Category Archives: Inspiration

WHEN YOU DECIDE

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When You Want Excellence in Your Operations, You Express Gratitude.

Want some real-life water rescue advice? This is a compassionate question.

To instill excellence in your rescue boat operations you have to give more than the instructor guidance, more than the workbooks and be ready for the water and weather.

This means you need to decide who you are going to be and what you are willing to give.

You need a hunger or a model of inspiration to drive your will towards goals that exemplify ‘excellence’.

That does not mean you take a course and resign yourself to the certificate issued. Many courses hand them out freely without scrutiny that cares about your functionality. Start caring about your performance.

Were you challenged and corrected, measured and critiqued with sincere discernment? Seek out the critics!

You are just beginning to learn- post training, you now have a place to start. You certainly have not arrived!

It’s time to continue taking steps towards navigating your reputation, spirit, beliefs, strengths and fears.

Don’t succumb to the methods of educational or instructive mediocrity or your last class, even mine. Move ahead on a continuum of developing a structured reasoning of water rescue knowledge. Don’t be brand favorited.

Explore fearlessly the things you embrace or ignore. Tell yourself with sincere conviction: I CAN DO THAT

You may allow yourself to be confined and restricted from creative opportunities that hold your potential hostage.

You have to give more. Put in more time. Sacrifice and possibly use additional resources of financial commitment or travel.

GET CONNECTED

Find a trusted mentor. Do they care about your reputation? How does that measure in action and output?

The only life that provides a spiritual and physical balance is one lived with purpose.

Remember this do not seek praise as your justification of excellence. No, refrain from the praise and seek the encouragement of improvement where you are not excelling! Those critical assessments even if they seem harsh to you, if you don’t get it, you are not trainable. You are emotional.

If you are feelings are hurt from an instructor comment, you need to keep practicing till you get it right! Listen to them and don’t waste their time or yours. You must be trainable or you are looking for the wrong results.

If you have selected the field of rescue as a work discipline, whether volunteer or paid staff, you have eclipsed a spiritual calling, it is simply not a job.

It requires of us that strive for excellence a deeper understanding of the fear associated with dire circumstances, the unknown human condition, our courage and bravery and our foremost skills and tools.

We must keep a measure of continued seeking knowledge to maintain that sacred trust.

We are seekers, searchers and problem solvers, we think for two, three or ten. It is not just about us.

WHO IS YOUR MENTOR?

When I teach in my audience, I see the prospective student in front of me. Spiritually I recognize my burden. It is their parents, teammates, agency, children, wife, husband or beloved, their brothers or sisters or those who depend upon them.

It is the manufacturers of the equipment we train with and use, it is their employees, all who laid a hand on the production and we trust their efforts and tools.

There are thousands of people in my classroom. And my ancestors are watching me. Am I a good steward of their trust, faith and determination? Do I wield their failures and warnings and guidance with respect, duty and honor?

How do I determine that? By humility and service, being a servant of the past to move the future.

These students are either there by their own volition or assigned to take my training. They come in blind faith, or with judgement and negative attitudes. How do we move beyond our own prejudices and expectations and arrive at trust?

We earn it by evidence and historical tempering.

We are the most difficult and opportunistic beings alive; we choose every minute how and what we will do.

In training, we cannot be selfish to a fault, we have to encompass all personalities, maturity levels and egos.

That takes trust, genuine influence of your explored and unique soul-and an open mind who is willing to listen.

But the training content must deliver.

I will keep learning. I invite you to join me and thousands of others in the pursuit of excellence as a way of being.

The world needs your competence and abilities. Let’s get busy!

__________

Posted: December 6, 2019

Content Creator of Rescue Water Craft and Personal Water Craft boating international education standards: Shawn Alladio is the world’s foremost authority and leading subject matter expert. She cares most about her community and the culture surrounding the safety of event service providers and Rescue Water Craft operators, working hard and dedicated towards protecting their reputation, distributing safety information and continuing to train these amazing individuals to the highest standards of care.

__________

Have any questions? Come train with us and discover what your community is doing to modernize standards, safety and reduce liability!

Caution: Use at your own risk. Please take a qualified Rescue Water Craft training course and maintain proper records and respect all the PWC, RWC, PPE, and gear OEM manufacturer warning labels and cautions.

