$30K of lifesaving gear stolen from Bay club

The blue quad bike that Santa sits on is one of two that have been stolen. Photo/Cheynne McCalman

Thieves who broke into a small town's surf club and stole $30,000 worth of gear have deprived a community of their well-maintained gear, right before the start of the surf season.

Two quad bikes, newly installed radio equipment, a rescue board and some first aid gear worth about $30,000 was stolen from Pukehina Surf Rescue about 4am yesterday, club captain Kevin Barugh said.

"They jimmied the door open and the alarm went off. They got in pretty quick before we could respond," he said.

This sort of thing shouldn't happen to our, or any, club.

Cheynne McCalman, lifeguard

The thieves drove off on the quad bikes, taking with them the equipment that had been stored with the bikes.

Mr Barugh said residents heard the bikes driving down Pukehina Parade but as it was early in the morning, no one had looked. The club's weekend patrols start on December 13 and the week-day patrols start on December 22.

Mr Barugh said the club would be able to get sufficient gear by this time from insurance and with the help of other organisations, but the quality of the gear would likely not be as good as what was stolen.

Health and safety regulations required a high standard of maintenance and the club's quads were regularly serviced.

"We just had everything serviced by a mechanic, he commented on how good a condition the bikes were. We look after our gear because we don't get a lot of funding at our small club."

The thieves could have been anyone, Mr Barugh said. With patrols, training programmes and swimming lessons running most days, the club's gear was in the public eye.

Any help from the community or other organisations would be gratefully accepted, he said.

Pukehina senior lifeguard Cheynne McCalman, 18, said having gear stolen "absolutely sucks".

"We're an awesome club and this sort of thing shouldn't happen to our, or any, club."

Maketu Surf Lifesaving Club chairman Mike Hickson said he was not worried about a similar incident because his club had CCTV outside and the building was alarmed. The vigilance of neighbours was also a deterrent.

At Papamoa Surf Lifesaving Club, captain Shaun Smith said nearby residents could see right into the club and kept an eye on the building. Alarms were also a deterrent, he said.