Wilderness Sea Rescue hosted its annual fundraising event on Saturday: The Wilderness beach festival which was anchored by the beach volleyball tournament. Whilst the spirit of the games was very much focused on fun, the finals matches were tightly contested, with Crossfit George just managing to beat the Saltycracks for their gold medals, and the team from Oakhurst Insurance, the Topgunz, in 3
rd place.What the day will however be most remembered for were the games and entertainment off the courts. Kids and adults alike enthusiastically enjoyed a wide range of activities such as sack races, egg throwing, sand sculpting, tug-o-war, real archery, face painting and many more games aimed at keeping the little ones happy and busy.In parallel with the beach activities a beach run was hosted, as well as an ocean surfski race from Sedgefield to Wilderness. This latter event was challenging and exciting, with several paddlers finding the notorious Wilderness backline rather unsettling. Fortunately both life guards and NSRI swimmers and rescue boats ensured all were safe, providing a spectacular rescue display, albeit not quite planned. The NSRI Waterwise program was presented by Liza Wigley to children during lunchtime, educating particularly our children about beach safety and rip currents.Wilderness Sea Rescue would like to thank all our volunteers, both crew and non-crew, who worked tirelessly to create a very special day.We are unable to host this event without our generous sponsors. Many donors and sponsors provided prizes and cash donations. Our major sponsors this year were George Herald, Cinnabar Design, George & Sedgefield Sothebys Realty, Bos Iced Tea, Oakhurst Insurance, Wilderness QuickSpar, SanParks Wilderness, Pennypinchers, Kloppers CAW, Coca Cola, McDonalds George & Brandhouse. We thank you all from the bottom of our hearts – all our supporters should know they are directly contributing to lives saved!If you missed out this year be sure to mark the first weekend of the December holidays 2015 firmly in your planner!Photographs by Liza Wigley, Lucia Pinto and Monica Vaccaro are available for media download from
Sea Rescue's Flickr page.
