Phil Harman says the family-oriented aspect of surf lifesaving is one of its big attractions.
He chats to Mark Story
What drew you to surf lifesaving?
I joined back in 1980 through my love of the water and the girls of course. I even married a lifeguard and have managed to raise four amazing young men who have all achieved NZ titles in surf lifesaving. It's a real family oriented sport and organisation.
What's your most memorable moment in the role?
This is a real easy one to answer, it was the day that I learnt what it must feel like to win lotto. It was a hot and busy day at the beach and we were getting lots of flash rips happening along the beach and a lot of people swimming outside of the flagged area. I noticed a man out on the sandbar north of the flagged area. The man appeared to be standing holding a child in each arm in waist-deep water.
It just didn't look right so I started walking towards the area and that's when I noticed there was a third child holding on to the mans togs. With urgency I ran towards them and just before I entered the water I saw the third child get swept away from the man who could do nothing but watch as he already had hold of two children.
On reaching where the man was standing the girl had already been pulled out around 15 to 20m and was struggling to stay afloat. I reached her, and while securing her in a tube for the swim back in, a wave broke in front of us and inside of this wave and already underwater was another 9-year-old boy.
Luck was on both our sides that day and I was able to grab him as well and get him safely back to shore along with the first young girl. After some time in the first aid room on oxygen we managed to locate his parents who didn't even know he was missing. He made a full recovery, something that would not have happened had the girl not have been swept out when she was.
Tell us about your encounter with an invisible fishing longline when you were on an IRB.
We were patrolling the wave line down towards the north end of the beach when I noticed something hit the top of my crewman's head and then I was suddenly knocked backwards. We had run over a fishing longline as it was impossible to see in the ocean, and it hit me in the face just catching me under the nose pulling my head backwards. Luckily the line came off as my head flicked back and I managed to keep my nose intact. We would have hit that line doing around 40km/h so I was a lucky man that day just getting a small cut under my nose.
What's the silliest thing you've ever seen anyone do off the Waimarama coast?
A group of four teenagers set to sea floating in a paddling pool in a strong offshore wind. When we rescued them they were about 1.5km offshore heading to Chile with no lifejackets or oars.
What are your top three tips for swimmers to stay safe this summer?
Swim between the flags, listen to the lifeguards at all times, don't take your eyes off your children when on the beach or in the water