DEAR Editor,
The life in the day of a voluntary lifesaver on Ramsgate Beach in 1964. My friend Clyde and I were down on the South Coast from Natal University for the Christmas holidays in 1964. We were volunteered as lifesavers on Ramsgate beach by my father, who, at the time, was involved in the politics of the local council along with Douglas Mitchell, who was the current MP.
At the time I was playing water polo for Natal and SA universities, and involved in lifesaving on a national level. I was playing soccer for Natal/SA Universities as well, and was about to go back to Durban to join Durban United in the first year of my transition from amateur to professional football in South Africa.
I was playing golf off a 6-handicap and a country member of Southbroom Golf Club, and remember playing a round with Cobie le Grange, who played with Gary Player in the Canada Cup of that era. In that round Cobie shot a 60 which stood as the club record for many years. The card was placed in the bar.
At the time Ramsgate Beach was protected from the horrendous shark attacks which had occurred at Winkelspruit, Umbogintwini, Isipingo, etc. where Michael Murphy, Geoff Black and Julia Painting had all been bitten and survived, but several others had died. I knew all three of them and had played soccer with Michael at Fynnlands and with Topper Brown’s Crusaders. Geoff Black lived in Gray Park Road at Brighton Beach just down the road from us.
Lifesaving on Ramsgate Beach that year was like being in paradise. From Johannesburg there was a never-ending stream of beautiful, nubile young maidens, who instantaneously fell in love with anyone wearing one of those very irritating, itchy woollen swimming costumes with straps over the shoulders.
It was in that year that I fell in love with Cheryl Anderson and then shortly thereafter Debra Giddy, who turned out to be a famous film star in one of Jamie Uys’s early productions.
On a very hot summer’s day while languishing in the sun, the cry went up that someone was in trouble. At the time the beach was ‘protected’ from sharks by a barrier of steel shark nets, strung from one side to the other on steel cables. The net didn’t cover all of the sea from side to side, so when on the day, a strong backwash over the rocks on the south side swept two ‘idiots’ out to sea, Clyde and I sprang into action. When we got to the steel cable, the male was hanging on there for dear life and screaming “Save me, save me”. As he seemed to be trying to drown both of us, I signalled to Clyde (who was the SA Varsities Judo Champion that year) and he laid the ‘clown’ out. Since his girlfriend, spouse, wife, or whatever she was, was another 100 yards out to sea, I set off after her while Clyde held the unconscious male on the net cable. A while later I was able to swim her back to the beach amid the applause from the hundreds who were gathered there to ‘help’.
Clyde and his ‘body’ were still attached to the wire, so I had to swim the belt out to them and get the crowd to pull us back to the beach.
Sadly, we received no thanks that day from those whose lives we had saved, but the adoration and rewards came later.
B.R. ADDISON
Uvongo
