As more rescuers use personal watercraft as part of their patrolling, the United States Lifesaving Association has put together a set of recognized national standards for equipment use and training in open water rescue situations.
“USLA intends to create a consensus national standard that can be used by all agencies and organizations employing personal watercraft in rescue,” said B. Chris Brewster, president of USLA.
With the input of field experts, a draft was developed in April 2004. The suggested guidelines include a minimum prerequisite training of boating skills and seamanship, 1,000 hours rescue experience at a USLA certified lifeguard agency and 20 hours at the helm.
In an effort to standardize equipment, suggested guidelines include use of the following: • Rescue tube • Rescue sled to support a rescuer and victim • Knife • Anchor • Flotation device to be worn by operator at all times • Helmet for operator • Tow/throw rope • Swim fins • Marked buoy
“USLA will be encouraging all rescue agencies that employ personal watercraft as a rescue tool, as well as all PWC rescue training organizations, to meet or exceed the standards,” Brewster said. “In that way, we can help promote a consistent level of safety and professionalism in the use of PWC.”
The standard is expected to be finalized this November.
Published Thursday, June 10, 2004 STOCKTON -- In one part of town you have police officers and firefighters going mano-a-mano, hoping to be declared the Toughest Competitor Alive. At the head of the Deep Water Channel next to the Weber Point Events Center, you have the Jet Skiers, whose toughest competitive challenge is dodging the occasional dead fish that floats on the water's surface and the algae that turns the water a greenish hue.
They may compete for gold medals, but mostly, they're out to have a good time. Even when paramedic Dave Hardenburger of La Mesa and the San Diego County Fire Department announc-ed that the police were going down this year, none of the folks in blue stood up to accept the challenge. Hardenburger, most likely, could whip all comers. Nationally ranked, he competes in the Police and Fire Games only if other top-ranked racers show up. Otherwise, his role in the watercraft venue is limited to setting up the course for K38 Water Safety, the company that organizes the event, and taking spins through it just for fun. He's not alone.
Stockton-based CYA training officer Mel Scott really is a water skier, but when his event was cancelled because only seven athletes signed up, he figured at 45 he was too old for wake boarding but an ideal candidate for Jet Skiing. "I've done it before," he said. "The '97 games were at Marine World, and they had the ski competition in the Marine World Stadium. I decided I'd Jet Ski, too." The Stockton venue isn't exactly Marine World, although it once was under consideration to be the park's home.
The channel head offers spectator viewing as fine as Marine World's, with cement walkways lining both sides of the waterway. The race course is a different matter. The walls that line the channel usher waves back at the personal watercraft, sending riders on a rollicking, crunching, wake-fighting ride. "After two laps, my arms were tired," Scott said. "You're just fighting it the whole time."
So was Barry Barner, a San Jose Police Department identity theft detective, who got tired after a lap on the stand-up style of craft he chooses to race. "It's tougher and takes a while to master," Barner said. "Anyone can sit on a Jet Ski and ride it, but not everyone can stand up and ride one. I like the challenge." These games give Barner an opportunity to turn a recreational pastime into competition, one in which he's won gold medals during 10 years of competition.
It may not put him in Toughest Competitor Alive range, but he proved his mettle by winning a silver medal in the 10K road race on Tuesday. Tifni Towns laughs and says if she wins, she wins; if she doesn't, she doesn't. But, really, the pressure ought to be on the Sacramento County Sheriff's officer to win. She's part of the department's marine enforcement and spends every working day patrolling the waterways on a boat or a Jet Ski.
"I'm here to have a good time," Towns said. She's challenging herself, signing up to compete in both the stand-up and sit-down events. And, she'll join fellow marine patroller Scott Maberry for the team rescue race. Surely, the two ought to score that medal.
The only rescue made on Wednesday was of an empty beer bottle fished out by Scott. And none of the racers was able to save the poor dead fish, but they did avoid hitting it. Mostly, they looked like they were having a blast as they cruised through the two race courses. "A lot of people stopped by and asked about the event, so it's good exposure for our sport," said Hardenburger, who has competed in the Jet Ski world championships at Lake Havasu, Ariz. For him, it's truly a competitive sport.
It used to be for Barner, before a wife and two kids limited his time on his own Jet Ski to maybe one or two trips to a local lake since last year's Police and Fire Games. For Scott, it's a fine alternative. For Towns, it's an extension of her job. For all of them, the opportunity to race Jet Skis in the Police and Fire Games is a release, a break from the pressures that come for any person in uniform, whether it's at a CYA facility, behind a desk or on the Sacramento River. And those demands make all Police and Fire Games contestants pretty darn tough.
Gilbert is The Record's sports columnist. Mail: P.O. Box 900, Stockton, CA 95201; Phone: (209) 546-8284; Fax: (209) 547-8187; E-mail: lgilbert@recordnet.com
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Posted - 01/19/2005 : 18:06:22
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Standards Readied for Watercraft Rescues
By Rin-rin Yu
November/December 2004
As more rescuers use personal watercraft as part of their patrolling, the United States Lifesaving Association has put together a set of recognized national standards for equipment use and training in open water rescue situations.
