Sunshine Beach

Introduction

We are very fortunate tonight to have a guest speaker of international stature. While most of you will not have met him personally, you will know of him by reputation and certainly be aware of the activities he undertakes in the international life saving movement.

David Stevens happened to be in Australia as part of the preparations for the International Lifesaving Federation’s “rescue 2006” championships in Lorne. When we heard about this we thought it be appropriate to invite him here tonight to brief us on preparations for the championships, fund raising techniques in the USA and other information about the movement worldwide.

Please welcome David Stevens.

[SLIDE] Good evening and thank you for the welcome. It is a great pleasure for me to be here as part of my visit to Australia.

Until today, Hong Kong was as close as I had ever been to Australia. So, since I have finally made it here, I am going to act like a local and say “geeday”.

Yes, I am excited to have made it to Australia at last and it is really great to be here down under. I just love that term, down under. I come from Atlantic City which is on the coast in New Jersey and I have to say that when I’m at home it doesn’t feel like up over to me. I only flew into Brisbane this morning and after a few days getting over jetlag and relaxing here on your Golden Coast I am off to Sydney for some Federation business and then Melbourne to inspect the facilities for Rescue 2006 at Lorne.

But tonight, the one thing I want to do is meet the Crocodile Hunter, have a Fosters and throw a shrimp on the BBQ because I am down under. Geeday!

I am not sure if you are aware, but one of the [SLIDE] patrons of the International Life Saving Federation is your former Prime Minister Robert Hawke. I assume you know of him. Mr Hawke has been instrumental in ensuring that Rescue 2006 was held in Australia and he lobbied intensively on behalf of the Australian contingent and the Victorian Government. He actually lobbied more intensively than I can reveal without breaking the “what happens in a bar stays in a bar” rule but I will get back to fund raising later.

First I want to give a quick overview of the history of American life saving and move on to fund raising, the future for the international movement and some information about Rescue 2006

[SLIDE] Although we are involved in the same broad range of activities these days, lifesaving in the United States has a different history to that in Australia. Where your movement came from your beach culture and swimmers in difficulty, ours came from our shipping industry and the treacherous coastline. [SLIDE]

Please don’t get me wrong. I am not undermining your efforts at all, but where you were rescuing swimmers, [SLIDE] our crews were rescuing ship’s passengers. Where your lifesavers went out in the sort of weather that drew people to the beach, our [SLIDE] lifesavers went out in the worst weather because that was when they were needed as wind driven ships ran aground.

[SLIDE] While looking at this magnificent crew I should point out the antiquated and barely adequate equipment these men had at their disposal, note especially the footwear on the gentleman on the right – no, I have no explanation for this, except that wooden clogs would float, though I am not sure it is a good idea to float feet up.

As for the gentleman on the left, though I understand your Robert Hawke had a history of hard drinking and I have witnessed some of it, and we could claim that this photo is where the party lifestyle of lifesavers began, he is actually using a trumpet like device that was used to send signals to lifeboats in the water.

How times have changed [SLIDE] Nowadays we use high speed and extremely manoeuvrable inflatable rescue boats, [SLIDE] state of the art communications, [SLIDE] and powerful helicopters to get our job done and I am sure I can speak for the international lifesaver community when I say that our success rate is greatly improved and our own lives made much safer than that [SLIDE] of Keeper Chase and his crew.

While our work will never be done, the level of technological assistance has given us a greater freedom and has led to the current situation where through events such as [SLIDE] next month’s Rescue 2004 and the planned Rescue 2006 we can celebrate our achievements and gather together as a family to compete in the spirit of camaraderie and friendly competition. These gatherings help us improve our skills, learn from others and enjoy international friendship and also foster an unprecedented level of international cooperation.

Rescue 2004 is with us, starting in around 3 weeks and it is going to be bigger than the Olympics…well, it feels like it anyway. We plan to have all the fun and excitement of the games hopefully with none of the dramas like the Hungarian discus thrower stripped of his gold medal for tampering with his urine sample. I don’t know about you, but the term “tampering with his urine sample” conjures up some bizarre images that would take a long time to live down.

Is anyone here heading to Rescue 2004 in Italy next month? Excellent. Unfortunately if you are planning to go but haven’t registered yet, it is [SLIDE] now too late to be there as a competitor because registrations closed last Sunday.

Consideration was given to extending the registration period for another 14 days, [SLIDE] but the Swiss team protested that all nations have had sufficient time and therefore it would not be fair. Think carefully about the idea that Switzerland has a lifesaving federation. They are a land locked country my guess is they probably didn’t want any more competition. A meeting of the board upheld their protest and therefore no further registrations will be accepted for rescue 2004. But keep your eyes and ears open for the registration process for Rescue 2006, obviously there will be a big Aussie contingent there. geeday!

[SLIDE] The venue for next month’s Rescue 2004 is in the beautiful cities of Viareggio & Livorno on the Italian Riviera. [SLIDE] Although an old city, there are existing venues that suit our purposed perfectly and for recreational times, a wonderful old town to explore. The food and culture of Italy as well as our friendly hosts ensures we will have a terrific time.

[SLIDE] As you likely know the event runs from September 11^th through 27^th and there are [SLIDE] some great events planned.

[SLIDE] In the pool there are eleven events including the 200m obstacle swim,
[SLIDE] 50m carry a mannequin
[SLIDE] 100m lifesaver
[SLIDE] 200m super lifesaver
[SLIDE] 100m medley rescue
[SLIDE] 100m mannequin tow with fins
[SLIDE] Lifesaving by boat
[SLIDE] Line throw
[SLIDE] 4 x 50m obstacle relay
[SLIDE] 4 x 25m mannequin relay
[SLIDE] 4 x 50m rescue tube relay

Our local club had a lot of trouble getting a mannequin to practise the first event, we eventually settled on [SLIDE] Fifi – and what a mascot she is and when she goes down she can be packed into hand luggage, though I am not sure what they would say at security.

