Tylosand Rocks !

We've been down in Tylosand for the past couple days and all I can say is "This place rocks". The joint has everything you need: friendly people, warm water, lively atmosphere and great lifeguards. We started our first night being shown how they treat their trainee lifeguards. Hilarious ! The lifeguard station down here also has a lifeguard school where people pay money to complete a 2 week lifeguard course. The facilities are awesome and its a pretty cool place to learn to become a lifeguard.

In the first week of lifeguard school the trainees have to battle the senior lifeguards in a night that includes fun and games followed by traditional Swedish dinner and pantomimes. I'm not allowed to say too much about the night as the senior lifeguards take it very seriously and like to keep all the secrets exactly that. But I can tell you it was a wonderful experience I will never forget. Maxi and I couldn't let them have all the fun and at the very last minute decided to give them our little rendition of "I will survive" in drag. Not sure if they were shocked or found it funny !! Check out the end of the video below :)

The only way to kill a Swedish hangover is with a dip in the ocean. On this occasion it was the Atlantic Ocean. Our crew and one of the Swedish lifeguards (the ladies are gonna like this guy) decided to paddle out and around the little island that sits just 1km of the beach at Tylosand. The water was calm warm and just what the doctor ordered. While out there we got to watch the Junior lifeguards out training to swim down deep and bring things up from the bottom. I have a lot of respect for them and the lifeguards that patrol the beach in Sweden. They pay to do the course to then go and work voluntarily on the beach to keep beachgoers safe. That's a quality you don't find in many humans in this day and age. It just goes to show they have good hearts and are passionate about what they do. GO TEAM !

Day 2 consisted of us taking part in a Rescue Expo on Tylosand Beach. The Tylosand lifeguards team up with the Coastguard, sea rescue, fire brigade and police by displaying their equipment and doing scenarios on the beach. We did a 20 minute board rescue demonstration of conscious and unconscious patients followed by a fun board rescue relay using both lifeguard services. The day was a huge success, with huge crowds turning up to see what these brave men and women do on a day to day basis !

Later that day we went and checked out the Tylosand after beach club. Basically many places near the beach in Sweden have after beach clubs where people go in the afternoon (between 4 & 6pm) to watch a live band. I'm told by everyone that Tylosand is the best in the whole of Sweden and boy they weren't wrong. The band was cranking out some great tunes with people of all ages rocking out ! Very fun afternoon !!

 

This morning we took the trainee lifeguards for a board session. Many of them had never paddled a board before so it was cool to see their excitement and enthusiasm. We paddled over to the island (1km) and back (1km) then went through conscious and unconscious patient pick ups. I think many of them will be sore tomorrow :)

Later this afternoon we're going to hang out at some of the lifeguard towers along the beach and just see how they work. Really looking forward to learning some stuff from them !

The lovely ladies at Owl Marketing have tee'd up a hike with the world's most influential online travel writer Paul Steele and we are looking forward to seeing the UK through his eyes. 

Stay tuned for more details !

Till next time people :)