - and this year all sthoee members will be able to get the qualification. Yup DCU Home of Champions seems apt.

home improvements on the beach

So maybe we only had to move to the summer timetable to get the weather. A hot sunny morning and afternoon on the beach. In fact we basked in glorious sunshine looking over at the rain in the general Swords area.

With the sun you forget just how long you can chew the cud for without actually meaning to forget to get wet.

Si took an extended session with paddles and rescues while the lads started on the new struts. The first two are now up and are way beyond our expectations with surf ski and boards now being stored in a more secure fashion. Peter and Mark did their standard Laurel and Hardy impressions much to the amusement of both our gang and the general public. Lifeguard torpedo buoys, Rescue tubes and cans are in their new home - altogether a better arrangement but one that will be tweaked over the coming days.

Fingal coco dropped in and we passed congratulations on the very hard work they are putting into the beach this year - no question they are staying one ahead of the vandals and litterers - a great job

Putting the boats in we are slowly coming to the realisation that Michael's marine ply board will become a ramp. Perhaps he wont notice the tyre tracks on it.

Perhaps ;-)

we all live in a yellow submarine

it didn't rain. we may look back at this and wonder why this was important but for those of us on the beach regularly ....... it didn't rain

visibility great the whole way up the coast to the Mourne Mountains, great sunset on a warm beach.

Trailer made the boats really easy to shift giving us all the space we were looking for - great to have the space back.

long session with a couple of long paddles, skills work followed by long swims 200x2x2's. Beach looking good, sign cleaned up, beach spotless. graffiti free. its summer. happy days

Spread the word we are on summer time from today so beach grows and pool shrinks, Dubs due in DCU so be early for 7.30 swim (for everyone) sun. loads of course info being announced including midweek and foreign (well Cork) AEDs.

oh - a message for whoever left the net for us - cheers - exactly what we we looking for

nxt swims: Sat 10am, Sun 7.30 DCU, Thur 7pm
upcoming events, AED, Island swim, BBQ, dawn swim and "last Sunday"

for the record: rough weather due again tomorrow
Gale Warning in effect
Small Craft Warning in effect
www.met.ie for info

a piece of heaven

Another two part day.

The demo team spent an extended period of time in beautiful Golden lakes beside Pollaphuca. We were told to expect a little piece of heaven but were not expecting the welcome, the venue and the view.

After a tour of the lake by boat to get an idea of the set up and scale we did an extended theory session with the team. With music from Oxegen muted in the distance we hit the water for a number of rescues, turns and even some spinal work. Fish boy scooped up crayfish which raided a smile ahead of thunder suspending the session.

After the weather cleared we finished in the lake with some swimming and one on one training.

Second part of the day was back to DCU for our Sunday swim with the last of the exams - congrats to all who passed.

2 swims for the last time this summer as we move to the summer timetable from Thursday. (we we reduce our swims from 2 to 5 a week!)

Sincere thanks to everyone who gave all or part of today to one either or both of the sessions - you are sthoee at it best

going to be a busy week (again) - struts arrive for the boathouse

Sunny Saturday, hot beach, playtime

Sunshine. There was rain but there was mostly glorious, glorious sunshine. Session today was a good all rounder with warm up, running, a couple of long swims, some very long reel and line rescues (almost full reach) and ski work. We even had playtime.

Jellyfish were present, mostly stingers, with a notable lions maine and a very impressive compass - not sure what we are talking about check out the jellyfish guide.

Beach had a steady flow with some Garda presence. Its been a long time ......with Fingal Lifeguard intervention we moved on a jetski. Worth noting that the water was busy with an eventual (inevitable?) jetski collision .

Trailer arrived and much time was spent re-organising gear and getting the balance right. The yamaha was put onto Jedi for the first time. One more step !

Space is getting ever more precious. Some serious decisions will need to be made. Soon

Tomorrow night as normal in the pool, demo team out to our friends in Poulaphouca and Golden falls for a spinal session - have fun

Dubin Beach Lifeguard

For whom the bell tolls

Most asked question lately (aside from "can I join?") is - where did the bell come from?

