The Northern Beaches Advocate in Sydney has reported in its...

The Northern Beaches Advocate in Sydney has reported in its weekly round-up (31/12/22) of public safety incidents on the Peninsula, that on Boxing Day the ERB at Shelly Beach in Manly Cove was activated to deal with the following circumstance:

" Just after 8.30am Monday, 26 December, Surf Life Saving NSW Manly lifeguard was asked to investigate the activation of the emergency point at Shelly Beach. A jet-ski was launched, finding a female swimmer in distress. She was brought back to Manly Beach where she was assessed by NSW Ambulance paramedics but was not taken to hospital.”

A timely rescue due to timely information provided to SLS NSW via the Spectur Emergency Response Beacon (ERB) at Shelly Beach may well have ensured that the above incident did not otherwise become newsworthy. From the positive recent noises made by SLS NSW and the NSW Emergency Services Minister about the effectiveness of ERBs, it seems reasonable to presume that there have probably been other surf rescues that have been accelerated by activation of an ERB resulting in benign outcomes, or at the very least, mitigation of what could otherwise have been a number of disastrous events.

Against that background, it makes me scratch my head as to why SLS NSW and the NSW Emergency Services Minister have allowed the foundations for Spectur's "celebrity ERB" at Dreamtime Beach to be eroded by high tides.

I've snipped and pasted below an opened photo from the Minister's twitter feed of 8 December 2022 which more clearly shows (than the unopened photo previously posted here), that the level of erosion around Spectur's ERB at Dreamtime Beach puts it in real danger of collapsing into the ocean. Considering that the Minister and the local member are doing some PR around the eroding base of the Dreamtime Beach ERB in the Minister's 8 December twitter feed, it makes me wonder what their response would be and what the response of SLS NSW would be if the Dreamtime Beach ERB subsequently fell into the ocean.

Today (6/1/23) , on my way home from Tweed Heads, my curiosity got the better of me I called into Dreamtime Beach to see whether the Spectur ERB remains standing, and it does, but the following photo suggests that it is a case of "only just". Note the additional erosion in less than a month. Also note that the current level of erosion to the base would now make it difficult for anyone except a rangy basketballer to reach up and activate the beacon in an emergency.

Hopefully the addition of Fingal Head SLSC witches hats around the base of the Dreamtime Beach ERB indicates that some maintenance action is imminent from SLS NSW, as the collapse of a Spectur ERB into the ocean would not be a good look for the Minister, the local member, SLS NSW or for Spectur.

zeno9