BE REPUTABLE

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BE REPUTABLE

There is a saying: ‘Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery’. No, it is not when it comes to training. It is stealing.
This quotation is borrowed as well from the imitation of a quote from the biography of Marcus Aurelius by Jeremy Collier and Andre Dacier. Their book ‘Emperor Marcus Antoninus his conversations with himself, 1708’.

“You should consider that Imitation is the most acceptable part of Worship, and that Gods had much rather Mankind should Resemble, than Flatter them."

Do not become a bad imitation or a thief. Become a partner instead. Its much easier and it is noble.

Humans have a good and a bad side of their conscious based on our will. It is hard to always operate on the good side, it takes humility, responsibility and discipline. But what it really takes is a spiritual humility or respect for life and the chaos of its reign. It is part to our moral compass.

And Lifesaving is a sacred trust.

THE POWER OF NEGATIVITY

It is quite intoxicating. The closer a human reaches towards negativity the sooner they start to slip and begin to lose the grip on their spiritual balance.

Soon, life begins to narrow. It becomes harder for that person to see the ramification of those choices. They will soon collect other damaged people to them to justify that reality.

Likewise, I have a saying. 'Surround yourself with your own kind'. I choose to seek out amazing humans who are nor corrupt, maybe once they were and they learned. Certainly, I have learned my lessons. We all agree we want to be better and do better.

Training is a method of action based on explicit trust. Imitation means you want to be like the person you are copying. And that is flattering, but it can be dangerous. Why?

You miss the fundamentals, the rules, regulations, safety warnings, development and content is weakened.

The benefits you will receive are far greater than the money you will save. In fact, a poor imitation may be costly: damaged equipment, ruined water jet pumps, inaccurate information, injury or death.

Your reputation is very important. The type of imitation you should seek is professional development from a qualified instructor who can guide you through the vetting process.

POSITIVE IS ABSOLUTE POWER

The great part about that is you become part of something greater than yourself. You save time and money when you go directly to a mentor, or a leading authority.

Remember, you may gain for the moment, but you can lose for a lifetime.

Invest in your reputation, seek out qualified mentors and instructors, study and listen. Take your time to build your professional portfolio.

Do not contribute to weakening the Seamanship Skills our community desperately needs to defend. Future generations are depending upon our honest commitment to honor and duty.

It begins with imitation, yes, but for the pursuit of excellence, not the bits and pieces that will create a random pattern.

All our water rescue patterns need to be based on evidence results focused on by peers who have already made those mistakes so you don’t have to.

__________________

Posted: September 1, 2019

Content Creator of Rescue Water Craft and Personal Water Craft boating international education standards: Shawn Alladio is the world’s foremost authority and leading subject matter expert. She cares most about her community and the culture surrounding the safety of event service providers and Rescue Water Craft operators, working hard and dedicated towards protecting their reputation, distributing safety information and continuing to train these amazing individuals to the highest standards of care.

__________

Have any questions? Join the Rescue Water Craft Association
and discover what your community is doing to modernize standards, safety and reduce liability!
Join the Rescue Water Craft Association

Use at your own risk. Please take a qualified Rescue Water Craft training course and maintain proper records and respect all the PWC, RWC, PPE, and gear OEM manufacturer warning labels and cautions.

TSE TSO

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DECISION

TSE TSO

As Rescue Water Craft Coxswains, leaders or instructors, our goal is not to cause harm.

This means our training program needs to be inspected, reviewed and careful consideration and care used to implement the best practices. PROGRAM EVALUATION

We need to set success through the measure of producing competency and program security along with training accordingly. And we need to enforce that like mad!

What is always relative? History is relative. We tend not to learn from history until it becomes our own.

So how do we incorporate the lessons they learned? We must study and we must listen!

Let us go back in time.

It is 1934. Tyrolean climbers Aschenbrenner and Schneider make an attempt summit at Nanga Parbat in the Himalayans.

This mountain is the 9th highest on Earth.

Six Sherpas lost their lives and their names do not stand out in history.

Ego and National pride carry as high a price as that we find in the Rescue Water Craft community. Be proud of accomplishments, but first be prepared to ensure their success.

