5 days ago
North Entrance lifesaver Col Laing retires from active service after 67 years
When Col Laing became a surf lifesaver at age 16 in 1958, he did it because that was what all his mates did.
"There weren't all the sports that are around now," he said.
"[It was] lifesaving in the summer and rugby league in the winter."
Mr Laing never anticipated he would still be on patrol in his 80s, nor did he expect to build a club from the ground up.
But fast forward 67 years and that is the legacy he leaves, as he officially retires from active patrols at the age of 82.
After spending almost 20 years at The Entrance Surf Life Saving Club, the champion surf lifesaver saw a need for patrols at nearby North Entrance Beach, where calls for help were becoming more regular by the mid-1970s.
"Everyone was screaming out for a club to be formed over here, so we decided we'd form a club."
Mr Laing said the improvement in surf lifesaving over the years had helped him and others save countless lives.
"There was none of the equipment that we've got now … we only had the rescue boat and the reel and we used the surf boat," he said.
"The old Holgier Nielsen method was about 5 per cent effective, I reckon."
Named for the Danish sportsman who invented it, the Holgier Nielsen method is a historical technique used on drowning victims, in which the patient is laid on their front while the rescuer presses their back and lifts their elbows to assist breathing.
"There's been a big improvement over those years, and it was needed too," Mr Laing said.
"They've got helicopters out there, they've got drones flying around, defibs … you name it, they've got it."
The summer of 2024–25 was officially Mr Laing's last on active patrol duty.
With a smile on his face, he recalls the surprise from others on the beach as he entered the water to help a swimmer in distress that season, not realising at the time it would be his last rescue.
"The younger members on patrol were looking to me, so I just got out there on the board," Mr Laing said.
He believed his commitment to surf lifesaving could be the key to the fountain of youth.
"I think any sport, but particularly with surf lifesaving, the swimming is good because all the body parts are worked … there's no pressure on it," Mr Laing said.
"That, and the sense of community.
Mr Laing taught North Entrance Surf Life Saving Club deputy president Kate Broadhurst as a nipper in the 1990s and now her children are learning from him.
Ms Broadhurst found it hard to put into words just what he meant to the club.
"Col was responsible not only for keeping the club going but [ensuring] we were a really prominent, competitive club," she said.
Mr Laing has won hundreds of medals over almost seven decades on the beach, from branch to national championships and then masters titles in ski and board rescue events, and most of them have been donated to the club.
"We've been giving out the 'Col Laing Nipper of the Week' [award] using his medals for three of four seasons now," Ms Broadhurst said.
"Each week, one of the kids gets a medal … Col presents it."
Mr Laing said he loved to see the look on the kids' faces as they were given a medal.
"It's not the champions that get it, it's the ones that are putting the effort in to try to get better," he said.
While no longer actively patrolling, Mr Laing will continue to support the club in other roles, focusing on junior development.
