This is the first in a series on how to make the transition from pool to open water.
 
Many competent swimmers who have no difficulty swimming reasonable distances in the pool do experience difficulty in the open water. But, whether the open water is smooth or rough, any difficulties are likely to be psychological. This is not to say that these difficulties are not real. They are real enough, but they tend to relate to anxiety. Anxiety-related issues include ‘it’s a long way to swim’ (it’s probably no longer than one of your pool swims); ‘I can’t touch the bottom’ (no, but you can’t in the deep end of the pool either); ‘there is no wall to turn around on’ (that’s right, and it’s one of the great joys of OWS); ‘there is no black line to follow (see the previous comment)’; ‘I’m afraid of what’s down there; there are things that will eat me or at least sting me’ (live a little on the wild side – also see the articles on sharks). So the trick is to relax, commune with nature and (as Dory said to Nemo) ‘just keep on swimming, that’s all you have to do’. Use OWS as a relaxation exercise, an exercise in developing patience (you just have to hang in there and eventually you will get to your destination); even as a meditation exercise (more about that in later editions).
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There have been a couple of tragic cases in recent weeks of toddlers drowning, especially in home pools. Despite repeated warnings by governments and bodies such as the Royal Lifesaving Society and the Surf Lifesaving Association, our toddlers are still drowning – and largely due to lack of supervision by adults.
 
Especially for those of us with home pools, check out this youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CL4D7Hxdlk0&feature=youtu.be.
 
And check out Royal Lifesaving’s ‘Keep Watch’ program at: http://www.royallifesaving.com.au/programs/keep-watch-toddler-drowning-prevention-program

REMEMBER: YOUR KIDS, YOUR RESPONSIBILITY

Lifesaving in Australia – both still water and surf – began in an organised way in Sydney in the late 19th Century. On our ‘Iconic and Historic Swimming Places of Sydney’ swimming tour in March, we will visit – and swim in - the birthplaces of lifesaving in Australia.
 
From the start, Sydney residents were attracted to the water - convicts, soldiers and settlers bathed in it all around the foreshore. By the mid-1830s places such as Bondi, Coogee, Bronte and Manly had been ‘discovered’ and were gaining in popularity as getaway spots. More people were taking to the water in a new recreational habit known as surf bathing.  However, concerns over safety and modesty (as many swam naked in an era before purpose made swimming costumes) meant that surf bathing was banned between the hours of 6am and 7pm from 1838. But how could people be stopped?
 
The ban was often defied and, by the late 1870s, the newly formed National Shipwreck Relief Society, established to rescue wrecked sailors, was also saving swimmers in trouble. In 1879, of ten medals presented for saving people from drowning by the Society, seven of them were for people in the surf or swimming in the harbour. It was becoming increasingly clear that an organised body was needed to help people in trouble in the water. Most rescues were pure luck, occurring only if someone who could swim happened to be there at the same time.
 
In 1896 a branch of the London based Royal Life Saving Society was formed in Sydney, teaching resuscitation, swimming and rescue techniques. Royal Lifesaving still exists concentrating on still water and pool rescues and water safety generally. Royal Lifesaving didn’t patrol beaches though, but they did have attendants at ocean and harbour baths. It was while a Royal Lifesaving Society training exercise was being held at Bronte Baths in 1903 that a swimmer drowned in the nearby surfing beach, after which it was decided that a surf lifesaving branch should be formed. Thus, the Bronte Surf Lifesaving Club has the distinction of being the first surf lifesaving club in the world.
 
Sometime in early 1907 (or possibly late 1906) the first organised, formal lifesaving organisations that carried out patrols on beaches began to appear in Sydney. In the mix at the start were the Bondi Surf Bathers Club, as well as surf lifesaving clubs from Bronte, Clovelly, Coogee, North Maroubra, Manly and Freshwater. Surf carnivals soon followed, with military style drills and practice sessions. Rescues were carried out with an increasing array of new types of equipment such as the line and reel, floatation belts and surfboats – all a far cry from the modern rescue equipment and techniques seen today on Australian beaches.
 
And so it was that surf lifesaving became an Australian icon and a feature of Australian summers.