Tse Tso is a saying ‘Long Life’ and Pasang Picture Sherpa saved his life through the determination of this mindset during a snowstorm. He was at high altitude when abandoned by his employers to fend for himself with 2 of his fellow Porters.

This action meant certain death on the mountain. He had a choice to make. Give up and surrender to fate or to take action. The problem he faced was he was not taught to lead and was not equipped to do so.

He decided at that moment to take the lead and endure into the unknown.

Let us not forget the hard lessons of all pioneers, survivors and the dead.

This is where ‘lessons learned’ comes into play and how we often ignored the warning signs. We could extract thousands of these incidents that any of us could determine our best route forward.

DO NOT DUPLICATE

The need for support staff was critical to success in mountaineering at this level. How we as humans treated one another then was reciprocal for the history of those times.

However, for us in 2019 we can revisit and learn from this tragedy. A significant cultural detraction was the ‘Sahibs’ did not train their ‘Porters’ to be climbers. They did not outfit them with appropriate climbing gear or enough caloric intake.

There was a disconnect between the two groups and the porters (Sherpas) suffered greatly for this.

Aschenbrenne and Schneider abandoned 3 Sherpas on a descent leaving them and speeding off on skis. Pasang Picture realized he would have to take the lead to bring down Nima Dorje and Pinzo Norbu to basecamp IV.

This was not exclusive to the German group in the formative years of climbing the Himalayas; many nations have gone to the Himalayans not respecting the capabilities of the Sherpas as climbers but simple carriers of equipment for logistical support. Budget with many events has placed safety in the back row for decades.

What is the parallel for today?

Do not think that your mechanic is not important to your RWC program. They are on that boat with you! If you are not able to tell effectively your mechanic what the problems are how can they make an efficient assessment and repair?

In 2019 for climbing change is championed from Nepalese climber Nirmal Purja, and partners Mingma David Sherpa and Gesman Tamang summited Everest of Project Possible:

PROJECT POSSIBLE

Sherpas have climbed the Himalayas more than any other group in the world, but have lain mainly in the shadows of mountaineering history. Project Possible broke that barrier and shattered it.

Change is a struggle. We are not our great grandparents and we do not live in those times. We are in a time of great prosperity and reduction of poverty worldwide. We have opportunity and luxury. Anyone can be great if they put their mind to it and follow suit.

We have opportunity, ability to travel, and the incredible asset of using the internet to learn faster, unite with new Rescue Water Craft partners, use translation services to communicate and share content and inspiration.

We are witness to the rapid increase of a unique small power craft that I set out to revolutionize training worldwide. I did not know this alone. Thousands of people are the impetus of this success. The internet is making that happen for all of us. The obscurity of anonymity has passed.

I myself believe I am a guide for others as a Subject Matter Expert in the Personal Water Craft community. I am the voice for those who are behind the scenes, in our past history and guiding you to take the lead now and in the future.

I could have all the answers in the room, but if a water rescue mob doesn’t want that, we could revert back to a tragedy like the one in 1934 or any known Rescue Water Craft fatality.

Why is this? Not listening to the lessons learned of our forefathers and foremothers who pioneered the RWC capacity and averted disaster. We are still alive, striving for Tse Tso, nobody dies.

ONE IS NONE

In the early years of the 1970’s to the 80’s the Personal Water Craft water safety crew coined a few terms I will share with you:

1. A Moment for Safety will Save a Lifetime of Regret – ‘Brian Bendix’
2. Nobody Dies – USJSBA/IJSBA Course Marshals – ‘Brad Southworth, Ronny Kling, Steve Strickland, Willy’

These men paid attention and were not concerned about safety, they planned for it with strategy. They had much less then you do today for assets. You may not have been born in 1974, so learn to respect those who handed the baton into your lane.

The 1934 expedition is where Ang Tsering Sherpa and Pasang Painter Sherpa became mountaineers and were no longer just Porters. They became lifesavers.

Ask yourself this: How would you manage the death of your Crew while you were navigating on the water? What would you do next?

The names of the dead Sherpas are not mentioned in history like the leads and nations who funded those climbs.

The Germans did not share the details of what happened those 7 days of survival on the mountain. The Sherpa voices were private and reserved, their version reserved in the faded distance.

Many climbers died from decisions that were made before they stepped foot on the mountain. The same parallel happens in the Rescue Water Craft community. Some of this was economic, poor planning, bad weather or an incomplete team.

