Hundreds of Hawke's Bay residents checked out the Hawke's Bay Coastguard's newest addition - a state-of-the-art $1 million quick-response rescue boat - during its annual open day.
Committee president Dick Hilton said there had been a ``brilliant'' response to the open day over the weekend and the coastguard had been able to recruit
six additional radio operators to lighten the load of the current volunteers.
The new boat, christened Celia Knowles, is 11.7m long and has two jet engines pumping out 480 horsepower to speed it along at 40 knots.
Mr Hilton said 250 people saw the launch on Saturday when the director of Maritime New Zealand, Catherine Taylor, broke the traditional bottle of champers over the bow.
The new boat will increase the capabilities of the coastguard.
Because people were going further out to sea and boats were going a lot faster, something was needed to keep up, said Mr Hilton. ``This vessel does it. It gives us greater levels of safety and extends our range.''
The coastguard has the whole of the Hawke's Bay coastline to look after, a sizeable area.
The boat had been funded through government agencies, charitable trusts and grants.
Skipper Alex Smith said the new boat had the latest technology including a ``blue arrow'' control system for travelling at low speeds.
It could seat six people in comfort and had been designed in consultation with the Hawke's Bay Coastguard.
Coastguard New Zealand President Ian Coard said the boat was a ``huge asset'' to Hawke's Bay.
As well as looking through Celia, residents visited Hawke's Bay Coastguard's workplace on Meeanee Quay in Napier.
The centre was thrown open so residents could look inside the radio and operations rooms and see where the almost 40 volunteers worked.
At 3pm, two tugboats, Celia and another coastguard boat as well as a pilot boat put on a demonstration for a crowd of 30 onlookers standing by Perfume Point at the foreshore reserve in Napier.
Hawke's Bay Coastguard attends between 25 and 35 incidents a year.
