Avoca Thailand Project
Avoca Beach SLSC Joined: July 1st 2007
Logged in: April 8th 2008
Logged in: April 8th 2008
INTRODUCTION
On 26 December 2004 a magnitude 9.3 earthquake struck the west coast of Sumatra. As a consequence a Tsunami occurred in the Indian Ocean devastating communities in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand, and affected many other countries along the Indian Ocean rim. Approximately 300,000 people were killed in the Tsunami; eight thousand in Thailand of which half were Thai nationals and the other half foreigners and tourists. The worst hit areas in Thailand included the province of Phuket and Phi Phi Island.
Kathy Glinsky a young woman from Sydney was one of the victims of the Boxing Day Tsunami. Kathy was on holidays visiting her sister and family on Phi Phi Island when the tidal wave hit, both she and her young niece, Sasha, lost their lives whilst walking on the beach close to their family’s business.
In memory of Kathy, her employer Australand, kindly donated a fully equipped surfboat to Avoca Beach Surf Life Saving Club. Prior to her death, Kathy had been organising with Tiffany Braund, a member of Avoca Beach Surf Club, to sponsor a new set of oars. After the tragedy, Australand felt it appropriate to substantially increase the donation to include a surfboat, trailer and oars.
The sweep of the “Kathy Glinsky” surfboat, John Mitchell, life member and keen supporter of surf life saving in the local community of Avoca Beach, is constantly reminded of the tragic circumstances that arose from the Boxing Day Tsunami when he takes his crews out for training and competition on the water. The loss of life that occurred on that fateful day and the ongoing drownings that continue to take lives in Thailand has inspired John and the Avoca Beach Surf Club to start a program to introduce surf awareness and the culture of surf life saving to the communities of Phuket and Phi Phi.
Alistair (Slim) Peebles, Life Member of Avoca Beach Surf Club kindly investigated the feasibility of taking the concept of surf life saving and surf awareness to Thailand and through his tireless efforts he secured a grant from the Australia-Thai Institute to assist members of the club to introduce, up-skill and train the Thai people in first aid, surf awareness and water safety.
In the Year of the Life Saver (2007), a dedicated team of twelve members of Avoca Beach Surf Lifesaving Club will leave for Phuket in July to work with members of the Thai marine police, lifeguards, school children, tour operators and the Thai people to introduce the concept of surf life saving to their community.
Further trips to Thailand in the future are planned by Avoca Beach Surf Club with the aim to build the idea of fun and community service through surf life saving to the Thai people and to bring John and Slim’s dream to fruition to build these people a surf club and culture to support themselves in the promotion of surf awareness and water safety.
This project has been fully supported and endorsed by Surf Life Saving Australia, Surf Life Saving NSW and Surf Life Saving Central Coast.
Travel Blog Posts
2008 Team
2008 Project In December 2007, Avoca Beach SLSC sponsored four Phuket Lifeguards to visit Avoca Beach to gain experience in the Australian surf and to learn Surf Life Saving the “Aussie” way. The Lifeguards gained invaluable experience during their summer visit and all attained their Bronze Medallion. They have returned to Phuket with wonderful experience and memories and have begun to train their own lifeguards in the skills taught to them whilst in Avoca. During the Thai Festival of the Waters in April 2008, another Avoca Beach SLSC team will visit Phuket to demonstrate water skills to school children and hold a Surf Life Saving demonstration showcasing the surf sports and skills on the beach and in the water in events such as board paddling, swimming, ski paddling, surf boat rowing, beach sprints and beach flags. ... read more
RECOVERED
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday - our last 3 days in Phuket Well, John and Slim's dream is definitely a reality. The work we have done so far has been very rewarding for us and certainly for the Thai people we have been working with. This week we have been training the Lifeguards and Marine Police in first aid, resuscitation and rescue techniques including IRB driving. Major sore legs for Ando when Harv as we gave an IRB demonstration to the Marine Police on Monday. Their IRB is not designed to go in the surf and it was really hard work - no foot straps etc. We had an extremely successful meeting with the CEO and several other Directors of the Phuket Provincial Administration Organisation. They were very excited about the work we have done and ... read more
RECOVERED
Lay day at Kata Beach and elephant riding Asia » Thailand » Phuket » Kata Beach By Avoca Thailand Project July 15th 2007 Avoca Beach SLSC Sunday - another day of fun and relaxation for our team. Slim, Denise, John, Tiffany, Stephen, Brad and Mel elected to ride elephants and water buffalo and play with a monkey "employed" to pick coconuts! A cooking lesson was included in their day's activities and they have agreed to cook us all a Thai feast on our return home!! Craig, Stuart, Darren and Chris had an unread day touring the southern end of Phuket and surfing at Kata Beach... read more
RECOVERED