Likewise, Coxswains and Crew have died because their training was not secure for safety. How would you value their sacrifice?

The storm they encountered on Nanga Parbat that began on July 7, 1934 at the Silver Saddle shares with us valuable lessons of leadership, organization, training and what training produces; safety.

The vetting system of a Rescue Water Craft team is critical. The knowledge base and equipment must be reliant and the equipment ready for the field.

Many Rescue Water Craft programs have insufficient equipment and are ill prepared to succeed in 2019. Even though we began our Rescue Water Craft outreach in 1974 in the USA.

I have witnessed Rescue Water Craft programs where the Crew Members are treated as a second-class citizen. Sometimes they are referred to as ‘rescue swimmers’ but in our maritime culture they are Crew members. This is dangerous.

Why is it dangerous you may wonder? If a Rescue Water Craft Coxswain is injured, knocked off the RWC or has died, the Crew person must take their position and do so with competence.

And during the struggle they may need to recover or rescue their teammate or survivors in the water and finish the recovery to the end point of transfer.

Crew must possess the same skills and knowledge base as the Coxswain. This is a close quarter boat for persons on board, everyone is part of the stability or instability of the craft underway to some extent.

Those not in the lead may not give credit to those in the flanks.

1. Prepare an effective vetting program for all participants, ensure their physical and mental strength is adequate
2. Monitor Weather and water conditions underway
3. Prepare properly Personal Protective Equipment
4. Inspect and maintain the vessel according to the manufacturer specifications
5. Train like your life and others depend upon it
6. Assess and remedy any necessary corrections that are discovered
7. Investigate mishaps and revise training or program management immediately
8. Clearly define your area of operation, seasonally, daily or with disasters in mind. Set limits.
9. Proper budget needed to maintain a marine unit

A Rescue Water Craft is a boat. It is not a cheap excuse to rescue or a shortcut.

It is not an inexpensive boat. It is a high-performance craft that requires proper funds, professional maintenance (monthly and annual) necessary to maintain a sufficient program for each craft.

If you or your organization is not treating your RWC program like a boat marine unit, close it down immediately. Do not proceed! Get off the boat and restructure your maritime program.

That mountain is waiting for the storm to show you where your problems are and it may very well take life. At that point you cannot afford the program you should have put in place before tragedy strikes.

My friend Lee Selman sent me this book ‘Tigers of the Snow’, written by Jonathan Neale.

The perspective of culture, lifesaving and information is a must read.

You will discover how the narrative of truth can become a Long Life (Tse Tso), or lead to certain death by personal volition.

We choose. Choose this book and gain insight into training, communication, planning and strategy and why it must be purposeful:

TIGERS OF THE SNOW

While you are at it, look up the history of the Sherpas and their contributions. We honor those pioneers and preserve their history. All lifesavers are unique souls who would give their life for others. This crosses all disciplines and mediums, earth, sky or water.

Things are getting better. People are humbling themselves to address the problems they have occurred. These assessments are working. Encourage one another to continue to foster developing our Rescue Water Craft culture.

Do not remain silent when a mishap occurs, dig in, expose the problems and save the life of yourself or a teammate.

That is the answer.

__________________

Posted: August 13, 2019

Content Creator of Rescue Water Craft and Personal Water Craft boating international education standards: Shawn Alladio is the world’s foremost authority and leading subject matter expert. She cares most about her community and the culture surrounding the safety of event service providers and Rescue Water Craft operators, working hard and dedicated towards protecting their reputation, distributing safety information and continuing to train these amazing individuals to the highest standards of care.

__________

Have any questions? Join the Rescue Water Craft Association
and discover what your community is doing to modernize standards, safety and reduce liability!
Join the Rescue Water Craft Association

Use at your own risk. Please take a qualified Rescue Water Craft training course and maintain proper records and respect all the PWC, RWC, PPE, and gear OEM manufacturer warning labels and cautions.

DUTY BOUND

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VALUE

There is something alive within our spirit that challenges us to cause harm or to create good. However, there is inherently a greater good within us.

We choose every day what we will believe, and how we will obey those choices.

Changing course can be extremely troublesome.

Sometimes we are ready and off we go into uncharted waters, not knowing the outcome.

