Across Foxton are volunteers from every walk of life helping the community in almost every way you can think of. In this occasional series of photo-articles, the MAVtech Museum’s photographer Jacob Brookie is using vintage cameras from the museum’s collection to show you a day in the life of our town’s volunteers.
Every Thursday night the Manawatū Volunteer Coastguard has a training session.
Between the rescue boat Kevin Morris 2, two jet skis and a range of road and tow vehicles, there are many skills to practice. But once a month there is a very specific job to do - and MAVtech’s cameras took a look at what is involved.
Each month the volunteers check all the equipment they need when responding to a callout, to make sure it is ready to use at a moment’s notice. This is to meet Maritime New Zealand regulations as well as for everyone’s confidence out on the water.
Fuel levels and batteries are checked, trailers are tested, tow ropes inspected and inventories taken. The tow tractor which launches the rescue boat ‘Kevin Morris 2′ is driven, as is the UTV and quad bike. Anything which needs servicing or replacing is noted.
Other training evenings involve anything from boat handling skills on the water to practicing stretcher bearing for medical events. New members also take the opportunity to learn the ropes (in the case of towing procedure, these are literal ropes!)
When the photographs were taken, a new volunteer was learning to calculate the practical fuel range of the jet ski as well as how to choose the right signal flare.
In the 2022/2023 year 26 volunteers have given 2,444 volunteer hours with the Manawatū Coastguard.
The team took part in 16 calls for help during that time and brought 35 people safely home. But safety at sea is about preventing incidents, as much as responding to them, so Coastguard also educates skippers and checks the sea conditions for fishing competitions.
Sometimes Palmerston North’s Wildbase Recovery vets come aboard to release a healed seabird offshore.
The Manawatū Coastguard’s base is part of the Manawatū Marine Boating Club building in Foxton Beach. Before the Coastguard unit was formed in 1992, the Boating Club members and commercial fishing crews would regularly assist police with searches and rescues at sea - and the volunteer crews were so effective that police recommended that a Coastguard unit be established.
The unit has grown in both members and equipment in the years that followed.
In 1996 boating education courses were offered, and in 1999 Manawatu Coastguard was one of the first units in the country to add a jet ski to their fleet.
At the time, jet skis were seen more as something to be rescued, as opposed to a way of doing the rescuing - but local experience changed that view. Late last year a new jet ski was added to the local Coastguard fleet and it is often seen at community fundraising events.
There are many different ways to volunteer with the Coastguard. The rescue boat crews are supported by a team of volunteer fundraisers, administrators and social media updaters - just to name a few.
If you are interested in volunteering with the Coastguard on or off the water, visit https://volunteers.coastguard.nz/ for more information.
Jacob used a 1958 Mamiyaflex C2 camera and a 1966 Marshal Press camera to take these photographs. The Mamiyaflex is focused by looking down into the viewing hood on the top of the camera. The view through the finder shows what is in focus, but everything is mirror imaged, so using one takes some practice. These ‘twin lens reflexes’ were a popular camera style from the 1930s to the 1960s, and a handful of companies still make them today. To view more photographs taken with vintage cameras visit www.mavtech.org.nz.