Menu
The tragic drowning of a man on the South Coast on Thursday has surf lifesavers on high alert for the long weekend.
This weekend heralds the start of a new patrol season for NSW surf lifesavers as they return to protect the public on beaches across the state from tomorrow.
At 11.20am on Saturday 21 September, an inexperienced kitesurfer was reported missing at Silver Beach, Kurnell. The man had last been seen heading out into Botany Bay at 7.30am but hours later had not returned.
Just before 7am on Friday 20 September the North Coast Branch callout team was asked to respond to a boat capsize south of the Nambucca River bar by the Surf Life Saving NSW State Operations Centre (SOC). Reports included a man was in the water.
On Sunday 15 September, a Surf Life Saving NSW Emergency Response Beacon at the beautiful but notorious Dreamtime Beach on the NSW Far North Coast was pivotal in getting help quickly to a badly injured surfer.
NSW has recorded a 22 percent spike in coastal drowning deaths over the 2018-19 year with 44 people tragically drowning along the NSW coast.
The patrol season is still a couple of weeks away, however volunteer surf lifesavers are on call anytime, 365 days a year.
A surfer who was seen floating in the water at the unpatrolled Dreamtime Beach at Fingal Head before 9am Monday was brought ashore by members of the public who conducted CPR until paramedics and lifesavers arrived.
Hazardous surf conditions are expected along much of the NSW coastline Sunday and Monday and surf lifesavers are urging people to be extremely cautious.