I would like to challenge you to adopt a ‘Water Rescue Mindset’ for Rescue Water Craft. What does that mean?

I would extend to you an invitation to get to know your boat first.

Second to be comfortable in the water you operate in.

And lastly, our third place; test your ideas and training, evaluate with a fearsome courage and make corrections as you pivot.

RESPONSIBILITY

You are not under your own dominion, we are fractions of many unified natures; some are ancestral, some are derived from immediate influences and other are cultural.

A few of us have firm belief in a spiritual calling. For sure you are called to the domain of water rescue.

This is a service oriented outreach. To be a servant towards others in a moment of peril.

Foremost if you work for an agency you are a representative of that heritage and our maritime culture.

Egotistical and Narcissist behaviors are not helpful.

Don’t think it’s not you. It is, and it is I as well, we have to admit that we can be the biggest problem on the boat. Then we can pivot starboard side to a better course.

You can choose to strive towards things that can allow you to become a creator and you will feel better about the actions you put out into the world.

We feel good when we help others, its chemical in our brain and it feeds our body, some people are not aware of this.

That is why the more goodness we generate, the better our life becomes and everything around us increases.

THE PUZZLE

We can replace bad behaviors in operations with good ones. It is as simple as wearing personal protective equipment (PPE).

For some people this is uncomfortable because it is a challenge against their ego. But really it is not.

It is a lifesaving reality of professional development.

If operational experiences are chronically negative with your program or your Rescue Water Craft keeps breaking down, it is time to work out the consequences.

This will help you or your agency save money, preserve your vessel, increase safety and probably discover there are a lot more ways you can utilize your Rescue Water Craft.

Remember, the problem is us. It is not the boat or the trailer. You and I are the problem and that means we can equally be the solution.

I encourage you to continue to develop your spirit first. Because when you do that, positive changes will influence everything else you command.

Be Brave. Triumph.

__________________

Posted: August 5, 2019

Content Creator of Rescue Water Craft and Personal Water Craft boating international education standards: Shawn Alladio is the world’s foremost authority and leading subject matter expert. She cares most about her community and the culture surrounding the safety of event service providers and Rescue Water Craft operators, working hard and dedicated towards protecting their reputation, distributing safety information and continuing to train these amazing individuals to the highest standards of care.

__________

Have any questions? Join the Rescue Water Craft Association
and discover what your community is doing to modernize standards, safety and reduce liability!
Join the Rescue Water Craft Association

Use at your own risk. Please take a qualified Rescue Water Craft training course and maintain proper records and respect all the PWC, RWC, PPE, and gear OEM manufacturer warning labels and cautions.

COURAGE IS CONTAGIOUS

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POTENTIAL EMERGES

Potential emerges at critical opportune moments. Will we seize it?

We decide what the direction will entail upon our selection.

Daily we dance with disaster and opportunity, but that which matters most is to end the day prior to sleep with some measure of calm. My life has been a complicated path, plotting it was at times secure and others unsure. And that is what differentiates into the positive and negative.

I do not speak for anyone. I don’t know your struggles but I am sure they are there, like mine.

OWN IT

When we connect or reach out to others shouldn’t it be measured with some attitude of goodness?

Should we not expect to gain something from another, but to encourage and lend a hand?

How does it work, this complexity of human reach?

ONE IS NONE

I have no answers, just a variety of experiences and I hope yours are bounding along as you desire.

My fortunes have been in those closest to me, my divinity is in the Lord above and my soul lays here wherever present moment occurs and we live, we try, then we die.

But for now, oxygen is king and I am surrounded by those venerable souls, those lucky creatures who know who they are and are willing to stand for others.

I love you so, be good my friends.

Can’t wait to talk to you again.

Be brave.

Shawn Alladio

__________________
Posted: August 5, 2019

Content Creator of Rescue Water Craft and Personal Water Craft boating international education standards: Shawn Alladio is the world’s foremost authority and leading subject matter expert. She cares most about her community and the culture surrounding the safety of event service providers and Rescue Water Craft operators, working hard and dedicated towards protecting their reputation, distributing safety information and continuing to train these amazing individuals to the highest standards of care.

