Tairāwhiti Gisborne surf lifeguards perform 18 rescues, 818 preventatives this season

Surf lifeguards at Wainui had their busiest day during the R@V festival when thousands of visitors joined locals at the beach on a great day. It was busy at the city beaches too.

• Tairāwhiti surf lifeguards conducted 18 rescues and 818 preventative actions during the 2024-25 season.
• Lifeguards patrolled for around 6000 hours; Waikanae leading at 2080 hours.
• Surf Life Saving New Zealand reported 47,487 preventative actions nationally, nearly doubling last season’s impact.

Tairāwhiti surf lifeguards carried out 18 rescues and 818 preventive actions across the region’s patrolled beaches during the 2024-25 season.

Voluntary and paid lifesavers made seven rescues at Wainui Beach, six at Midway and five at Waikanae.

The preventive actions across the three Gisborne clubs were high: Riversun Wainui 293, Kaiaponi Farms Waikanae 252, Dawson Building Midway 218.

Lifeguards at Tolaga Bay chimed in with 55 preventives.

Waikanae topped the voluntary and paid patrol hours tally on 2080, Midway totalled 1905, Wainui 1751, Tolaga Bay 292, and Ngati Porou at Onepoto was at 76 hours.

The region’s voluntary and paid lifeguards patrolled for about 6000 hours over summer.

Nationally, lifeguards carried out 577 rescues involving 266 people over summer.

“A concerted focus on preventative action this summer saw Surf Life Saving New Zealand [SLSNZ] and surf lifeguards complete 47,487 preventative actions involving nearly one million people – nearly double the number of people impacted last season,” SLSNZ general manager of lifesaving Andy Kent said.

A preventive action is when a surf lifeguard identifies a potentially dangerous situation and takes precautionary action to prevent the situation from developing into, or contributing to, a real emergency.

This includes preventing swimmers from entering a rip or hole, checking on swimmers who may appear to be in difficulty or shifting board and ski riders out of the flagged area.

“The reduction in people needing to be rescued is testament to the ongoing work and education surf lifeguards undertake on beaches up and down the country,” Kent said.

“The last thing anyone wants is beachgoers and surf lifeguards getting into a life-threatening situation.

“It’s incredibly positive to see those rescue numbers start to trend down.”

The busiest day for surf lifeguards on New Zealand beaches was January 29 with 90 incidents.

February was the busiest month as warmer weather encouraged more people into the water.

Kent said New Zealand owed the more than 4000 volunteer surf lifeguards a huge debt of gratitude.

“We can enjoy downtime on the beach because others are giving up their time to keep us safer.”