Surf lifesaving originated in Australia in 1906 in response to drownings at local beaches in Sydney. Such groups became necessary following the relaxing of laws prohibiting daylight bathing on Australian beaches.[2] Volunteer groups of men were trained in life saving methods and patrolled the beaches as lifesavers looking after public safety.
The other key part of surf life saving is the competitive sport which evolved from the training activities of lifesavers at Australian and New Zealand surf beaches, though most events share little with modern Inflatable Rescue Boat (IRB) based surf rescue techniques. The sport is still based on the volunteer clubs which perform the rescue duty, from the children in the nippers though to professional elite circuits that have been established for the high-profile ironman events. The sport is mainly still confined to Australia and New Zealand, although the Nova Scotia Lifeguard Service in Canada has run the Nova Scotia Surf League competitions every summer since 2000, and competition programs exist in 5 regions of Canada. In Europe the sport is increasingly developed, with Spain and Germany particularly strong and the UK and Ireland developing rapidly.
