Review: The Lifeboat: Courage on our Coasts / Onboard Online

 

Yachting headlines often focus on the glory: the fastest superyachts, the winning race teams, sailors who circumnavigate the globe single-handedly.

All are superb and newsworthy achievements.

But often forgotten are those who strive to keep the seas safe for the rest of us, many of whom are unpaid volunteers.

The Lifeboat: Courage on our Coasts by Nigel Millard and Huw Lewis-Jones seeks to remedy this injustice, saluting these unsung heroes with a full colour coffee table book of outstanding photography.

Officially endorsed by the RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution), the book opens with a foreword by HRH Prince William recounting his own experiences working alongside the Coastguard as a search and rescue pilot at Anglesey off North Wales. According to Prince William, ‘[I]t is hard to believe they are volunteers…It is a heart warming thought that such generosity and courage is shown every day on and off our shores. Long may it continue.’  Read More

Written by: Felix Rowe

Nautica USLA National Lifeguard Championships Returns To Southern California

Manhattan Beach, California: The Los Angeles County Lifeguard Association will have “home-beach advantage” as they look to extend their 26-year winning streak during the Nautica United States Lifesaving Association National Lifeguard Championships taking place in Manhattan Beach, California, Aug. 7-10.

The L.A. County Lifeguard Association has won 39 times in the 43-year history of the event, which attracts more than 1,000 lifeguards and junior lifeguards from across the country competing for individual and team honors.

The team earned the Large Chapter Team title last year with 630 points marking the 26th consecutive year they have walked off with top honors. Monmouth County, N.J., took second place with 613.5 points.

“This is the granddaddy of all lifeguard competitions bringing the best of the best from across the country,” said Ed Zebrowski, Competition Committee Chair for the USLA. “It’s a fun-filled three days of action with competition and sponsor booths at one of the most beautiful beaches in the country.”  More; Nautica USLA National Lifeguard Championships Returns To Southern California

Tom Blake was a Badass / Surfer Magazine

And other things I learned in "Tom Blake: The Uncommon Journey of a Pioneer Waterman"

Tom Blake was a man’s man, a jack of all trades and one of modern surfing’s most decorated forefathers. This book, Tom Blake: The Uncommon Journey of a Pioneer Waterman, is a comprehensive look at his life and legacy. This review is anything but. Whet your appetite on a few tales here, and then go buy a copy of the book here.

Blake was from Wisconsin. Born in 1902 in Milwaukee, which isn’t a beach town but it at least has Lake Michigan. His father Tom Sr. was a bicyclist and a dancer, his mother, Blanche, a stenographer who died when he was eleven months old. When he was nine he watched a newsreel of surfers in Waikiki, and at 18 he met Duke Kahanamoku in Detroit after the 1920 Olympics; these two events would combine to be the catalyst for Blake’s lifetime commitment to surfing.

The 31st Annual 2013 California Surf Lifesaving Championships Set for July 26-27 in Newport Beach

The top professional and junior lifeguards in the state will compete in the 2013 California Surf Life Saving Assn. Southwest Regional Lifeguard Championships on Friday, July 26 and Saturday, July 27. The two-day event will be held on the south side of the Newport Beach Pier between 18th and 20th Streets, adjacent to the Newport Beach Lifeguard Headquarters located at 70 Newport Pier. The competition returns to Newport Beach after a highly successful 2012 event.

The California Junior Lifeguard Regional Championship for all CSLSA affiliated Junior Lifeguard programs will be held on Friday, July 26, while the events for California Lifeguards and Lifeguard alumni will be held on Saturday, July 27. On both days, competition begins at 8 a.m.