April 2014

North Curl Curl Chatter Official Newsletter of the

North Curl Curl Surf Life Saving Surf Club

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Season Rolling To End Here we are its April and the summer months are behind us. Despite another ordinary weekend for the Juniors State Championships , it has generally been a lot kinder lifesaving season weather wise. Let’s hope it remains so as we close out the season.

Stuart Wye—Club President

Well done to all our Junior members and I hope they and their families enjoyed their season at North Curl Curl. Congratulations to those that medaled at Branch and State Carnivals – well done. And a special congratulations to Sophie McGovern on her Gold and Silver medals at this year’s Australian Surf Life Saving Championships in Perth ! In case you were unaware the Club has had some difficult issues to deal with in recent months. Firstly the difficulties in trying to find a solution for our much needed storage facility requirements to house our ATV and IRBs after Warringah Council requested its deletion from our plans for improved member’s facilities

and storage areas. The second issue of which you all would probably be aware is that there has been a lot of controversy surrounding the proposed lease for Surf Life Saving over the Warringah Surf Rescue Building. Unfortunately, what I could only call political grandstanding has had a serious impact on the smooth passage of the issuance of a Lease on the building. Our Branch of Surf Life Saving has been the trusted custodian for the past 40 years. The efficient operation of radio communications from Warringah Surf Rescue is an integral part of how we provide our voluntary community service here at North Curl Curl beach. Our third and possibly bigger concern is Warringah Council’s Draft Community Facilities & Assets Policy and its potential effect on ours and other Surf Clubs of Warringah. I have raised my concerns on your behalf with Council and have had correspondence back from the Mayor advising that any interested members of our Club could attend a workshop on Wednesday 5 March at 6pm at Warringah Council Chambers for the opportunity to clear up any misunderstandings and to hear firsthand the accurate intentions of the Draft Policy.

The Mayor also assured me that Council along with whole Warringah community will continue to acknowledge the enormous contributions that our surf lifesaving clubs make to our community. It was pleasing to see on the latest issue of our Patrol Roster that we are back up to a patrolling strength of around 150. Thank you to all those new award recipients who have joined the ranks of our diligent and loyal patrolling members. Of course, a big thank you again to the Trainers who helped the new starters get to this point. Our new format Senior Club Championships which were held February 23rd showed a pleasing result with some thirty starters competing this year. Thanks to Todd Sample for his initiative and to the other guys Chris, David & Jonno who helped the events run smoothly. Congratulations to the winners. Finally, as we wind out the season let me once again remind all to keep on supporting our wonderful sponsors. Thanks for your all of you for your support on what has been another successful season at North Curl Curl ! Stuart Wye Club President

Inside this issue: Baby News

2

Branch Champion- 2 ships Wrap-Up The Wiz Report

3

Nippers State Team Take on the Weather

4

Club Championships & Kerry Broomham Shield

5

Sophie’s Success at 5 Aussies Poetic License Required

6

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Baby Notice— Welcome Kira Henderson A belated congratulations to the latest addition to the North Curl Curl extended family.

North Curl Curl SLSC are accredited……….

Carl and Kim Henderson had a much welcome addition to their clan with the birth of young Kira back in January. Won’t be long before she will have her first ski and will be on the water— hopefully paddling in a Green and Gold cap. Well in another 16 years maybe !!

Branch Championships Wrap-up Sunshine and small 2-3 ft waves greeted a hardy band of North Curly Masters eager to do battle with other “oldies” from up and down the Northern Beaches. At this years Sydney Northern Beaches Branch Masters Championships were held at Collaroy Beach.

Branch championships can only be described as typical “surf carnival weather” pouring with rain!