__________

Have any questions? Join the Rescue Water Craft Association
and discover what your community is doing to modernize standards, safety and reduce liability!
Join the Rescue Water Craft Association

Use at your own risk. Please take a qualified Rescue Water Craft training course and maintain proper records and respect all the PWC, RWC, PPE, and gear OEM manufacturer warning labels and cautions.

WHY OPERATIONS MATTER

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PRESSURE

Operations matter because you have made an admission you are dedicated towards serving others.

This is important to your family, so you can continue with forward success and their dependence and admiration is a value.

The inquiry of your spirit should become the dogma of your participation.

It matters to your team mates.

Their lives may depend upon your choices and behaviors. You influence the kinetic emotional energy, either by causing discord or protecting a unified front of purpose.

TIME IS PURPOSE

The agency you represent depends upon your character and integrity, not your ego or pride. The hierarchy needs protectors who are humble through service and strong in action.

The public is relying upon your commitment.

For that person or persons in peril they are hoping for your intervention to be swift, smooth and professional.

They do not need a problem to arise from your actions when they are struggling with their own.

You need to demonstrate boating safety skills. You operate a Rescue Water Craft, you area Coxswain.

DEBT OF HERITAGE

As a Coxswain you rely upon Seamanship Skills.

Your Seamanship Skills are part of our Maritime Heritage, and you my dear colleague are a Mariner.

You are not a rescuer.

As a Captain you represent thousands of years of boating safety from every culture in the world that moved across the seas.

Your actions are a reflection of their sacrifice and loss.

Remember who you are.

__________________
Posted: July 29, 2019

Content Creator of Rescue Water Craft and Personal Water Craft boating international education standards: Shawn Alladio is the world’s foremost authority and leading subject matter expert. She cares most about her community and the culture surrounding the safety of event service providers and Rescue Water Craft operators, working hard and dedicated towards protecting their reputation, distributing safety information and continuing to train these amazing individuals to the highest standards of care.

__________

Have any questions? Join the Rescue Water Craft Association
and discover what your community is doing to modernize standards, safety and reduce liability!
Join the Rescue Water Craft Association

Use at your own risk. Please take a qualified Rescue Water Craft training course and maintain proper records and respect all the PWC, RWC, PPE, and gear OEM manufacturer warning labels and cautions.

To Train is to Know Yourself

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The Legacy of Thought

You will have to train your mind if you want to know who you truly are.

Reality based rescue that will put you under serious pressure will expose your weakness.

Alternatively, if could also expose your calm behaviors and steadiness.

What are the values that make you better at your intended goals?

It is important that you identify this structure now.

Decide on your virtues and your goals will draft in that direction.

VOLUME

Do you set your goals on high so the volume increases?

This may be the way to understand that speed and poor imitation is not the correct direction.

And the obverse compliment may incite the legend of your capability.

Consider a master.

A person who dedicates their mind to the pursuit of an action that is quantified by skills measured, accounted and based on the result of evidence.

Let us entertain the truth of physics.

QUANITFY

Actions are quantifiable through our thoughts. If we can perceive the selection process in sequence it is possible to practice a purposeful result.

Think about it. Wrap your mind in thought. Do not be mediocre. Arrogance likewise is a waste of oxygen.

Conquest will only appear when surrendering the ego and becoming part of the flow of forward movement. This is a great void of emotion.

Only a calm, steady mind can pursue excellence.

Be careful, you become what you think.

If you are negative, there will reside your results. And your team will suffer for it.

__________________
Posted: July 29, 2019

Content Creator of Rescue Water Craft and Personal Water Craft boating international education standards: Shawn Alladio is the world’s foremost authority and leading subject matter expert. She cares most about her community and the culture surrounding the safety of event service providers and Rescue Water Craft operators, working hard and dedicated towards protecting their reputation, distributing safety information and continuing to train these amazing individuals to the highest standards of care.

__________

Have any questions? Join the Rescue Water Craft Association
and discover what your community is doing to modernize standards, safety and reduce liability!
Join the Rescue Water Craft Association

Use at your own risk. Please take a qualified Rescue Water Craft training course and maintain proper records and respect all the PWC, RWC, PPE, and gear OEM manufacturer warning labels and cautions.

SAFETY BEHAVIOR BEGINS WITH YOU

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Safety is Not a Word

SAFETY IS A BEHAVIOR

When our Earth lives its cycle of life, it has measures it must undertake. You do not have to be a First Responder to train and prepare. As a citizen you can adopt the same mindset.