A couple of years ago Keith suggested that we build on the whole beach presence thing and put in place a tripod with the flag, first aid etc. This would provide a good focal point when we are on the beach for open water exams or lifesaving training and lifeguard courses. It would also be useful when we were off our normal beaches as a focal point for the Lifeguard Captain / rescue officer / safety marshal and indeed as an identifier for Sthoee Lifeguards Dublin

we all agreed it was a great idea and…..

left it at that.

then we were given the tripod and …..

left it at that

then we moved pool and put the tripod in storage and …..

left it at that

then the opportunity arose to get a great bell and, well, …..

we left it at that

and then the idea came back and we put the whole lot together so there is a focal point when we are lifesaving on the beach. Its early days, it will eventually have the whole first aid and flag thing going but for the moment it is what it is.

A bell.

And everyone who sees it (and asks the question) says the same thing;

love it.

Dublin Weather

Weather has been interesting lately, but never more interesting than today.

Shortly after lunch an east coast emergency was declared with reports of in excess of 90 boats capsized at a regatta off Dún Laoghaire harbour and somewhere in the region of 120 people in the water with Navy, RNLI and Coastguard mobilised. Reports of an exemplary rescue.

3 hours later on Claremont. mild. sunshine, water dead calm, visibility good, weather warm. Good session with plenty of running and a focus on kit. Gear was stored in expectation of severe weather later tonight. Towards the end of the session heavy weather visible in the distance across the bay and wind picking up

and off the peninsula - heavy heavy weather. So watching the weather on Met Eireann and knowing what to expect are important. Knowing your beach, knowing how to read weather and the Beaufort scale and not being afraid to change your plans to fit the weather critical. And in the end when all the plans are made and things go wrong. Don't think twice, trust you emergency action plan.

make the call.

For the record tonight both Gale Warning and Small Craft Warning in effect tonight

take care

Lifeguard and Life saving training at the Howth festival

What a day -starting at 9am with gear set up and erecting the marquee and finishing at 9pm in the pool !

The team delivered Lifesupport and Lifesaving information to hundreds if not thousands of people around the festival site with handouts, posters and details of the AED sponsorship programme from Apache Pizza. Practical demos, live and trainer AEDs, mannequins, torpedo buoys, reel and line, rope throws, throw-bags, we could go on.

The day was capped by the rescue demonstration with our very own John being the focus of attention as casualty for the marine emergency services - seeing all the rescue services and the rescue helicopter in the bay made for magical viewing

Lunch was delivered in style with the most pizza we have ever seen in one place - ummm fantastic.

it was weird seeing such a great tide on the beach and us not there ! Lots of people made this happen over an extended period of time both in organisation and preps, demos, liaison, presentations, publicity, posters and handouts , setup and dismantling

there are so many people to thank -

Fingal Tourism / Fingal County Council
Howth Festival Committee
Howth Coastguard
Apache Pizza
Marquee Sponsors
Our friends in the scouts and of course .......
..........the very exceptional and growing demo team from sthoee Lifeguards Dublin

thanks again

Howth Festival Lifeguards

A day in three parts - small swims early and mid afternoon and the lads tinkering with odd jobs in the boathouse

The Howth Festival has kicked off in style. With thousands of people around.

Thanks continue to be due to Fingal County Council for incredible support in cleaning the beach. It is unbelievable how much time and effort is being out in.

Some small work completed, pottering really. requests for courses continue to grow - we will be making arrangements in the area over the weekend.

AED, Lifesupport and Lifesaving demos in the Harbour tomorrow.

see you all there

Howth Festival Preps - you involved ?

New faces on the beach this evening - a bit of craic with the reel & line and on the lifeguard ski. Final preps being made for the weekend -


Saturday - Beach 1pm (late notice small swim)
Sunday from 10 at the boathouse, from 12 at the harbour -

Irish jellyfish information

so its that time of year again when people start asking the jellyfish questions. Tell me about Dublin Jellyfish? where can I get information on Irish Jellyfish? What types of jellyfish are there in Ireland?

There have been plenty of sightings over the last week with most beaches getting a liberal spread.

Our rule of thumb is purple good everything else bad. But for more information, some fun information and great pictures check out our Dublin Jellyfish Guide - its important to take a look at the water and beaches before you get wet and report sightings to lifeguards.

if you click on the picture above zoom in on the word sthoee and you will see the stinging tentacles in glorious technicolour

have fun !

