THE surf patrol season began with an unusual rescue on Mollymook Beach on Saturday.
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Rather than a life or a drowning person, it was a marriage the Mollymook Surf Life Saving Club members helped save.
Peter Miller from Collaroy was kicking a football around on the beach with friends, when his white gold wedding ring flew off and landed in the sand.
Peter was joined by his friends and wife Holly as they searched through the sand for about 15 minutes, before surf club members joined in.
“The lovely lifesaving team came up and asked what happened, and they organised a whole search team,” Peter explained.
After several minutes of searching and sifting through the sand again proved fruitless, Peter was heading off to see if he could locate a metal detector.
But when Peter was about 20 metres away there was a cry the ring had been found, with surf club member Danielle McKenzie of Ulladulla happily holding it aloft.
A relieved Peter quickly described Danielle as “a local legend”.
However Peter said Holly was not as stressed about the possible loss.
“I actually thought I lost it last week but ended up finding it, so she said she’d been tho=rough it all before,” Peter said on Saturday just moments after the ring was taken from the sand.
The couple was among a group in Mollymook to attend a wedding at Narrawallee, followed by a reception at the Mollymook Golf Club.
Saturday signalled the start of the surf patrol season across NSW, after about 4500 people were rescued by surf club members during the previous 12 months.
“Such a figure goes to show volunteer surf life savers are an essential part of our community, who selflessly dedicate their lives to assisting others on a daily basis,” said NSW Minister for Police and Emergency Services, Stuart Ayres.
“Going to the beach is part of the Aussie way of life, and we’re thankful to know Surf Life Saving NSW is looking out for all of us and ready to help at a moment’s notice.”
Mr Ayres added.
Surf Life Saving NSW continues to show its strength within the community with close to 76,000 passionate volunteers forming a network of 129 surf clubs across the state. This includes close to 30,000 nippers ensuring the future of surf life saving in NSW remains strong.
Surf Life Saving NSW President, Tony Haven, said that the movement continues to go from strength to strength on the back of the thousands of volunteers who dedicate their time and energy to Surf Lifesaving.
“This year our lifesavers will once again spend in excess of 664,000 voluntary hours patrolling beaches along the state’s coastline. This enormous contribution will continue to help create a safer swimming environment for beachgoers as it has done for over 100 years,” Mr Haven said.
With last season's NSW coastal drowning toll at 27, Surf Life Saving NSW is urging beachgoers to continue to swim at patrolled locations in between the red and yellow flags.
The volunteer patrol season ends on Sunday 26 April 2015.
Key Lifesaving Statistics for the 2013/14 Season:
* Rescues – 4433
* Preventative Actions – 150,921
* First Aid – 5995
* Emergency Call Outs – 469
* Coastal Drownings - 27
Please credit SLSNSW for all images which can be found here.
