With the heart of summer steadily approaching, we’re all about soaking up the sun and splashing around in the water – in the safest way possible.
The arrival of summer means it’s almost time to kick off this year’s round of Survival Swimming classes, courtesy of the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI), which strives to teach adults and children basic water safety skills regardless of financial limitations and access to bodies of water.
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From propulsion, breath control and orientation to floating, extrication and drowning prevention methods, the NSRI’s Survival Swimming programme offers all the need-to-know basics of swimming to stay afloat should you find yourself in difficulty in the water.
Each session is roughly 20 minutes long, free of charge and can accommodate between three and five participants per lesson.
NSRI ensures that survival Swimming sessions are facilitated by qualified survival swimming instructors who are ‘trained as per international guidelines, are competent swimmers qualified in first aid and adhere to all safeguarding practices’.
‘Instructors are assessed annually to ensure their skills remain sharp and up-to-date,’ the institute added.
This initiative began in 2019 but had to be put on hold during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since its resumption last year, the Drowning Prevention (DP) team has reached its target of giving 15 000 Survival Swimming lessons and teaching 650 000 Water Safety classes.
This year, the NSRI’s DP has set an even more ambitious goal: 25 000 Survival Swimming lessons and 750 000 Water Safety classes.
According to the institute, these targets form part of the DP team’s unwavering commitment to reducing South Africa’s tragically high drowning rates, especially among children, during the summer swimming season.
This year, classes run by DP instructors will be taking place at swimming pools in the following areas:
- Hanover Park
- Long Street Baths
- Retreat
- Blue Downs
- Muizenberg
- Sea Point
- Wynberg
- Strand Pavillion
To find out when the next Survival Swimming lesson will be happening near you, email [email protected].
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Picture: NSRI / Facebook