Blackboards idea to warn of surf

Press, 8 February 1985, Page 5

Blackboards idea to warn of surf

Blackboards informing the public of dangerous surf areas are likely to become a feature outside surf lifesaving club positions in the future.

A blackboard has already been in use at the New Brighton Surf Life-saving Club, and others were likely, said the president of the Canterbury Surf Life-saving Association, Mr Barry Turpin, yesterday. He said that warning signs along the beaches informing the public were not really practicable. Conditions changed with the tide and the signs would need to be changed. The public were likely to walk 50 metres from a sign and enter in a spot that was just as dangerous.

Mr Turpin said that to mark effectively all dangerous areas along the Pegasus Bay foreshore would require dozens of signs. The Association’s publicity officer, Mr Simon Duncan, said Wednesday had been a particularly bad day at beaches because of the

thousands of people who had gone to the sea and the heavy surf.

“We could not contain all the people who wanted to swim between the patrol flags. We had to move round the breakers in the inflatable rescue boat warning people to stay clear of the danger areas. “But what really gets us (the patrollers) is the people who come up and ask if we have seen little Johnny. “We cannot get through to some people that children cannot be left for a minute near the water. You have to keep an eye on them constantly.” Paid patrols have finished at all Pegasus Bay beaches except Woodend, and the association hopes that the warm spell ends before tomorrow. Many of the lifesavers will be at Dunedin for South Island championships, this week-end, leaving clubs short of manpower. However, all clubs would have enough members for patrols, said Mr Duncan.