To our rival clubs surprise, North Curly punched well above its Again a small but dedicated weight even though we only had 11 competitors. band of competitors flew the NCC flag, led by returning masIn the highly competitive 40-44 and 110 age groups we medaled in ter ski coach Carl Henderson. just about every water event. In the older 45 to 60, 130/150 age The McGovern Girls along with groups we also did we did very well. Results include: Haley and Isabel, led the way for us on the beach. Michelle  110 years Taplin Relay – 2nd Clinton Hall, Simon Baker, Glenn Slater Oakes took away the title of premier ski paddler in the club  110 years Board Relay – after taking a bronze...certainly 2nd Clinton Hall, Simon Baker, Glenn Slater Andrew Stuart’s Gold Medal Smile stirring up the guys .  110 years Ski Relay – 3rd Mark Nicholson, Simon Baker, Glenn Slater Hendo kicked off the day well with a great paddle in the Open Ski relay coming putting NCC in contention unfortunately things didn’t  110 years surf team – go to plan for Chris and Rob in the next two legs. 4th Tony Williams, Phil Macleer, Glenn Slater

 40-44 years Double Ski -1st Mark Nicholson, Glenn Slater

Highlights of the day include:

 40-44 years Board -2nd Glenn Slater

 U15 Female Beach Sprint – 1st Sophie McGovern

 40-44 years Tube Rescue - 2nd Glenn Slater

 U15 Female Beach Flags – 1st Sophie McGovern

 35-39 Board Rescue – 2nd Clinton Hall, Glenn Slater

 U15 Female Beach Relay – 2nd Hayley Sparkes, Isabel Andia, Caity McGovern & Sophie McGovern

 35-39 Double Ski – Clinton Hall, Simon Baker  40-44 years single ski – 3rd Glenn Slater  50-54 2km run – 1st Andrew Stuart  55-59 Beach Flags – 2nd Spider Atkins

 U19 Female Ski – 3rd Michelle Oakes On a combined point score basis (Masters, Nippers and Opens) North Curly moved up the ladder from 7th in 2013 to 6th in 2014.

In what can only be termed as a rebuilding year, momentum is All round it was a great day though, feedback from the NCC com- building particularly among the younger ranks e g. U13, 14’s and petitors the next day was that there were a lot of tired and sore U15’s and if this keeps up I am quietly confident that with the bodies floating around! clubs continued investment in providing quality Coaching and our continued focus on building teams North Curly will progress even A special thanks to the following for flying the NCC Flag: David further up the Branch Point Score ladder in 2015. Jones, Ray Merton, Spider Atkins, Simon Prowse, Andrew Stuart, Tony Williams, Phil McAleer, Clinton Hall, Simon Baker and Mark Glenn Slater Nicholson. Director of Surf Sports What a difference a week makes! The weather for the Open

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The Wiz Report Patrol Update—North Curl Curl SLSC has 148 rostered patrol members (90 males and 58 females) comprising 111 Bronze Medallion holders and 37 Surf Rescue Certificate personnel. All twelve patrol teams now have from eight to eleven Bronze Medallion team members each, thanks to new recruits from the successful Bronze Medallion squad from last December. Further intakes from the current Feb/March Bronze Medallion squad should hopefully secure a minimum of eleven patrol members on every patrol team before the end of this 2013/2014 surf patrol season. My real concern is the shortage of IRB Drivers/Crew and personnel with the Basic Beach Management Certificate (Patrol Captains’) award on some patrols. The addressing of this situation will be his main focus of attention over the next twelve months, along with encouraging more of our younger patrol members to take on patrol leadership roles. Even though we are now in the latter stages of this season, the continuing commitment and dedication being displayed by our club’s patrolling members is highly commendable and I both congratulate and thank them all for this. As a matter of interest, a study of our patrol roster from the 2005/2006 season (eight seasons ago) reveals that 18 patrol members on that roster are currently still doing patrols for our club this season and they are:Phill Andrew Jake Atkins Stephen Byrnes Ben Dreghorn Scott Easey Michael Garrett

Robert Hagon Carmel Howard Jamie Howieson Michael Kember Ray Merton Chris Plunkett

Greg Stretton Chris Tassone Ian Thurgood Alex Wheelahan Colin Wilson Alex (Wiz) Wye

