Day 1
Was at a pool in Westville where we started off the day with a 400 meter swim which we had to complete in under 9 minutes. I think everyone was very pleased to have finished the swim alive and well. We then went on to practice our spinal board procedure in the pool which was a load of fun and laughs, little knowing what lay in wait for us during the spinal board assessment in the ocean!
Was a day of exciting times. The group split up into pairs where each individual took turns paddling out into the surf to rescuing their partner with a Mali raft. The Mali raft is a life saving board that is used to carry a drowning victim back to shore safely without ‘wiping out’ on the way. It was quite a challenge getting through the massive shore break and out to your partner and then still riding a wave back to shore with both of you on the raft. It sounds relatively easy, but when you have Ian (E-man) as the victim and all he does is laugh the whole way in, it makes it all the more difficult to hold onto the board 🙂. A case of catching the giggles.
We had a short lunch break and then it was into the classroom where we learnt about the theory side of life saving – CPR, First Aid and procedures of what to do in an Emergency.
Started with everyone on the beach doing torpedo buoy rescues, which of course no-one had ever done before. We were once again put into pairs, with one person swimming out approximately 100 meters. The partner then had to swim out with the torpedo buoy, save them and then swim the casualty back safely to shore. Luckily the ocean was pancake flat and there weren’t any waves to contend with, or I think the swim would have been a little more trickier than it already was.
Once the torpedo buoy rescues were mastered, we then had to attempt our spinal board procedures in the ocean which was a bit more challenging than doing it in a calm pool. We had practiced and practiced over and over until we got the spinal board spot on. So I guess practice does make perfect! After acouple of hours of life saving with spinal board, and a whole bunch of laughs at Ian’s “fake drowning” noises, we were once again off to the classroom for some more theory on First Aid, AED and how the oxygen tank is assembled.
We left the classroom to head home to prepare ourselves for day 4, the BIG day – TEST DAY!
Started with everyone waking up at 6 and rushing off to town to beat the rush hour traffic in order to start our exams at 07H30.
We got to the beach excited but nervous for our examination, which ended up going very well…. WE ALL PASSED! 🙂 What a magic way to start off our day. Everyone had an absolutely epic time doing the course, including the exam (although the looks on the faces around me during the exam said otherwise). Looking back at it, it was a worthy course that I would recommend to anyone and everyone. Plus it was a load of fun! I personally could repeat that course ten times over and never be bored.
Although most of our focus was on completing the Life saving course we still got to spend some good time on The Bluff where we went to the local Guyfawkes display where we road some Fun Fair rides and celebrated my Birthday for the fourth time with the group and my family.We also got a good few surfs in between First aid lectures,learning our CPR and listening to Joes horrid singing in the van.
A few of us had also decided to go into the Wet n' Wild which is the water park on the beach front of Durban.The water park is home to the biggest slide in the southern hemisphere,but still not as big as the slides they have in England according to Ollie.Even though the slide was nerve wracking we all had an absolute blast.
Sorry about the break in the blogs we have a few to still come with,an out door concert,The flow rider,surfing and everything we have been up to in surf city
Hope you enjoyed the read and pics.
Chad