“USLA intends to create a consensus national standard that can be used by all agencies and organizations employing personal watercraft in rescue,” said B. Chris Brewster, president of USLA.
With the input of field experts, a draft was developed in April 2004. The suggested guidelines include a minimum prerequisite training of boating skills and seamanship, 1,000 hours rescue experience at a USLA certified lifeguard agency and 20 hours at the helm.
In an effort to standardize equipment, suggested guidelines include use of the following:
• Rescue tube
• Rescue sled to support a rescuer and victim
• Knife
• Anchor
• Flotation device to be worn by operator at all times
• Helmet for operator
• Tow/throw rope
• Swim fins
• Marked buoy
“USLA will be encouraging all rescue agencies that employ personal watercraft as a rescue tool, as well as all PWC rescue training organizations, to meet or exceed the standards,” Brewster said. “In that way, we can help promote a consistent level of safety and professionalism in the use of PWC.”
The standard is expected to be finalized this November.
http://www.aquaticsintl.com/2004/nov/0411_watercraft.html
Jet Skiers call competition fun in the sun
Published Thursday, June 10, 2004 STOCKTON -- In one part of town you have police officers and firefighters going mano-a-mano, hoping to be declared the Toughest Competitor Alive. At the head of the Deep Water Channel next to the Weber Point Events Center, you have the Jet Skiers, whose toughest competitive challenge is dodging the occasional dead fish that floats on the water's surface and the algae that turns the water a greenish hue.
They may compete for gold medals, but mostly, they're out to have a good time. Even when paramedic Dave Hardenburger of La Mesa and the San Diego County Fire Department announc-ed that the police were going down this year, none of the folks in blue stood up to accept the challenge. Hardenburger, most likely, could whip all comers. Nationally ranked, he competes in the Police and Fire Games only if other top-ranked racers show up. Otherwise, his role in the watercraft venue is limited to setting up the course for K38 Water Safety, the company that organizes the event, and taking spins through it just for fun. He's not alone.
Stockton-based CYA training officer Mel Scott really is a water skier, but when his event was cancelled because only seven athletes signed up, he figured at 45 he was too old for wake boarding but an ideal candidate for Jet Skiing. "I've done it before," he said. "The '97 games were at Marine World, and they had the ski competition in the Marine World Stadium. I decided I'd Jet Ski, too." The Stockton venue isn't exactly Marine World, although it once was under consideration to be the park's home.
The channel head offers spectator viewing as fine as Marine World's, with cement walkways lining both sides of the waterway. The race course is a different matter. The walls that line the channel usher waves back at the personal watercraft, sending riders on a rollicking, crunching, wake-fighting ride. "After two laps, my arms were tired," Scott said. "You're just fighting it the whole time."
So was Barry Barner, a San Jose Police Department identity theft detective, who got tired after a lap on the stand-up style of craft he chooses to race. "It's tougher and takes a while to master," Barner said. "Anyone can sit on a Jet Ski and ride it, but not everyone can stand up and ride one. I like the challenge." These games give Barner an opportunity to turn a recreational pastime into competition, one in which he's won gold medals during 10 years of competition.
It may not put him in Toughest Competitor Alive range, but he proved his mettle by winning a silver medal in the 10K road race on Tuesday. Tifni Towns laughs and says if she wins, she wins; if she doesn't, she doesn't. But, really, the pressure ought to be on the Sacramento County Sheriff's officer to win. She's part of the department's marine enforcement and spends every working day patrolling the waterways on a boat or a Jet Ski.
"I'm here to have a good time," Towns said. She's challenging herself, signing up to compete in both the stand-up and sit-down events. And, she'll join fellow marine patroller Scott Maberry for the team rescue race. Surely, the two ought to score that medal.
The only rescue made on Wednesday was of an empty beer bottle fished out by Scott. And none of the racers was able to save the poor dead fish, but they did avoid hitting it. Mostly, they looked like they were having a blast as they cruised through the two race courses. "A lot of people stopped by and asked about the event, so it's good exposure for our sport," said Hardenburger, who has competed in the Jet Ski world championships at Lake Havasu, Ariz. For him, it's truly a competitive sport.
It used to be for Barner, before a wife and two kids limited his time on his own Jet Ski to maybe one or two trips to a local lake since last year's Police and Fire Games. For Scott, it's a fine alternative. For Towns, it's an extension of her job. For all of them, the opportunity to race Jet Skis in the Police and Fire Games is a release, a break from the pressures that come for any person in uniform, whether it's at a CYA facility, behind a desk or on the Sacramento River. And those demands make all Police and Fire Games contestants pretty darn tough.
Gilbert is The Record's sports columnist. Mail: P.O. Box 900, Stockton, CA 95201; Phone: (209) 546-8284; Fax: (209) 547-8187; E-mail: lgilbert@recordnet.com
2004 California Police and Fire Games
http://recordnet.com/articlelink/061004/sports/articles/061004-s-2.php
K38 Water Safety has promoted this event since 1993
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