Lifeguard Reel & Line

Good pool session tonight with the reel and line put into service for the first time.

Some good team work and great take up of a very new and alien piece of lifeguard kit. Should be fun implementing it onto the beach.

Although numbers are remaining high we will be releasing places on the waiting list this week for an introduction to lifesaving pre summer - contact from Tuesday on by phone & email.
remember to stay in touch on email, text and online for all the summer events.

Upcoming events
Open Water Thur 7 Claremont
Howth Festival Sunday 12-5
DCU Pool Sunday @ 7
and the possibility of a Sat beach session

Lifeguard Rescue Boat TesB

Wet. A wet, wet, wet, wet day. Did I mention it rained?

Started off dry with a heavy front coming off velvet strand in Portmarnock. Session consisted of a long run, a swim followed by a paddle. a really good laugh despite the weather.

Tes-B made her first entry into the water with a few paddle races. Jedi stayed dry - waiting patiently for her big day out.

Leaving the beach we chatted with one of our spectators for the day, a bloke sheltering under the platform for the whole afternoon.

He reckoned the beach was poetry in motion. I'm inclined to agree

midsummernight lifesaving

another night on the beach - poor weather cleared to give us a gray night improving into a reasonable summers evening albeit on a falling tide.

lots of ski work and back to swimming with the channel made easier to find by the new buoys.

quite a lazy night, boats stayed put.

yet again racking changed but only on a temporary basis - we are close to the end on this bit. so what was the night all about ?

well pizza for 25 people actually - ordered onto the beach

Feet up and watch the herons and the sunset. Perfect.

oh yes - step two - all attendees got a personal facemask for protection during resuscitation rescue - come September everyone gets one . Sthoee, no substitutes.

so what's more important Bloomsday ...

...or Dublin 0-16 Meath 0-12?

Well the gang in DCU tonight with the Dublin team will leave you with do doubt!

Great weekend again - long Bloomsday Saturday on the beach with a first - both Jedi and Tes-B were on the beach.

Good work done on skis with skills work improving. Seeing 35 rescue torpedo buoys / can buoys on the beach was incredible and simply takes your breath away

Swims this week - Thur 7pm (with pizza) & Sat 3pm @ Claremount - if you need info or directions just email us at sthoee Lifeguards Dublin : info@sthoeelifeguardsdublin.com

Work update: graffiti removed, racking reinstalled, beach cleaned and a mattress towed away!, its been a strange couple of swims with some strange stuff washing ashore - really really strange stuff - a few pics going up and will be linked here shortly and a here's a very short new lifeguard video !

cool jellyfish pic above = some video coming (and yes it was released)

surf lifeguard Dublin

So we expected a quiet mid week swim, low tide.

We got more than we expected. Surf, yup surf on Claremount, on a low tide. awesome.

balance of the torps arrived this evening along with the installation of the reel & line.

There are few things more fun than a large gang of Dublin Lifeguards and lifesavers grabbing boards for an unexpected surf lifesaving session, few things more fun than an open water swim overrunning by a couple of hours, few things more fun than packing by torchlight, few things better than unpacking lifeguard rescue buoys, this swim will go down in history!

many thanks to Richard, Peter and Louise for donating gear. appreciated.

and finally a new seal on the beach. very unexpected.

maintenance

Technorati Profile

just some tech stuff - please ignore !

@ home

Long hot day on the beach today with some old friends dropping by.

not sure we have ever seen so many people, swimmers, skis or gardaí - in fairness I cannot believe the beach could fit so many people!

A massive addition to the photo album on >sthoee.com >here and lots of new swimmers

small work done on the door and tweaks around the sides. good day !

........ and perhaps a name that's sticking

theres no place like 216.128.67.177

Quick update

Grafitti is gone ! - its gong to be a running battle but one worth fighting.
Some sealing done around the doors and a little tweaking here and there (photos up shortly on the bebo)

Spread the word - Saturday Swim 3-6ish

& if you are doing exams - chill - we are right behind you and have saved a place on the beach for you when you are done

ta.......

Well that was one busy weekend.

Congrats to those who got their award of merits, Lifesupport 3s and to Si on his Lifesaving TA.