Also, at that time, North Curl Curl S.L.S.C. had 115 rostered patrol members (75 males and 40 females) comprising 87 Bronze Medallion holders and 28 SRC personnel. Future Planning - Surf Life Saving Sub-Committee. The Surf Life Saving Sub-Committee conducted a meeting on Sunday, 6th April, to specifically discuss future planning for our club’s patrol teams for the 2014/2015 season. As many as ten of our club’s longer serving patrol members will probably not be available for rostered patrols next season and it is important that these potential shortcomings are addressed as soon as possible. I have devised a patrol roster template from which the Surf Life Saving Sub-Committee can work in its discussions on the matters concerned and hopefully numerous positive outcomes will be achieved. All of these outcomes will, in turn, be presented to the patrol captains at the end of season Patrol Captains’ Meeting scheduled for May.

Patrol Uniforms. After several difficulties (including stock shortage at the SLSA “on-line” surf shop, our club has now received (through two separate deliveries) sufficient patrol uniforms in the various sizes to cover all of our new Bronze Medallion and Surf Rescue Certificate recruits and any further new patrolling members for the remainder of this season. Nearly all of our club’s new Bronze Medallion and Surf Rescue Certificate patrolling members have now received their patrol uniforms and introductory orientation talk from myself and hopefully this time invested in them will reap the desired retention rewards for our club. Awards Update The final Bronze Medallion squad successfully completed their course with assessments done in late March/early April. Most of these candidates have already been individually approached with respect to patrolling duties and it is to be hoped that those that have been placed and will be placed on a patrol will complete a couple of patrol sessions before the end of this season. There are no more Basic Beach Management Certificate (Patrol Captains’) courses available this season, but when they do become available (either during the “off season” or early next season) the I will ensure that we have as many candidates as possible to add to those successful candidates that were achieved by our club late last year. IRB Driver/Crewing training was very well covered by IRB Captain, David Young (with assistance from club IRB assessors Ray Merton and Steve Atkins) earlier this season and it is hoped that this now becomes the status quo at the start of every season for many seasons to come.. Alex Wye Director of Surf Life Saving

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Our 600 plus Nippers are Proudly Sponsored By

Nippers State Team Take On Weather Curly’s Calendar  Sun 27th Apr Last Day of Patrols for the 2013/2014 season  Tue May 6th Sydney Northern Beaches Branch Annual General Meeting2014, 7:00pm at the SNB Headquarters at Warriewood  Sat May31st North Curl Curl SLSC Presentation Night to be held at the club, 6:00pm  Sun Aug 3rd North Curl Curl SLSC Annual General Meeting 9:30am at the Club House  For all the latest event details, visit the club Website

After the atrocious weather conditions of last year’s SLSNSW All Age State Championship's, our Nipper committee decided that it might be wise for this year’s state gear to include something to protect our youngsters from the elements. That decision turned out to be quite prophetic, as the weather for this years event at Umina was once again horrible.

in many finals during the event, a testament to the well structured and supported training program that has been running with our Nippers for a number of years now, under the direction of Tony Williams. Whilst we missed out on getting a Gold medal, we had some silver and bronze medals being worn by the team, and plenty of top 6 finishes.

Whilst not as bad as last year, the conditions on the first day of events deteriorated to the point that events were called off early in the afternoon. A welcome decision as the rain and wind meant is was a miserable day to be on the beach.

Our Under 8 boys were probably the standouts, with some great results from our youngest competitors. They came 2nd in the Wade Relay, 5th in the Beach Sprint Relay, whilst Harry Waddington came 6th in the Beach Flags. They all had a crack, and made sure they had fun at the same time !

Whilst the conditions were only mildly better for the rest of the weekend, it didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of our youngsters, who took on both the elements and the state’s finest competitors. There were green and gold competitors seen

We all best get used to the conditions, as we are back at the Umina/Ocean Beach stretch next year for the State Junior Championships, to be held March 6th - 8th 2015, and potentially the 2016 event will be held there also.

