December
2005
Gold
Coast Summer News
| Off
to a Great Start!
The Gold
Coast branch is one year old and it's been a fantastic year
and, as we kick off our second year, we couldn't have wished
for a better start to the season!
In late October
we held our first "self-run" Train The Trainer Day
and had a great turn out. The addition of an influx of 50
students from Bond University representing 10 countries (as
part of a Sports Management Degree course run by Dennis Callinan)
has helped boost our numbers and we hope that those that stay
on the Gold Coast will catch the DSA bug and become regular
volunteers at our Hands On Days. Volunteer numbers are still
a little bit low but the hard core keep coming back and giving
110% at the Hands On Days.
Our first
Hands On Day on November 12th was in trying conditions with
Huey not being too kind to us - although waves were only small
we were faced with a dumpy shorebreak and a good strength
sweep. But once again volunteers did their job well and the
smiles on the faces of our participants showed everyone was
happy. We also faced our biggest challenge so far - taking
c5 quadraplegic Craig "Stevo" Stevens out for his
first ever surf experience. After catching three waves an
ecstatic Stevo said "Never be afraid of what you think
you can't do, or what you can do. For me surfing with the
DSA was the best experience. Great care from the volunteers.
Thanks to everyone from the Goldy and Byron DSA they made
it a great experience."
On December
2nd the Gold Coast DSA were invited to hold a still water
event as part of Dis-Ability Week at Brisbane's South Bank
"beach". The sight of DSA members and volunteers
taking to the calm water of South Bank must have left other
visitors to the Brisbane attraction wondering where the surf
was? But what we lacked in waves we made up for in enthusiasm.
Our participants were soon doing laps of the pool and some
even attempted to stand (with varying results!) as we pushed
the boards around.
Our Christmas Hands On Day was the perfect Christmas present
for everyone concerned. Huey served up a cracker of a day
with clear blue skies, 2ft waves with gentle rolling white
water, and blazing sun. Word must have got out as we had our
best attendance yet from participants as far away as Byron
Bay and Brisbane.
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In total
32 turned up to enjoy the fun and share the waves and our
hard working volunteers were kept busy all morning. Craig
Stevens turned up again and scored four of the best waves
of the day and loved It even more.(heknew what to expect).
He was told before hand that your not a real surfer until
you wipe out, and he did with a little help from his mate,
the other Craig!!
Of course
no Christmas Day would be complete without the big jolly fellow
himself (and no we don't mean Gary Blaschke!!) - Santa did
us proud turning up in the afternoon sun to hand out goodie-bags
to all our participants.
Thanks go
to the Christian Surfers for their help with the BBQ; Bakers
Delight for supplying bread; Currumbin Junior Surf Life Saving
Club for the ongoing use of their premises; Tasty Temptations
and Rocky Creek Candy Co for sweets, QLD Fruit Processors
for the 100% pure fruit ice blocs, Magic Apple, Morrison Media
and Billabong for the great Christmas presents. Currumbin
SLSC for that extra much needed shade tent.
Here's to
2006 and the continuing growth of the Gold Coast branch -
thanks to all the volunteers who make it all possible and
a huge thanks to all the participants for making us all realise
that life is about giving, sharing and enjoying!!! A big thank
you and Merry Xmas to all the Gold Coast crew, see you in
the surf next year.
Don't forget
to check the DSA web site in February for our March/April
event dates.
Have
a safe one.
Yours in surfing
The Gold Coast
Commiittee.
|
World
First
DSA
launches it's latest invention to make it easier and safer to take wheelchair
users into the surf. The launch took place on 3rd December, 2005
"International Day for People with a Disability"
"Don't
DIS my ABILITY"
The
"Surf-Sock" is the invention of Gary Blaschke - founder of
the DSA and DADHC Ambassador (Department of Ageing, Disability &
Home Care) for "International
Day for People with a Disability"
Announcing
the DSA "Surf-Sock".
Congratulations
and thanks go to Gary and Wing wetsuits.
I
would personally like to thank Gary. For the first time my knees and
toes survived a great surf at Thirroul - DSA Webmaster.
