ARANCIA INDUSTRIES LTD.

Warren Mitchel story.

The book we've all been waiting for to set the record straight on IRBs. How When Where and Why & there's a chapter on Arancia in it too. The pictures were taken at Australia House, London 6th June. celebrating 100 years of Surf Life Saving in Australia.

Group of three are of HRH, the Australian Ambassador and Warren;  the group of four, HRH, Warren, Rear Admiral John Tolhurst of the RNLI and Edward Wake-Walker (facing him.). It transpired that Prince Philip knew Edward's father in the Royal Navy during the war, and his recollections of surfing while his ship was in Sydney were a revelation.

We were delighted to see Warren and Carol at Australia House and to be part of the long over due recognition of Warren's life time work in getting IRBs accepted by SLSA.

Good on you Warren.

Break Through by Edward Wake-Walker
This is the intriguing story of how the Australian surf came to be conquered by the seemingly puny 12ft inflatable rescue boat (the rubber ducky as it came to be known). It is now the single most important means of rescuing people from the surf, not just in Australia but in many countries across the world.

The story originates in the early 1960s when a young Australian, Warren Mitchell, working as a lifeguard on a north Cornish beach, witnessed early trials of inflatable rescue boats (which led to the RNLI adopting them into their fleet). He took the concept back to New South Wales and, in the face of enormous scepticism, proved to his countrymen that the IRB was a quicker, safer alternative to all the traditional methods used to get to people drowning ‘beyond the break’.

Relevant to both UK and Australian lifesavers; there are some 100,000 volunteer surf lifesavers in Australia alone who will be celebrating their association’s centenary in 2007, ‘The Year of the Lifesaver’. The sea and surf, as everyone knows, are ingrained in the Oz culture.