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Club Championships & Kerry Broomham Shield With the sun glaring through the clouds and the waves picking up, nippers were drawing to an end for the season. The time for Club Championships beckoned on us. Things were shook up this year for our senior championships, with new arrivals, shock results and testing conditions. With 30 competitors taking place in this years events, there was a change in the guard. We started the morning by heading down the sand to the beach events. Beach flags were first up with Masters kicking us off. With the no break rule being introduced and a few opportunities for medals being sacrificed in the flags; there was no room for mistakes in the sprint. There was still some push and shove but over the 90m dash, if you fell there was no time to lie around. With the beach events all wrapped up for the morning, it was time to move into the water. The surf was moving, rips and gutters everywhere. Once the cans were finally set after being washed in 3 times the competition began. There was a huge turnout for the swim with 26 starters. Masters, Opens, boys and girls all together, one race, an all in event. A few Uncle Toby’s Ironmen even dusted off the goggles to compete; with Tony Williams and Brett Tyack the field was strong.

challenging swim, it was time to bring the craft out, re-position the cans and begin the race. First up was the ski. With a tricky start that most were used to after many years on the beaches they were underway. Now for the last event of the morning, there was another huge turnout and by this stage there was members of the public cheering in support. The board race were sent out into the brutal waves that crashed down onto the bank. Just when the competitors thought they had finished, there was one last race to determine who the winner of the Kerry Broomham Shied would be for the 2013/14 season. A team board relay race was the event chosen to determine this and with the 19 competitors still standing teams were selected. The teams would battle it out for the shield and the honour of being a part of the winning team. A big thank you to Chris Tassone for driving the IRB and setting the cans, Dave Wymer and Jonno Phippard for assistance in marshalling and judging and thank you for everyone who came down and competed. Todd Sample Sunday Events Manager

With most of the competitors tired after the marathon and

Sophie’s Success at Aussies The Australian Surf Life Saving Championships returned to the west this year, held at Scarborough Beach near Perth. The club sent a small contingent of just 6 competitors, 4 from our Board and Ski Team made up of Carl Henderson, Glenn Coltman, Rob Hagon and Chris Plunkett, plus young Sophie and Caity McGovern representing us in the beach events in their first ever Aussies in the Under 15’s age group. Sophie has had plenty of success as a Nipper, and in her first year in the seniors, she continued to post great results this year. But the Aussies is the pinnacle of surf life saving competition, and her talent shone when she took out Silver in the U15 Beach Sprint, and then backed that up in front of a big and noisy crowd, with a sensational Gold Medal performance in the beach flags. The enormity of this effort hadn’t sunk in for young Sophie, as she nonchalantly and very briefly responded to questions when being interviewed post her success.

The Aussies touring team (minus Carl Henderson)

But once she got back home, the enormity of the success finally started to sink in as the many congratulations poured in for this young unassuming champion. She will no doubt continue to be a very successful competitor on the beach for some time to come (although we would love to see her dive in the flags !!). Sophie McGovern’s Gold Medal Pick Up

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Poetic License Required When the club completed their Australian and State Champions memorabilia wall, a large picture of the club house was added to the end of the photo wall. This picture is now waiting for someone to come up with some words, a poem/verse, to be added to the graphics to complete the work. We are looking for someone to come up with some words that incorporate the spirit of our club and the beauty of our location. If you have a passion for penning some words, please send us your work and we may just use it to complete this fantastic piece of memorabilia. Send your words to the club, care of Julie Tassone. The Club Champions wall waiting for some poetic license

Some of the Supporters of NCCSLSC

Vale Frank Lowe It is with great sadness that we report on the passing of one of our Long Serving members - Frank Lowe.

been 80 years old in May this year.

it was always a smile that welcomed those who ventured near. Frank was alFrank had his place at the ways willing to lend a hand front table of the at the club, a regular helper club every Sunday morning with marshalling at the Frank achieved his Bronze where he would sit with his Pub to Pub and 3 Points medallion at North Curl club mates - bringing along Challenge events. Curl in 1956 and has been home made cakes and a long serving club mem- coffee for the morning tea. His friendly smile and deber for almost 60 This is where the lads meanor will be greatly years. Frank would have would right the world and missed by all at the club.