[SLIDE] As well as the pool events there are also seven at the beach held in the beautiful waters of the Mediterranean Sea.

[SLIDE] 90m beach Sprint
[SLIDE] 4 x 90m beach relay
[SLIDE] Beach flags
[SLIDE] Board race
[SLIDE] Board rescue race
[SLIDE] Surf race
[SLIDE] Rescue tube race

As you can see it is a full and exciting programme which when combined with local cultural events like the pizza toss and the mafia dodge should ensure everyone has loads of fun.

My problem as Chairman of the Rescue 2006 coordinating committee is how we are going to outdo the Italians. When it comes to beating Italians, it would be no problem if there was a war of some sort, but when it comes to organising events, they have people who know their business and know it well.

[SLIDE] This is why I am in Australia GEEDAY and on my way to Melbourne. To meet with the Victorian Government, the Geelong City President and with the local organising committee members and make sure the ball is already rolling. As well as that we want to use this year’s event as well as the Olympics to get ideas for Rescue 2006.

One of the first things we are going to do is create the [SLIDE] website, a must in these days of international cooperation. I recommend you all visit the International Lifesaving Federation [SLIDE] website which is very active and has lots of information.

At the moment we are running [SLIDE] a poll on the website and I would like to take a moment to point out the results of that and some of the behind the scenes lobbying. The question is whether the ILF should work towards becoming an Olympic sport.

Notice that of 300 respondents, over 250 – that’s 83% - say “yes” lifesaving should be part of the Olympic programme.

Come on, if the Olympics can include ridiculous sports [SLIDE] with these sorts of images, why can’t we have our sport included as well? A sport that is actually doing some good in the world with [SLIDE] its own iconic images. Though I am not sure how many entrants we would get [SLIDE] at the Winter Olympics.

Actually, while I am on the subject, I have to ask you Aussies…[SLIDE] what is it with the hats? I have been presented with one by Mr Robert Hawke and am proud to wear it tonight, but there is no way I would wear one of these on the beaches of New York – not unless I was well armed.

Of course the major issue with events such as the Rescue 2006 is raising the funds to stage it and for teams to get there. Tonight is a fund raiser. Perhaps some of the money raised will go towards getting your team to Viareggio, maybe you are looking towards Lorne in Geelong or perhaps you are looking far enough ahead to be going [SLIDE] to Beijing in 2008 because we are planning on seeing the lifesaving heptathlon in Beijing.

And for Beijing, there are already designs being submitted for the icon for lifesaving [SLIDE] . This one is the front contender but I have lodged my objection as it would be more appropriate for surfing rather than lifesaving. Besides, what is that thing on the left? A shark? I know you Aussies have lots of sharks, but let’s hope there isn’t one in the pool in Beijing.

[SLIDE] So, how are YOU going to raise money to get to Beijing if selected…at least, how are you as a club going to help raise the money to get any of your club members who end up on your Olympic team over there.

As the leading lifesaving fundraiser in the United States in the 2002/2003 financial year I have been asked to share some of my successes and secrets with you.

Let’s start with my successes. In all modesty I have to say that my achievement set a new individual record, not just for me, but for any individual, [SLIDE] during the 2002/2003 year I raised ($3,141,592.65) three million one hundred and forty one thousand, five hundred and ninety two dollars and sixty five cents. Which as you can imagine is a pretty good slice of the pi. That is in US dollars of course , it translates to about [SLIDE] 4.36 million Australian dollars. While I am credited with the total, obviously I didn’t do all the work myself – I have a solid team working with me who shares the accolade, but as I am the man who hands over the cheque, I end up with the trip to Australia - GEEDAY. As you can well imagine, money like this goes a long way towards helping run the US organisation which spans all 52 States.

Because of the outstanding year I had I was awarded the [SLIDE] Joseph Henry Medal in named for the man who, born in 1899, founded the first lifesaving club in 1831 – though it wasn’t known as a lifesaving club at the time, they were just doing what they had to do when ships foundered on the rocky shorelines.

Joseph Henry and his boys were well known and feared hell raisers in the Boston area and when not saving lives they spent their spare time careening around the village on their horses doing hair raising stunts and generally acting like life savers do today.

The first question most clubs ask me when I tell them about my award is how did I actually raise money.

I will reveal my secret in a minute, but there is something that is important for us. As you may or may not know, most beaches on the Eastern Coast of the United States are privately owned and you need to pay to use them. This may sound like blasphemy to you in Australia but it is a bitter truth of commercial life in the United States.

Our early attempts at fund raising were pretty crude and slow. We tried the fun ideas like a surf machine. [SLIDE] Here’s one we found in Europe when we went shopping on the web. Especially interesting was the [SLIDE] text that accompanied it.

SUMMER NEVER DOES NOT FINISH...
You want to live again the emotion in riding the oceanic waves? With the simulation of the surf is possible, enough to go up in surf the mechanic which it begins to move simulating the marine waves, to the end it is fallen not in the soft ocean but in an inflatable one of mt 4 x 4.

Sounds like something the club champion got to do with Fifi

But it was petty cash. We needed big bucks quick smart, and we are building to my secret. We gutted our life saving club and [SLIDE] turned it into a casino.

As a casino we didn’t do too well at the tables but we made a fortune on the shows. One of the acts did some juggling and having watched his act for weeks I learned a few tricks I would like to do one or two of them now, because he really pulled in the crowds and with them their money.

Damn, I am having a terrible day. My juggling is lousy and I have had to put on this fake American accent and trick you all. And that, ladies and Gentlemen is my secret.

Sunshine Beach

Surf Lifesaving Club