Swim Safe: NSRI Top Ten Safety Tips for this December

Swim Safe: NSRI Top Ten Safety Tips for this December: the extraordinarily pro-active NSRI saves lives every single day.

Swim Safe: NSRI Top Ten Safety Tips for this December – The Sardine News and the NSRI are working together we are assisting get these wonderfully considerate communications about being safe in the water.

THE NSRI’S TOP 10 SWIM SAFE TIPS:

1. Alcohol and swimming or boating.
   Avoid Alcohol and Swimming or boating.
   Swimming or boating after consuming Alcohol puts your life at significant risk.
   When consuming alcohol and supervising children near water, your attention is compromised.
   We do not drink and drive; the same dangers apply to going into water and alcohol.
2. Supervision of children
   Drowning is silent.
   Parents and caregivers should watch their children in or near water. If they are having difficulty, there will be no splashing or call for help.
   When in the water, an adult should be within arm’s reach of their child.
   It is safest to go into the water and to swim in areas that lifeguards patrol.
   A drowning can occur when you are distracted by social media on your mobile phone or decide to take a call. Be alert.
3. Dangerous Currents and lifeguarded beaches.
   Going into the water or swimming between lifeguard flags is safest.
   Most people need help to identify dangerous currents or rip currents at beaches. Lifeguards can keep you safe between their flags – so rather go into the water there.
   If you get caught in a current, do not panic; float and swim to the side (out of the current) before trying to swim back to the beach.
   If you see someone who needs help, call a lifeguard or call the NSRI.
   Try throwing something that floats to them.
   You should only go into the water to try to help someone with floatation. A Pink Rescue Buoy or surfboard is a good example of floatation.
4. Know your emergency numbers
   112 is the general emergency number in South Africa and a free call. If you dial 112, you can ask to be put through to the Police, Ambulance, Fire and Rescue or NSRI/Sea Rescue.
   087 094 9774 is the National Sea Rescue Institute’s Emergency Operations Centre direct line. Any NSRI resource in the country can be activated from this centre.
   Please think about what emergency numbers you may need and save your local emergency numbers in your phone before you need them.
   If you suddenly need an emergency number you have not saved – Google it. (For example, if you Google NSRI or Sea Rescue, you will quickly find the emergency number).
5. Wear a lifejacket
   NSRI volunteers always wear lifejackets on the water in their rescue boats, as should you. If the NSRI crew can work on their boats and conduct rescue missions wearing lifejackets, you can also get used to wearing them.
   If you unexpectedly land in the water and become too tired or cold, you may no longer be able to stay afloat. A lifejacket will save your life.
   Choose a Personal Flotation Device (PFD) or lifejacket that suits your activity on the water. Ask experts for advice online or in a store.
6. NSRI SafeTRX
   The RSA SafeTRX App monitors a small craft journey and alerts emergency contacts nominated by the user (family and friends) should they fail to return to shore on time. This free cell phone application enables the user to plot their intended course, store essential emergency numbers that NSRI can use if they fail to return from their trip, give NSRI their location at all times during their trip, provide the user with the ability to call an emergency by the push of a button and giving NSRI your exact position throughout our rescue response if you press the emergency button. It only works where there is a cell phone signal.
   Features include an Emergency Call button, which allows you to make a distress call quickly from the application. The app sends an emergency location update to the NSRI Emergency Operations Centre and your emergency contacts if you have a cell phone connection. Track-only mode can be used to begin tracking at a touch of a button.
7. Heavy rainfall and flooding (Summer rainfall areas).
   Do not attempt to cross a fast-flowing river on foot or in a car.
   If you need to cross a river in a vehicle that is not flowing fast, walk through using a stick for support and check the depth before driving into the water.
   Fast-flowing rivers are extremely dangerous. Do not attempt to rescue a person trapped in a vehicle or who is being swept away. Call for help.
8. Learn Survival Swimming
   If you suddenly find yourself out of your depth and can float, you can return to safety.
   NSRI Survival Swimming teaches you to hold your breath, open your eyes in the water (to orient yourself so you know which way to swim), float, and move a short distance through the water.
9. Learn bystander CPR
   If a person is not breathing, call for help.
   Push hard and fast in the centre of their chest )100 – 120 chest compressions per minute)
   Keep going until professional help arrives, or you are too tired to continue.
10. When using a boat with an engine, always use a kill switch.
    A Kill switch is a special cord connecting a switch on the throttles to the person driving the boat.
    If that person falls and loses control of a boat, the kill switch is pulled, and the engine stops.
    Never move away from the throttles or remove the kill switch when the engine is in gear.

Swim Safe!

For interviews or information, please get in touch with NSRI Communications Manager Andrew Ingram at andrewi@searescue.org.za or on 082 990 5977

Yesterdays Sardine News features the new installation of a Pink Torpedo Buoy at The Block in Port Shepstone. A notoriously unsafe place to swim…amongst other stories…

Swim safe with the NSRI and The Sardine News…

Sardines and Sighting Maps

It has been a fantastic sardine run this memorable 2024. And all the action has been logged right here on The Sardine News. This year’s map has been viewed 199,000 times and just keeps growing.

Which led us to decide to keep the map live. And keep adding unique marine animal sightings and events. That occurs non-stop all year round. This year we started to log more whale and dolphin sightings. And we even had a shipwreck! And a freaking tornado! And recently a capsized KZNSB boat! We have been updating the map with recent catches too…

These events will from now on be included in the Sardine News Sightings Map for 2024. And on the 1 January 2025, we shall start all over again.

Here are the links to existing and past Sardine Sighting Maps. Great for a windy day like today to research. With instructions to install The Sardine News right on your phone or desktop.

2024 Sardine Map

2023 Sardine Map

2022 Sardine Map

2021 Sardine Map

Channels

Brucifire Surf Retorts – highly entertaining  surf reporting

Master Watermen – news from way down deep

The Sardine News – neva miss a single  sardine

FishBazaruto – 1000 pounds plus

MYDO Tackle Talk – highly technical  sport fishing

Surf Launching Southern Africa – getting out there safely

Water Woes – complain about your municipality here

Websites

umzimkulu.co.za – self-catering right on the Umzimkulu River
umzimkuluadrenalin.co.za –  will get you right out and onto the edge
thesardine.co.za – never miss a single sardine
masterwatermen.co.za – news from under water
fishbazaruto.com – dreams
brucifire.co.za – surf retorts