Early morning pickup for Phi Phi Island (Ko Phi Phi) trip with 37 tourists in a high powered speedboat. The trip took approximately an hour with several sea sick participants. The seas were too rough to stop at Maya Bay - the filming location for the movie "The Beach”. The other side of Ko Phi Phi provided a beautiful cove to anchor and snorkel (see team water pic). We had a brief visit to Monkey Beach for feeding and photos, then on to Phi Phi main beach for lunch and Nanna nap. ( farting display beach ) Our "Glinsky mission" turned out to be disappointing. As Kathy and Sasha had so sadly had their lives cut short by the tsunami on Ko Phi Phi, we had envisaged we would be able to catch up with ... read more
RECOVERED
A big welcome to team members Mel & Brad who arrived in Phuket last night at 9.30 pm after a grueling trip with a 1hr delayed stopover in Bangkok. Our boys resumed their morning training sessions with the local lifeguards in a 3’ onshore surf. Dasher and Coxy had a surf on their shortboards whilst Chris and Stuart displayed rescue board skills. Our team assembled after lunch for transport to Dusit Laguna Resort for a third day of training - this time with a group of school children from Cherngtalay Wittayakom School, Bang Tao. This was an extremely successful session with Darren giving the students the introduction, Chris, the koala wrangler and John the Sydney Harbor Bridge builder! The session included basic skills in CPR followed by board rescue skills in extremely difficult surf conditions. ... read more
Found these sites on a quick Google search today - shows Avoca's presence in Phuket is being publicised far and wide throughout Thailand. Cheers Boys!!! http://www.royalthaikingdom.com/mod.php?mod=publisher&op=viewarticle&cid=73&artid=380 http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2007/07/05/travel/travel_30039475.php http://www.phuketgazette.net/calendar/details.asp?id=1833 http://www.asiatraveltips.com/news07/67-LifeSavingPhuket.shtml http://www.thaisnews.com/news_detail.php?newsid=214127 http://www.etravelblackboard.com.au/index.asp?id=66602&nav=63 Title: Australian Life Guard Association giving Free Life Saving Training in Phuket Date: 2007-07-07 06:24:30 WELCOME TO THAILAND Official Website of Royal Thai Kingdom Co., Ltd News / Thailand News Australian Life Guard Association giving Free Life Saving Training in Phuket By Webmaster Saturday, July... read more
RECOVERED
Early start this morning - Slim woke the team pre-6am for early morning breakfast at Dusit Laguna Resort with Rotary Club. ABSLSC Team stood to sing Thai national anthem with Rotary members. A 9.30 start saw a second day of training with staff and participants at Dusit Laguna Resort. Their participation and willingness to learn was great! The morning session was in the conference room with slideshows and educational resources which was then followed by board work and rescue techniques in the resort lagoon. Chris, Stuart and Darren demonstrated board skills in difficult surf conditions ( 4’ & hazardous ). We finished off the day's program with awards , certificates and a stirring rendition of “Cheers Boys”. We had two Australian women from La Meridien resort attend yesterday's training - they advised that they operate ... read more
Dusit Laguna: Today we had a great day and trained over 30 people at Dusit Lagna - these included local Thais and staff of the nearby resorts. John has taken a lot of video footage which shows how successful the day was. Slim has also taken heaps of good pix which we will upload when they are available. The training has created a lot of interest and we had a local news two TV station and another TV station interview with Slim, John and Steve. The Phuket Gazzette News was also there. The participants loved the day and you could see the enthusiasm through the smiles on their faces. Stuart was brilliant as MC. Wait 'till you see the footage of the rendition of "Cheers Boys" from today - it was priceless!! We are really looking ... read more
RECOVERED
Last night (Monday 9/7) the highlight was our visit to Dingo Bar ( off "Rude" St - aka Bangla Rd) which saw Ando eating ants, Dasha and Parkesy eating grasshoppers & frogs, Slim eating beetles. Slim's effort took the gold medal as the beetle was about twice the size of an Aussie cicada. Chris reckons his insects were still alive when he saw them again the next morning! Tiff, Stuart, Chris and Darren continued board work today especially focussing on patient pickups and relay races with local lifeguards. They have seen huge improvements over a very short time with the Thai Lifegaurds abilities, especially considering the difficult surf conditions. Slim, John, Craig and Steve met with Mr Lumpoon (chief IC of Phuket Lifeguards) which proved to be very beneficial. His commitment to continued improvements for ... read more
RECOVERED
Monday 9 July The local Lifeguards have been very keen to continue training and practice on the rescue boards with Darren, Chris, Stuart and Tiff. Surf today was slightly larger than our last training day ( 3’ - 4’) which has provided a real challenge for the local lifeguards. Today's session proved to be in conditions similar to Avoca on a big day with rips and swell that tested the abilities of the locals as well as the experienced Avocans. It's monsoon season and we witnessed a great storm whilst Craig, John and Stuart sat on their verandah writing this entry. We are wondering what it will be like taking the trip across to Phi Phi Island on Saturday if these storm conditions continue - should be fun !!?? We had a very successful meeting ... read more
