PORT Macquarie-Hastings Council is gearing up for a long, hot summer with record numbers of local residents and visitors expected to flock to the region’s patrolled beaches.
Grant Hudson has returned for his third season as council’s senior lifeguard and is contacting local schools as his first priority to help get the surf safety message across to young children.
Mr Hudson said it was important to teach local children about surf safety because of the risk of them becoming complacent at the beach.
Last year he spoke with thousands of local children in the lead-up to the Christmas school holiday period and he is hoping schools across the Port Macquarie-Hastings region will show a similar amount of interest in his talks this year.
Professional lifeguards will be patrolling five local beaches over the September-October school holidays, including Town Beach and Flynns Beach from 9am to 4.30pm and Lighthouse Beach, Rainbow Beach (Bonny Hills) and North Haven from 9am to 4pm.
Patrols will be expanded over the Christmas school holidays to include Lake Cathie.
Mr Hudson said perfect conditions last year both in and out of the water helped attract a record number of people to local beaches with an estimated 100,000 people visiting Town Beach alone over the Christmas holiday period.
Given the number of people already taking to the water, he is expecting a busy September-October school holiday period and record-breaking crowds over December and January.
Mr Hudson said council’s primary beach safety message to local residents and visitors remained the same: ‘No flags, no swim’.
He urged people to avoid the temptation of heading to one of the region’s unpatrolled beaches in a bid to escape the crowds because of the risks involved.
