Surf Life Saving NSW issues beach safety lessons ahead of Lunar New Year Festival

A large number of international visitors are expected to touch down in Sydney this week for the Lunar New Year — and Surf Life Saving NSW’s Chris O’Rorke said beach safety messages are needed more than ever.

HY William Chan and Nicola Schlitz-Welsh who are Livesavers from Tamarama SLSC. Picture: Jordan Shields.

A LARGE number of international visitors are expected to touch down in Sydney this week for the Lunar New Year — and Surf Life Saving NSW’s Chris O’Rorke said beach safety messages are needed more than ever.

Surf Life Saving NSW have jumped on board as a major sponsor of the Lunar New Year Festival, run by City of Sydney Council.

Mr O’Rorke said NSW has had 1,800 rescues since December one and 13 drownings during that time.

They will be taking the opportunity to educate overseas visitors about the dangers of the beach.

HY William Chan and Nicola Schlitz-Welsh in Haymarket promoting Surf Life Saving NSW’s partnership with City of Sydney for Lunar New Year. Picture: Jordan Shields.

“Not only will we be providing a lot of red and yellow to the festival but also reminding people of the beach safety messages,” Mr O’Rorke said.

“During the hot weather we need to remind people to swim between the flags, swim at patrolled beaches and know what to look out for when at the beach.

“We will see a lot of new migrants and new communities throughout the Lunar New Year that we perhaps haven’t interacted with before, so it’s important to reinforce those messages.”

Mr O’Rorke said visitors don’t know what to expect at Sydney’s beaches.

“Obviously the most exciting thing is to just run into the water straight away,” he said.

“That might not be the safest place to swim, were finding a lot of new visitors aren’t aware of where to swim.”

Tamarama SLSC volunteers HY William Chan and Nicola Schlitz-Welsh will help deliver important safety message about swimming at Sydney's Beaches. Picture: Jordan Shields.

Surf Life Saver William Chan is all too familiar with the dangers of new migrants and international visitors at the beach.

He holds regular migrant beach safety day’s at Tamarrama Beach where they learn how to identify rips, to swim between the flags, the possibility of sharks and what to do in the case of coming across blue bottle stingers.

Surf Life Saving NSW have various activations planned across Sydney Harbour and the foreshore, including a pop up beach at Fleet Park, Circular Quay for 10 days from February 1.

There will be games, prizes, giveaways and more.

Surf Lifesaving NSW is partnering with City of Sydney for Lunar New Year with an important safety message about swimming at Sydney's Beaches. Picture: Jordan Shields.

City of Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore said more than 1.3 million people attended the event in 2018 and “more than two billion people were reached through Australian and international media about the festival, so this is a perfect opportunity to promote Surf Life Saving NSW’s significant contribution to Sydney — saving lives.”

“We’re delighted to partner with Surf Life Saving New South Wales and support the work this important charity and their volunteers do in saving lives,” Cr Moore said.