Day 7: Cold water, media and Rostock

Day 7: Cold water, media and Rostock

Today we went to Ahrenshoop, where some of us are lifeguards in the summer, and met the mayor, who greeted us all in English and exchanged gifts with Herzliya and Tel Aviv. Paul presented a short presentation about beach management and our flag system. I explained some safety rules, asked them to remember some things we did yesterday and told them about our safety signs. One for “ok”, one for “I need another lifeguard” and another on for “the person I rescue will need an ambulance”.

We went for the beach and changed into wetsuits. That’s also were we met the camera team from the local television. First we slipped the boat all together and helped the camera team to get on the boat dry and safe. Then we first trained the rescue on the groynes.

There are three kinds of danger on the groynes: because of the current it is way deeper just beside them, then one meter away. There are sharp clamps where you can cut yourself deeply. And if the waves push you against them, you can hurt your head or something else and can’t get away from them. That’s why we use the rescue tube as a shield against the groynes and push with our feet against it, so we don’t hurt them. While doing that we hold the drowning person under their arms and take them away. If the waves are really strong and you cannot get away, you have to use the small break between the waves to swim to the shore, bit by bit, until the next wave crushes you against the groynes. Fortunately we had perfect conditions for training. The sea was very calm today.

After we were finished with this, we trained how to rescue a person in the open water with the rescue tube. We also trained how to show your fellow lifeguard in the water the right direction in case of the waves being too high. All in all we had a very good training session.

Right after lunch we took the bus to Rostock where Bine awaited us. She guided us through the city with a very well prepared presentation that was neither to short nor to long! Following we had some time for chopping and some coffee, before we went to Warnemünde by bus. There we met our fellow lifegaurds from Prerow and the President and Vicepresident of the DLRG of Mecklenburg Western Pomerania.

We heard some presentations of Tel Aviv and Herzliya and showed all the pictures we took, while we were in Israel. I experienced this evening as very nice and interesting in Addition to the wonderful sights we had.

We also want to thank all the local clubs of the DLRG that helped to make the time of our guests here remarkable! So thanks to Prerow, Stralsund, Wismar and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern!