Coastguard News

By Stuart Brown.

Last month the unit had ten callouts, two urgent and eight of a general nature.

One urgent callout was to retrieve an eighty-year-old male from rocks near Cooks Bluff. The foreign tourist gentleman had walked down the closed track at Cathedral Cove and tracked along the coastline before having some medical issues and requiring extraction from the rocks.

The other urgent callout was to a launch that had mechanical issues. Whilst attempting to identify the problem, a person had an accident which suggested a quick return to land was required. Both Takareto and Te Morehu CRV’s were launched with one to retrieve the patient and the other to undertake the four-hour tow back to Whitianga.

The balance of the callouts was for mechanical problems or running out of fuel.

Cadetship Programme Applications: We are taking applications for the Alan Jackson Memorial Cadetship programme. This is a twelve-week programme for the age range of 16 and 17 year olds and held in conjunction with MBAS. The course includes VHF, Day skipper and First Aid courses as well as boat handling and navigation. If anyone is interested, please email info@whitiangcoastguard.co.nz for details.

Now would be a good time to check on vessel maintenance including the boat trailer ensuring that it is road legal.

Non membership assist fees have been increased by Coastguard New Zealand for the first time in over ten years. Non-member assists are now charged at $350 PER HOUR (up from $280). So, it does make financial sense to become a Coastguard member at $130 per annum.

The unit is having an Open Day on Sunday, 30 April. At 06:30am there will be a blessing for our CRV Takareto. At 10:30am there will be an acknowledgement for some crew members followed by our crew showing people around our vessels, demonstrating how we take trip reports, membership questions and generally being available to answer any questions. Anyone is welcome.

Safe Boating

Stuart Brown

Whitianga Coastguard info@whitiangcoastguard.co.nz