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