Safety first at nationals
SURF Life Saving Australia is confident it has sufficient safety measures in place ahead of moving the national titles back to Broadbeach near where three competitors have lost their lives.
The Australian surf lifesaving championships will be held on the Gold Coast in 2019 and 2020, with the masters and open divisions to be held at Broadbeach, about 500m north of Kurrawa, where Robert Gatenby (1996), Saxon Bird (2010) and Matthew Barclay (2012) died in competition at the Aussies.
The organisation decided to shift its championships to calmer waters from 2013, with the event held at North Kirra on the Gold Coast, Maroochydore on the Sunshine Coast, and Scarborough, in Perth, since.
But SLSA has responded to an overwhelming push from its membership to embrace the surf again and will head to Broadbeach next year an organisation with some of the best risk assessment and safety processes in the world.
President Graham Ford said risk assessment and safety processes were “so much more developed” than in 2012.
“First and foremost, we’re not going to Kurrawa, we’re going to Broadbeach and I guess that’s out of respect to the families and we’re very conscious of that,” Ford said.
“I think our processes are so much more developed now in terms of safety and risk … it’s a different cultural approach to risk and safety.”
It’s not simply lip service. SLSA last year cancelled the championships mid-competition after ex-Tropical Cyclone Debbie pushed water conditions past the parameters officials believed were safe.
And the program at this week’s Aussies in Perth has been shifted forward by 24 hours to avoid expected horror winds and swell tomorrow.
Despite all the safeguards in place, youth competitors will not head to Broadbeach.
“Certainly with our youth, we won’t be taking them to Broadbeach, we’ll take them down to Burleigh and if it looks in any way that it doesn’t meet our safety ratings, we’ll move it down to Tweed Heads-Coolangatta or North Kirra,” Ford said of the youth titles to be held on March 30-31.
The Gatenby, Bird and Barclay families were consulted ahead of the move, with all “relieved that the kids are going to a different location”.
“That was really significant in their thinking – and the fact that we’re not having any water events at Kurrawa,” Ford said.
“Our board made a decision based on a recommendation of our sports commission that the controls that are now in place meet our tolerance to make a decision to allow to go to Broadbeach Surf Club.”
Surf sports athletes and coaches including Trevor Hendy, Darren Mercer, Shannon Eckstein, Courtney Hancock, Ali Day and Harriet Brown worked in close consultation with SLSA and have thrown their support behind the move.
Competition updates, Sport