Who can be a member?
Membership is open to any person who is willing to volunteer some of their time and expertise to assist in KEEPING THE BAY SAFE!
Open to All
The minimum age for membership is 17 years.
To be able to respond in an emergency in a timely manner, members need to reside preferably close to, or within the general Busselton area.
If you are a member you are committing to attend:
- Regular training to ensure you can undertake duties safely and competently
- Emergency call outs
All members are placed on a roster that is suitable for them. There are weekday rosters as well as weekend rosters. The roster generally means volunteers may be required on a 3 to 4 week rotation.
In addition, Marine Rescue Busselton tries to ensure there are more than enough volunteers on each roster. This allows for volunteers to be away when rostered on, without impacting the ability for the rostered crew to respond to an emergency callout.
Where possible training will take place during the roster, but this is not always practical.
But I can't...
A number of statements are often put as possible impediments to joining. They include such statements as:
- I get seasick!
- I am not comfortable with going out to sea!
- I don’t have any boating experience!
Don’t let this type of issue put you off at least giving it a go!
Seasick pills DO prevent seasickness – and you will then discover there is another world out there.
Similarly, you may find that ‘being uncomfortable at sea in a small dinghy’ is a totally different experience to being in one of the larger rescue vessels – the latter are designed for all weather conditions.
And ‘no boating experience’ – train with us and get the right kind of knowledge that will give you the confidence to possibly get your own boat and know how to use it safely.
Importantly - being a member is not all about being on the water.
Just as critical to the rescue group are the volunteers who:
- Man the Control Room; operate the radios and other equipment, and give guidance in an emergency
- Carry out maintenance
- Drive the tractor to launch the rescue vessel from the beach
- Assist with administration duties
You can decide where your talents best lay – on the water, in the Control Room or in other areas that relate to your specific expertise.
Who to contact
If you are interested in joining please contact our New Member Liaison Officer by completing the form or by direct email: liaison@marinerescuebusselton.org.au
This will allow the appropriate information to be sent to you.
There is no obligation to join but you are encouraged to arrange to see in-person what we do and to assist in you determining your level of interest. Completing this form will allow that to occur.
Complete our form
What happens after you join?
After you join, a training schedule will be developed for you based on whether you will be involved as crew on the rescue vessels, in the Control Room or in some other area. Where possible the training schedule and therefore timing of the individual steps in the training process will depend on having a group of people available to go through the process at the same time.
