Rescued by a lifeguard... Check!

It's Labour Day here in Oz, so we have a long weekend and a Monday off work. Deirdre, Allen and I decided to go down to Manly to visit the beach and go to the jazz festival there.

We didn't really sit down and see much jazz being played though the place was busier than usual because of the festival and there were a few stages on with Jazz playing.

We all hired some body boards to go body boarding. It was the first time that I had ever been so didn't really know what I was doing. A few quick words of advice from Allen and I was ready.

Within a few minutes I had managed to paddle a little too far out and was out of my depth! The more I tried to paddle back towards the land the more I was being carried out to the sea!

At this point Allen had noticed me in trouble and shouted at me to try to paddle along the coast instead of directly towards it. I tried this and still was being carried outwards. Thankfully the local lifeguards were watching and noticed me and Allen waving for help.

One of them quickly stripped off and swam out towards me. He told me what to do to get back towards the beach. Basically I was still paddling against the swell and should have been padding the opposite direction down the beach to go with the break of the waves. The lifeguard was called Aran and was very friendly and gave me some more advice on what to do and where was best to go body boarding along the beach.

Allen managed to grab a few snaps of me coming into the beach with Aran, in between laughing that is. :-) Deirdre said that Aran was quite the part and she would have happily got into 'trouble' in the sea so he could come and rescue her. Well at least I can say that I've been rescued by a lifeguard now.

The rest of the day was much more uneventful and I eventually managed to get the hang of body boarding and 'caught' a few waves into the beach.

It was fun but not quite he buzz I was looking for when out having fun in the sea. Considering the amount of effort and amount of seawater you have to swallow to get a few seconds of wave pushing you along, I wouldn't say that it really put that smile on my face. Still it was fun and I would do it again. I just wouldn't paddle so far out to sea next time!

There were also a few beach volleyball games going on, on the beach. You can see why this particular match was attracting the male crowds.

Look out Wallingford, next year in the volleyball tournament Allen and I will be on the grass in our Speedos ready to play...