Many people marvel at the ever changing beach Lifesaver scene. Back in the early half of the twentieth century the rescue vehicle was the surf boat. It took a skilled crew to launch one of these massive wooden boats in rough surf and by today's standards they were slow to reach swimmers in distress. They were replaced soon after the end of the second war war with what became known as " Rubber Duckies ", inflatable small boats powered by outboard engines.
Those old wooden surf boats are still used for display competitions and the Rubber Duckies have been joined by a more modern version surf ski, but the purpose of the beach Lifesaver remains the same - to keep the beach and the water safe by providing a rescue for those in trouble.
It was probably inevitable, given the prominence that drones have achieved in the military sphere. Modern technology has always been at the forefront of Lifesaver thinking and we are about to see a purpose built drone don the red and yellow Lifesaver uniform colours for evaluation as a rescue vehicle.
It has been dubbed the " Little Ripper " and once again it is an innovation that will shave precious minutes off rescue time. It is envisaged that these small drones will be able to drop a rescue package containing either a life jacket of an inflatable dingy to a swimmer dragged offshore by a rip. They convey the rescue scene from their onboard cameras back to their controller on the beach and they will even be effective at night because of their infra red vision.
One of these drones is about to undergo tests on Sydney's northern beaches. It is battery powered and has a range of a hundred kilometres - and can operate for one hundred and fifty minutes on a full power charge. They cost about $ 250,000 each and it is highly likely that in the near future they will become standard equipment within the surf Lifesaving movement.
The use of drones expands rescue capabilities exponentially. They can deliver a defibrillator to a yachtsman suffering a heart attack offshore and they open up a whole new avenue of shark control. At present both helicopters and fixed wing aircraft fly regular patrols to spot shark movements but drones under the control of individual surf clubs can localize this shark watch and with it the ability of local clubs to keep watch on their home waters. It can be very comforting to swimmers to know that an eye in the sky is constantly watching for sharks.
The shark menace has become more threatening recently. Sharks have always posed a danger to those in the water but the number of attacks has been steadily increasing and there is conjecture about the reason. Perhaps it it linked to global warming or possibly the more acidic nature of the seas, but a lot of money is being spent on shark defences. Netting off beaches has increased and we now employ drum lines to catch and attach location devices to individual sharks so that their range and movements can be tracked. " Bubble nets " and devices thought to repel sharks have been suggested - or are on trial.
Obviously these " Little Rippers " extend the military options for shark control. No doubt some people would like to see them dropping " depth charges " to destroy the shark menace. That may be too extreme for a variety of reasons, but it is quite possible that the use of what the police term " flash bangs " dropped from a drone to send sharks back out to sea might be acceptable.
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