Earth is in a constant evolution pattern, if it's not an earthquake, tsunami or a flood, it will be a volcanic eruption.

Certainly, we recognize that? Or do we focus on the sensationalism and hype? Not taking our own safety into consideration. Trust me, you don't want to wait to find out!

Sensationalism feeds definitive emotional responses in our physiology and thoughts.

I would say make a choice.

1. Educate or support Anxiety.
2. How can you reduce the anxiety?

It's an oxymoron: EDUCATE!

The Power of Choice

You know that old adage ‘knowledge is power’. Well we think knowledge is also lifesaving.

You will feel much better getting to learn about the planet we call our habitat.

Truly this is the only way to be at peace with the variety of natural elements that control the life cycle
You will experience great rewards.

Did you know that K38 hosts an Education for Disaster Preparation group on Facebook? You can join here if you have a desire to learn how to manage duress when natural events occur.

INVEST

Education for Disaster Preparation

If you join the group, we have a lot of varied subjects that hold downloadable materials for your review. Please visit our UNITS section where this information is stored!

You can consider it like an educational vault!
Or you can conduct an online search of your topic of interest, the internet has everything available to you.

All you have to do is take action.

I suggest that you do that now, rather than in a panic when the first rain band or tremor strikes!

You will feel better!

__________________
Posted: July 15, 2019

Content Creator of Rescue Water Craft and Personal Water Craft boating international education standards: Shawn Alladio is the world’s foremost authority and leading subject matter expert. She cares most about her community and the culture surrounding the safety of event service providers and Rescue Water Craft operators, working hard and dedicated towards protecting their reputation, distributing safety information and continuing to train these amazing individuals to the highest standards of care.

__________

Have any questions? Join the Rescue Water Craft Association
and discover what your community is doing to modernize standards, safety and reduce liability!
Join the Rescue Water Craft Association

Use at your own risk. Please take a qualified Rescue Water Craft training course and maintain proper records and respect all the PWC, RWC, PPE, and gear OEM manufacturer warning labels and cautions.

Women who go the Distance on Personal Water Craft

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Women Who Inspire

Meet Marta Sikora my former K38 student and friend. Marta came to the USA from K38 Poland to learn how to become a Rescue Water Craft Coxswain.

One day a call came for a request for water safety support. The event would stretch over 3 months. I got off the phone, looked over at Marta and thought a few minutes.

I got up and told her to pack her bags, you are going to Florida! She said ‘I am?’.

Key West to NYC

We began preparations as time was of the essence.

The original RWC operator had backed out and the event was in motion. Tom Jones was an extreme endurance athlete and this was his project.

Tom brought over his Rescue Water Craft and we went through it and got it ready for the journey. Marta and I went over her SPOT tracker, GPS and how to use a Marine Band radio.

She was going to be responsible for the team safety, recovery and navigation along the trek.

Marta operated a Honda Aquatrax from Key West Florida to New York City, New York. That was 1,800 miles of responsible navigation out to sea and though inlets. This was an extreme hardship.

Long Distance PWC Adventure Covered 3 Months

I know that women will be inspired by her actions. But this is not a gender specific experience, it’s a human experience.

Please listen to the video as I share her amazing story that covers three months. I am proud of her and honored to call her friend.

__________________
Posted: July 14, 2019

Content Creator of Rescue Water Craft and Personal Water Craft boating international education standards: Shawn Alladio is the world’s foremost authority and leading subject matter expert. She cares most about her community and the culture surrounding the safety of event service providers and Rescue Water Craft operators, working hard and dedicated towards protecting their reputation, distributing safety information and continuing to train these amazing individuals to the highest standards of care.

__________

Have any questions? Join the Rescue Water Craft Association
and discover what your community is doing to modernize standards, safety and reduce liability!
Join the Rescue Water Craft Association

Use at your own risk. Please take a qualified Rescue Water Craft training course and maintain proper records and respect all the PWC, RWC, PPE, and gear OEM manufacturer warning labels and cautions.

100 FOOT WAVE

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FADING LA NINA

StormSurf.com clinical analysis of Storm #8 of the year 2001

Reference date: November 21, 2001

Storm #8 generated the largest swell on record. Beating out the huge Hawaiian El Nino swell of 1/28/98.