December
2005
South
Coast
Ripples
 Perfect
Surf At Disabled Surfers Annual Thirroul Beach Event The 13th annual
'Hands On Day' primarily for Wollongong's disabled was held on Saturday
3rd December, 2005 at Thirroul Beach in perfect 2-3' waves in offshore
conditions. With over 70 volunteer helpers on hand to give the 20 disabled
participants an experience of the thrill of surfing, together with the
Weather God and DSA patron Huey ensuring the previous night's violent
electrical storm had passed well out to sea, it was all smiles on deck.
The first
one and half hours saw fun and mayhem in the Thirroul saltwater pool,
as the helper group became familiarised with the mix of disabilities
presenting on the day. Results of the single paddle final had new member
Geoff Ollis coming in first in front of the legendary Len Snowdon and
regular DSA surfer Julia Corderoy. This was Geoff's first surf since
his base-jumping accident 18 months ago in which he lost a lot of bark
for which he is still in rehab at Prince of Wales in Sydney. Our
doubles' paddling races must have an abled and a disabled surfer team
on the same board which often presents some challenging moments. The
final was
won by a touch by Farmborough Heights disabled surfer John Soloman with
his partner Henry Hudson from Woonona High. Hot favourites Kelly McCann
and Jim Bradley were edged out for 2nd and despite their protest that
they had to stop halfway while Kelly was resuscitated with a hand held
ventilator, John and Henry were given the decision. The youngest competitor
in the final, Brenton Ashford-Potter with partner Towradgi's Craig Mulder,
were a close finishing third. Trireme racing is still new to the Illawarra
but is always enthusiastically enjoyed at DSA events.
This
year, after the 3' foot waves in the Thirroul pool generated by the
8 teams had subsided, the winners were Tamara Cunningham, Anna Doyle
and Daryl Wardman. And then we off to the surf with the 4 amphibious
chairs at the event, made by Sydney's Northcott Society, making the
trip across the soft sand and into the surf a very simple affair. It
was a brilliant day's surfing with our large helper pool outdoing themselves
with some challenging disabilities to accommodate. For those still uniformed
as to the range of capabilities that our disable surfers are able to
perform, Saturday's event demonstrated the full spectrum.
At one extreme we had Wamberal's Ian Lindsay (a 360 km return trip on
the day) who despite being a paraplegic, designs and makes his own surf-craft
which he surfs completely unassisted along the east coast, often in
conditions that sees many surfers sitting out. His surfing on the day
in the clean offshore conditions, in waves
with a little grunt, was inspirational. Ian is also on the executive
of the new Central Coast DSA branch that formed just 3 weeks ago.
The other end of the spectrum sees Kelly McCann, who many Australians
now know as a result of her national television exposure this year,
and who has been rated by Tracks surfing magazine as the "Most
Courageous Surfer on The Planet", bar none. Kel with her personal
helper squad of 30, I repeat 30, surfed 8 waves in between being resuscitated
since her life sustaining oxygen tanks must be left on the beach.
In between
these 2 extremes the other 18 disabled surfers suffering from any of
spina biffida, cerebral palsy, autism, downs syndrome, loss of limb(s),
paraplegia, or loss of function due to accident or illness, all had
a ball.
At the 'after
surf' presentation, back at the Thirroul Surf Club the major awards
were: Wave Of The Day to Geoff Ollis for an unassisted 80m screamer.
Tracey Lee took out the Wipe-out of the Day trophy - it looked great
on camera Trace! The Most Inspirational trophy went to Kiama Downs'
Eddy Rice who got to his feet 3 times - a first for him. Surfer of the
Day was a popular result with first timer Brenton Ashford-Potter taking
the award.
The highlight of the presentations was the awarding of life
membership of the DSA to Len Snowdon for his ongoing inspirational promotion
of the DSA not only here in the Illawarra but literally throughout Australia.
Len, together with South Coast DSA Committee members Ian Picton (president),
Sandra Gould, Sam Hardaker and Jim Bradley will join national president
Gary Blaschke next weekend in flying to Perth to train over 200 volunteers
eager to get the new DSAWA branch up and running.
