01/07/2026
Today I’m thinking of the community of everyday people and athletes who support ocean swimmers, surfers and families at our Sydney beaches. This completely volunteer community of Surf Life Savers (in yellow and red) support our lifeguards… and are trained on boards and in first aid. Our lifesavers enable us all to exercise, play and connect with the ocean. (Some beaches only have life savers)
At the end of 12 weeks of ocean swim training with our coaches this summer CanToo set up a tent and brought the community together to swim at the start of Feb for our goal event. We had been training all summer and once Sharknado began our coaches and water safety pivoted, training us in rock pools and in netted harbour beaches on Saturdays. Bondi remained open and our swimmers trained most Saturdays at the beach- except the dead-rabbit-on-shore day 😵 sure sign water quality was no good. N Bondi Club pushed through a season of unprecedented storms, caution, uncertainty and loss to hold the event per usual. Many other beaches had to postpone their swim events or cancel entirely… a major loss to their source of revenue to sustain all the volunteer programs and facilities. Coming together as a strong CanToo community we still felt a few extra nerves at the shore but the N Bondi Club were appreciative to see so many in orange that morning. They brought over Charlie Verco and Bronte Campbell to talk with us and remind us why we love the ocean… Thank you both for championing our connection to the ocean even in the face of uncertainty. We are all being reminded how much we rely on our SLSCs to keep an eye on us in the water 🧡