Forecast to be a rather local and moderate storm that was to track over buoy 46006 (SE Papa). Like Storm 1 in 1999, what actually hit was beyond imagination.

Days earlier 2 storms were forecast to move in quick succession into the Gulf of Alaska.

As expected, the first one developed and followed the forecast track. Generating a swell that started to hit the outer SE Papa buoy (46006) on 11/19 at 11 AM with seas in the 20-23 ft @ 17 secs.

This swell reached Mavericks the afternoon of November 20th with seas 13-14 ft @ 14-17 secs with swell 10.5 ft @ 15.5 secs, holding through the night. Nothing noteworthy but defiantly rideable at Mavericks. While the first storm took up residence in the Gulf and slowly faded. A second storm followed quickly in its tracks on November 19th.

It developed a small but relatively intense fetch area in its south quadrant with winds at 55-60 knots blowing due east. Carried by the Jetstream and fueled by the moisture left behind by the first storm. These winds found lots of traction at the ocean’s surface, already agitated from the earlier storm.

K38 at Mavericks

MAVERICKS

The new storm also tracked east at a very fast pace. Not allowing the developing seas to escape the influence of its winds, piling more wave energy on top of an already large swell (virtual fetch).

By the morning of 11/20 winds were still being recorded with speeds at 55-60 knots.

The northern component of the resulting swell hit buoy 46006 at 9 AM and held through 7 PM with seas ranging 38.5-41.9 ft @ 17-20 seconds. Very large but not off the scale.

Clearly, this buoy did not get hit with all the wave energy this storm had produced. With much of it passing south undetected. And buoy 46059 located 350 nautical miles off Pt. Reyes was out of service, it was ripped off the ocean floor from large swell activity. Further reducing the effectiveness of the normal early warning system.

Nearshore the situation got interesting. On the morning of 11/21, the swell from the first storm was still present at buoy 46012 (Half Moon Bay) with decoded swell at 12 ft @ 15 secs. As expected, by 10 AM the second swell started to build in with combined seas 16.4 ft and the new swell at 11.1 @ 20 secs and increasing rapidly.

The paddle-in crew was out cautiously catching some bombs as the swell jumped in size with each passing set. The tow teams waited in the channel for their chance to strike. By noon they got their chance as the last paddle surfers were cleaned out and increasing south winds took a toll on conditions.

Combined seas were 19.6 ft @ 20 secs with solid energy out to 25 secs and swell 14.1 ft @ 19 secs.

One hour later swell was up to 14.9 ft @ 19 secs. By now the tow teams were only shoulder hopping the huge sets that were pouring over the reef while south winds set up a strong northerly cross chop.

Even so, Carlos Burle managed to snag the biggest wave of the year, measured at 68 ft on the face.

Shawn working rescue at Mavericks

PEAK

The swell was interacting with the 15 second swell already present, creating huge waves breaking way outside the normal outermost reefs. By 2 PM the new swell was up to 16.3 ft @ 19 seconds, then up to 19.3 ft @ 21 second one hour later.

Shawn Alladio (K38) was out in the channel on a Jet SkiÂź at Mavericks and reported nearly being taken out by a set of waves. The largest being upwards of 100 ft. Based on the buoys, even larger waves followed after she made it safely to shore.

By 5 PM the largest decoded swell reading hit, with swell at 19.9 ft @ 19.4 secs and combined seas to 23.98 ft.

Whitewater was visible out to the horizon at most coastal locations. And longtime locals reporting breaks they had never seen were going off, but way beyond anything that would be classified as rideable.

Carlos Burle towed into a wave early in the swell of November 21, 2001 at Mavericks. Even larger and meaner waves broke that afternoon, with no one in sight.

Story posted here: http://stormsurf.com/page2/papers/history.html

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Posted: June 23, 2019

Content Creator of Rescue Water Craft and Personal Water Craft boating international education standards: Shawn Alladio is the world’s foremost authority and leading subject matter expert. She cares most about her community and the culture surrounding the safety of event service providers and Rescue Water Craft operators, working hard and dedicated towards protecting their reputation, distributing safety information and continuing to train these amazing individuals to the highest standards of care.

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