What is happening
From the start of the season you will use a new app to run your patrols. It is called SurfAssist, and it replaces the Operations App you use today.
Why
The straight answer is that the current app has not been good enough. Sign-on problems, slowness, and patrol logs that did not always save. You told us, and you were right. Rather than keep patching a ten-year-old app, we have built one around how a patrol actually runs and around the exact points where the old one let you down.
What you will notice
• It opens in your phone's browser.
• There is nothing to download, nothing to install, and no updates to chase.
• You sign in with your usual Members Area login.
• Signing a patrol on takes five taps. No typing.
• Your roster is already there. One tap marks everyone on, then you fix the exceptions.
• Signing off is quick.
Put simply: quicker to sign on, harder to lose your work, and simpler to run.
Will I lose my patrol log?
This is the one we have worked hardest on, because it is the failure that hurt most. Everything you record is saved on your phone as it happens, and then sent. If you drop out of mobile signal, or a send does not get through, your work is held and sent again once the connection comes back. Losing a patrol log should become a rare event rather than something you plan around.
What it covers
Sign-on and sign-off, your roster and attendance, patrol stats and rescues, incidents, the Surf Risk Rating and gear checks, plus keeping SurfCom up to date on your patrol and asset status.
When
SurfAssist will be ready before your season starts. You will hear from your state or club closer to the time about exactly when to switch.
Do I need training?
There is no course to complete and nothing to do in advance. You will get short how-to guides and a walkthrough video before the season. The app is built to be picked up in a single patrol, so the orientation is about confidence, not learning a system.
What if something goes wrong on patrol?
Report the problem via the SLSA IT Help Desk by logging a support ticket at:
help.sls.com.au/ithelpdesk/ or call on: 1300 724 006 (Monday to Friday 9:00am to 6:00pm AEST).
The IT Help Desk will open from 8am-6:30pm AEST once the patrol season starts.
What is not changing
Radio stays your primary channel for talking to SurfCom in real time, exactly as it is now.
Support works the way it does today. You keep the same Members Area login.
Why an interim app?
Because a patrol app you can rely on this season should not wait for the bigger project.
SurfAssist covers the core of what a patrol does, and does it properly, while a new national system is developed for 2027/28.
Click Here for more information and links to the SurfAssist Website