 Finally,
big thanks go to Thirroul SLSC, Wollongong's APOLA Professional Ocean
Lifeguards, Woonona Bulli Sports Store for their ongoing help with trophies
and uniforms, the surf shops of the Illawarra for donations of prizes
but particularly the volunteers who give up a day of their time to help
others enjoy what we take for granted - the surf.
Jim Bradley
December
2005
Gold
Coast News
|
What
better way to end our first year than with
a fantastically attend Hands On Day; plans
in place for a demonstration event at Brisbane's
South Bank as part of Disability Week;
and our Christmas Hands On Day and
Party just around the corner. All in all our
first year has been amazing, something that
was summed up by our President Jane Maher in her recent letter
to members:
So
we reach the end of our first year as the Gold Coast
DSA.What a
buzz huh?! From first meeting the dynamic
Jim Bradley in Coolangatta one sunny Saturday arvo,
to doing a Dr. Strangelove at the information evening
at the Burleigh SLSC; volunteering to “convene” (whatever
that was!!) the GC branch, joining with everyone
and setting up the committee, meeting Gary Blaschke
and truly understanding what it was all about,
training the
trainers, our inaugural Hands On Day and subsequent
days since - this has been fun!
Watching
as a group of strangers come together as volunteers
and members, committee and participants to
form a living entity has been a source of inspiration
for
me. The way everyone has joined in so organically
and peacefully,
there only to ‘give a little back’, have some
laughs and share a passion with others who, while
they move less gracefully or find it painful to
move at all,
soon discover what all the fuss is about and
fall immediately in love with life itself – simply by
being moved
by a wave – moved in a way that captures
some of life's magic.
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To
be a part of this sharing has been an honour for
me, something
I’m proud of, and grateful to have been involved
in with such a fine bunch of souls. Well done GCDSA.
A special thankyou needs to go to the members
of the committee who just groove around the
place doing their things and coming up with amazing
gifts. Everything from borrowed boards and tents,
t-shirts, BBQs, wheelchairs, rashies, artwork,
venue, prizes,
donations large and small, food and drinks
and all the other bits and pieces that have come
from other people who have been kind enough to
say “here you go, and good luck”.
So
thankyou to everyone for being involved, and let’s
now move from
strength to strength and give a little bit
more, because the gift of sharing in the moments
when a smile
can take your breath away is more than enough
reward, and ample motivation to continue.
See
you all at the annual general meeting to figure
out where
to from here – shouldn’t be too tough and we
may even have a laugh or two along the way!
"See
you in the surf"
|
Jane Maher
South
Coast Fund Raiser
DSA South
Coast / Illawarra held a fund raising event at last weeks Rodeo
(19th November 2005) at Dapto.
The event
was well organised and plenty of helpers attended. The DSA was responsible
for the hot food at this event and ran a raffle with some great prizes.
Thanks go
to the organiser of the Rodeo
Michael Shearer and
to all the south coast committee members and volunteers who attended.
Thanks Guys.
Webmaster
“Lets Go
Surfing Day”
The DSA Hunter held their
annual Lets Go Surfing 05 event at Swansea Belmont S.L.S.C Blacksmith
Beach on Saturday 5th November 2005...
The D.S.A Hunter did hold
the event, but I think the uncertainty of the whether may have played
its role of a poor turnout of participates on the day. There were 5
volunteers at the event, and they are some of the best people ‘YOU’
could ever meet.
Awards on the Day went
to:
“WIPE OUT” of the
Day” Jason
“RICHARD CRANIUM"
of the Day” Mark
“THE DOGGER"
of the Day” Ricky
“SURFER" of
the Day” Sue
“HELPER" of
the Day” Jamie
The “RICHARD
CRANIUM” of the Day was WON by Mark. Mark's
been a volunteer of the D.S.A for years, and a great mate away from
surfing but, he's not known as ‘One of the Sharpest Tools in the Shed’.
“I won’t tell YOU why he won this Award, but, if you know Mark, you
know why.
No really Mark is a great
bloke, and the Hunter Region were lucky enough to have his and all the
other volunteers help at the Lets Go Surfing 05 event.
The AWARDS were supported
by:
WILDSURFCO
Australia's
Surfing Life Magazine
Until the Next Event…
Which is the Christmas
Surf 05 to be held on Saturday
10th December 2005.