More work on the beach today - eyewash station, v-vacs, & collars up, paddle racks up, board racks redone, most of the internal first coat and roof done.

Plan is to have one evening to tidy up the balance of the grafitti and Saturday with a "working" swim.

For everyone who assisted at the waterski session, painted - scraped - knotted and to the gang who did what we do (lifesaving) - its was one hulluva weekend.

ta !

so what happened....

.........the weather?

long swim today, long time out on the ski in conditions best described as cloudy (live Howth weather)

Last of the new boards arrived - the sight on the water was seriously impressive.

The team did a lot more work on the beach hut - racking is about 40% complete, doors painted, some maintenance started, and about a third of the graffiti sorted.

Thanks as always to our friends in Fingal CoCo for sorting the rubbish - beach looks great

and lifeguards are on the beach... its summer... its official

June Swims Confirmed

June Bank holiday swims confirmed

Fri 1st - Spinal Session with Waterski Team
Sat 2nd - Open water 12.00 ClareMount swim, ski and paint session
Sun 3rd - DCU exams and full swim night, 1st registration for AED project
Mon 4th - sleep

2nd Beach Lifeguard course announced - members info on notice board or you can mail, text, bebo etc

Open water - bells and whistles

Its offical - the first beach side AED in Ireland has been installed on our beach !

First aid in place so it green light for swims over the bank holiday.

Skis were taken out of storage and looked very well on the beach - along with the new bell - not heard about it? well its very big, very loud and very sthoee.............

small steps

One step closer to H₂Open<sup>07

First Aid, Defib and racking go into place this weekend - June bank holiday kick off anyone?

A loose decision has been made to do a "light" job to start with to give breathing space for the bigger job. To be honest the new larger open water programme is bigger than we anticipated. There are hundreds of jobs to do so its as simple as do the jobs in order of importance. The big plans are still there its just that small steps seem to be getting us there quicker.

If you have elbow grease and ideas get involved - everyone is welcome</sup>

one step closer to the full programme

It begins. New doors sucessfully in place on the beach. One step closer to the new programme.

Next Saturday we will be having painting and work party session in Howth

happy days !

Good news again from our friends in Howth Coastguard see here for the press coverage

Lifeguard, waterski and wookies

The Beach Lifeguard courses are now on the noticeboard - remember Irish Lifeguard courses are hard to find so stick your name down now

Thanks to everyone who has volunteered for the waterski session (volunteer? queued more like) - the next session is on Friday 1st, with the third session out on the lake with the boat. This really is a new look at something we have been doing for a long time get involved if you can.

We are aiming for an open water swim with painting this Saturday afternoon - will be confirmed on our lifeguard bebo text and the Sthoee lifeguards Dublin website no later than Thursday

and finally welcome to our new members - its great to have you on board - we know you'll love it

Spinal, Dublin Lifeguard Jobs and Beach Lifeguard Course

Quick note

Good spinal session at the pool tonight with some guests researching how we approach this element of specialist rescue - more news to follow and........

......beach Lifeguard apps on the noticeboard from Sunday (beside the aed) and........

......Fingal announced that there were 85 applicants for Fingal lifeguard jobs


Lifeguard www.sthoee.com Publish

Lifes a beach

Well the good news is that there is work being done this month on the beach hut so that it can better accommodate the launching trailer.

Bad news is that the graffiti has undone all the good work from last year.

If you are available to give a couple of hours to painting and general labour please email, bebomail or text your name (086 1595 422) and we will put you on the contact list.

No firm plans but likely that the next couple of swims will be "working" sessions.

sign up ................... email us here or here

..... and we're back

there are any number of sthoee blogs out there as well as the website and bebo but we are going to try this one out for a while to keep you up to date with web updates.

If you want to stay up to date you need to be on sthoeetxt and on www.sthoee.com

so latest update
May Bank Holiday - web update on lifesupport pages including video ( not on sthoeetv), aed pages (theres two) and major additions to the lifeguard area on weather, blueflag (with a picture of the elusive Jedi) and VHF and if you missed it Johns great TA page and the AED presentation

this week we will also be contacting a small number on the waiting list for beginners both sessions.

Work being carried out on the beach hut for better boat access

and yes we are looking at tides