Saunton Sands Surf Lifesaving Club is based right on the beach at Saunton, in North Devon.
The club is one of the country's top surf lifesaving sport clubs, competing fiercely with Woolacombe. We also provide lifesaving training, with several of our members working for the RNLI beach lifeguards on local beaches.
IRBs are one of many aspects of surf lifesaving. Rescue skills are taught, examined and used in patrols and competition. They start with simple swim and tow rescues, move on to board rescues, surf skis, 5 man surf boats, peaking with the IRB and RWC (jetski). The IRB section at Saunton draws from all club members, pulling together a wide range of skills and, unlike other SLS disciplines, mixing age ranges from 15 to well past it! It’s a great way to enhance respect both up and down the generations.
Our aims are to include as many people as possible to allow us to provide: safety cover for our own and external events, useful qualifications for our members to use with the RNLI or beach owners, support for club training and, not least, to take part in IRB competitions. The training section of the website has more details.
The club has access to 2 Arancia 3.8 IRBs, 1 Achilles 3.8 RIB and currently has the use of the Devon SLS Arancia 3.8.
In October 2010 we took part in the World Championships, taking a team of 16 competitors with an age range of 16 to over 50. The team was supported by a strong crew of WAGs as well as Grans! It was an extremely successful venture with every team member medaling. We even managed to get a slot on Simon Mayo’s Radio 2 Friday Fixtures as we were driving to Heathrow.
We are always very keen to recruit more ladies to our cause to allow us to enter more ladies teams in competitions and to allow the ladies to enter those events which need larger numbers in the team.
Typically we train on Sunday mornings throughout the year at Saunton. We often host visiting IRBs and their crews, allowing them to experience and develop boat handling skills in the surf. Look at the training section for more details.
We often provide safety cover for water events, regularly attending the Blenheim and London Triathlons. Please look at the Safety Cover Booking section for more details.
Running an IRB is not cheap. They consume petrol and 2 stroke oil and need regular maintenance. It is wise to have an engine replacement fund as well. We aim to do all we can to keep these costs to a minimum. Visit the maintenance section for hot tips on saving money.