So, we hope to see ‘YOU’
at this event.
If further information,
please contact Jason on (02) 4952 4413.
FAR
NORTH COAST
OCTOBER
NEWSLETTER
The Far North Coast DSA had their first event for 2005/06 season
in perfect conditions for all concerned. Slightly cloudy, small breeze,
glassy water with a little swell wave to be had on a continuous basis,
luckily cause as usual those kids weren't' t stopping until the show
was well and truly over. 
It
was great to see so many familiar faces and interesting to note the
new wet suits abounding
on those enthusiasts who were prepared for any weather.
I'd like to make mention of a few participants: Max - the stylist whose
surfing positions had to be seen to be believed, go there buddy! Sienna
- the most consistent joy rider of the day. Adam C. - who donated
last years trophy like a true professional , but was in the water almost
all day, and guaranteed that wetsuit will tire us all out. Lynelle
- go girl, go girl.
Adam D very impressive stamina, keep it up fella! Jarrah thanks for
coming in for lunch, and friend Kane who most definitely had a
great day. Welcome to Lea and Shari also.
Thanks
to our fabulous group of volunteers especially the Steiner School
kids from Mullumbimby,
our wonderful cooks Leonie and Keith, our regular crew and all those
new faces who helped make a fantastic day for all involved.
The crew from the Mullumbimby Steiner School deserve a 
special mention as they are volunteering their help both with our branch
and at the Gold Coast, enough cannot be said about these guys and there
help and enthusiasm is really appreciated.
We look forward
to our next event, The Keenan Classic at Yamba.
Ted
Kabbout
Central
Coast Rally
Expression
of interest has
come from the Central Coast to establish a new branch of the Disabled
Surfers Association.
The
public meeting will be held at the
Entrance
Leagues Club on
the 2nd November
2005.
Time
7pm
or 7:15
start
Announcements
from
National
AGM 2005
|
Surfer
of the Year 04/05
&
President Sydney Branch
Graeme
Samuels
Right:
Graeme Samuels pictured with
Gary
Blaschke National President
|
DSA
Life Member
Len
Snowdon
Left:
Len Snowdon pictured with
Gary
Blaschke National President
|
Western
Australia Disabled Surfers Branch Up and Riding!
80 people attended a public meeting to “test the
waters” regards the possible formation of a Western Australian Disabled
Surfers Branch, held last night Wednesday 24 August at 7pm at the
Scarboro Surf Life Saving Club.
The
DSA, in it’s 19th year of operation with 7 other branches operating
in NSW, Q and SA, is a voluntary, non-profit organisation. Its
sole aim for people with all types of disabilities, ranging from congenital
through to those arising from, accident or illness, is to have a safe
and happy surfing experience.
Meeting
co-ordinator Jim Bradley, the secretary of the Australian Disabled
Suffers Association, was thrilled with the roil-up. Apart from short
films showing the attendees just what the new branch can look forward
to, all Logistical questions were addressed, resulting in a large
interim management committee being formed, at the end of the meeting,
to guide - the DSAWA through its formative stages.
Issues
to be addressed by the interim committee, over the next few months
are:
Organising the ‘Train the trainer course (free to everyone), finalising
the potential venue(s) with. a view to accessibility, safety, appropriateness,
sun-safe considerations, amphibious wheelchairs and of course surfing
equipment.
“Perth
and its environs has the potential to be one of our larger branches
within a few events”, said Mr Bradley. “The offers of support of the
new branch have been outstanding with special thanks to Mr Rentals
for the technical audio-visual support. The committee as well as all
people of Perth and surrounding areas should be excited about this
new surfing phenomenon for the region,” Mr Bradley continued.
The
first meeting of the interim committee is at 7pm on Wed 14th September
2005 at the Surfing WA headquarters at Trigg Beach— all are welcome
to attend.
All enquiries
please see contacts page
Click here
May,2005
South
Coast Ripples
(1)
What a big month April turned out to be for the branch. Starting with
the 4th annual ‘Hands On Day’ at Gerroa on Sunday the 3rd
and then again at Gerroa on Saturday the 23rd.
We
can all blame young Kelly McCann for the out welling of excitement
and resulting publicity, who first went for a surf at Collaroy in
February.
Sun
3rd was a brilliant day with 17 participants and 60 helpers
in attendance, the bulk from our host longboard club, Club MALnutrition.
Perfect weather, perfect surf and perfect location made the day memorable
– and that was before Kelly and her entourage arrived at the beach.
We
have to give Supasoft Surfboards’ Dan Keelan a big rap for the great
boards he is supplying and his support of the DSA generally. The boards
are perfect for our groups – the 9’ers are soft, buoyant and stable
for our participants and his new 11’ers (actually 10’10”) are perfect
for the more challenging participants. Currently the SCDSA owns 4
of the 9’s and 2 of the 11’ers. AND, Dan is providing them at unbeatable
prices ($360 and $440 resp). Contact me if you want more details.
Kelly
finally got her wetsuit on and joined us out in the line-up with her
own band of 30 helpers. For those that have not heard about Kelly’s
exploits, 
Kelly has full quadriplegia and requires constant breathing assistance
through a tracheotomy. It taught all of us there on the day just what
degree of disability we can handle – truly the DSA can claim there
is no limit to what challenges we can conquer.
(
Feature on Kelly Click Here)
At
the wind-up ceremony after the 4 course meal, the trophies went: Best
Wipe-outs Julia Corderoy and Nick Taylor(the latter a Wollongong Hawks
Roller import from South Africa), Most Inspirational Summer Martin
and Marusha Rowe (both first time surfers), Wave of the Day to legend
Sam Hardaker for getting to his knees for the first time in 11 years
and riding a succession of boomers to the beach, and Surfer of the
Day went to Kelly for an 8 wave effort, being resuscitated in the
water the whole time.
Finally,
big thankyou’s go to rodeo king Michael Shearer for helping the branch
and the DSA generally raise nearly $3000 over the past two years,
as well as to Kiama Council for providing us with a disability friendly
toilet block at Emery Park reserve and the agreeing to buy a ‘Free
Wheeler’ amphibious wheelchair for use at our beaches.
(2)
The James O’Laughlin Show on ABC Radio FM on Wed of the following
week had at as its theme for the nightly quiz “Tell us something beautiful
that has happened to you in the past few weeks”. Well, yours truly
got on and Kelly’s story blew everyone out of the water. By 9pm (an
hour and a half later) a live to air interview had been organized
with Kelly and she killed them. Next day the ABC’s 7.30 Report producer
Jonathon Harley had made contact and another special surf day was
organized, focusing on Kel and the DSA.
(3)
Gerroa II was run on the 23rd and Huey delivered, as always
(see Gary’s story on Adelaide’s first ‘Hands On Day’ for proof of
Huey’s preferential treatment of the DSA). Another perfect day ensued
with the ABC crew stoked with what they were seeing. Also in attendance
was Shoalhaven City council’s deputy mayor John Anderson and Kiama’s
mayor Sandra McCarthy and associated questions of the general problem
of accessibility was also a topic of the day.
With
Marusha, Sam, Len and Graeme out in the line-up at the same time as
Kelly, the 7.30 Report crew had a wide choice of surfing styles to
record. Graeme paid the price for not having a full steamer to protect
him from bruising but, what the heck, the surf was great. Kelly had
her first wipe-out, which for her with an open trachy can be very
distressing, but was back in the line-up after a bit of water extraction
– what a champion. See Story
At
the time of writing we are waiting for a screening date, most probably
mid-May. I’ll contact each branch to forewarn them when we know a
firm date.
Ps
The amount of publicity surrounding the SCDSA in April has been truly
phenomenal. Special thanks must go to the Illawarra Mercury’s Mike
Gandon (legend) and William Verity, the Kiama Independent’s Kaitlin
Lewis and especially to the South Coast Register’s Glenn Ellard for
his huge full colour double page feature in the “SE Magazine” that
went to all 11 south coast papers as well as sent on to the Australia
wide ‘Rural Press’ network. We have a great story to tell so get out
and tell the world you branch media officers.
May,2005
Jim
Bradley
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