This article originally appeared in the Illawarra Flame, February 28th 2022
March 8 is International Women’s Day and Scarborough Wombarra has a great reason to celebrate – this summer, the surf club is fielding its first all-female patrol!
As a teenager, Rachelle Balez was the only girl on her patrol. Today, the 35-year-old scientist captains a patrol made up entirely of women at Scarborough Wombarra Surf Life Saving Club (SLSC.
Rachelle is the daughter of sculptor Didier Balez (the artist behind Comradeship, the beautiful steel sailboat memorial overlooking the ocean at Coledale). Rachelle grew up in Wombarra in a quieter time, when artist Ian Gentle had his studio at Clifton, before Sea Cliff Bridge, weekend crowds and standstill traffic. She remembers days at the beach when her dad was the only life saver on duty. The surf club was small; its female quota was tiny.
“I was the only girl who did my Bronze Medallion when I was 16, and I was probably the youngest by 10 to 15 years,” Rachelle says.
“Most of the guys that were doing it were young dads and their kids had just started Nippers.
“It probably wasn’t until over 10 years after I did my Bronze Medallion that I had my first patrol with another girl.”
Read the full article in the Illawarra Flame – Lifesaving Leaders