Lifeguards at the beach are a key part of Kiwi summers. It's nice to know they are there. When they're not watching us, there are lots of chances for us to watch them in action, and for children to get involved at beaches around the region.
Around 16,000 people nationwide belong to surf life saving clubs, with 6000 in the northern region, from the Far North down to Raglan. There are 17 clubs in this area, with another 11 on Coromandel Peninsula and western Bay of Plenty.
Last year, surf life savers rescued around 1200 people nationwide, plus numerous "assists" - helping swimmers before they become rescue statistics - and almost constant preventive actions, such as moving the flag-patrolled area when beach conditions change, says Surf Life Saving NZ life saving and education manager Allan Mundy.
A lifeguard patrol at Omanu Beach. Photo / NZME.
Education is also important. Many children are introduced to surf safety at school through SLSNZ's Beach Ed and Surf to School sessions. Another fun way for kids to learn water safety and confidence and get into lifeguarding is through the clubs' junior surf programmes at beach resorts. "Nippers" can start as young as 5, with basic surf safety and building up to learning surf life saving skills.
"At a lot of the clubs, most of the kids are family members of lifeguards or people involved in the surf club in some way, but the bigger clubs, like Muriwai, Piha, the Mount and Papamoa have really big programmes," says Mundy. "At the Mount they get seven to 800 kids every Sunday."
You don't need to live or holiday near a surf beach to take part: over summer, SLS Northern Region is running "City Nippers" programmes at St Heliers, Takapuna Beach, Mission Bay, Maraetai and Bucklands Beach.
Lifeguarding isn't all staring out to sea waiting for someone to get into trouble. Surf sports are big attractions of surf club membership - and an exciting spectator sport for the rest of us over summer. All through January there are major carnivals and regional championships, great chances for beachgoers to watch teams compete in the sea, in boats and on the sand.
Nipper Liam Davoren collects donations at Tauranga.
It's a serious business: New Zealand's Black Fins are the world life saving champions, having defended their 2012 title in 2014 in Montpellier, France. A number of surf life savers have also gone on to represent New Zealand in Olympic swimming, canoeing and kayaking, including gold medallists Lisa Carrington, Paul MacDonald and Ian Ferguson.
Under-23 women's surf canoe crew. Photo / NZME.
Thundercat race gets under way. Photo / NZME.
"A lot of surf life savers are into it for skill reasons and as a way to keep fit," says Mundy. "It's also social it gives them an excuse to go to another beach and have a lot of fun. It's a great spectator sport, too, especially when there's a good surf running. And it's an opportunity to get the public interested and for them to see what lifeguards are capable of."
Interestingly, it is often the smaller clubs, on quieter beaches, that have the strongest surf sport teams -- lifeguards at busy sites such as Piha are often too busy rescuing people to devote enough time to competing, says Mundy.
Big events this month include the junior carnival at Waipu on January 17 and the northern regional junior championships at Orewa on January 31, with 500 kids expected at Waipu and 600 at Orewa, says SLSNZ's northern regional sport manager Simone Spencer. Competitors aged 7 to 14 will take part in surf swimming races, races on surfboards, multidiscipline events including surf swim and board relays, and beach sprints and beach flags races.
"At these sorts of events it's great to see the number of kids who are potentially going to go on to become lifeguards. The whole idea of junior stuff is having them work up through the levels, to becoming lifeguards at 14," says Spencer.
The eastern regional championships at Mt Maunganui on January 24-25 will see around 1000 senior athletes from around the country taking part in running, surf boat, surf ski, canoe, relay and ironman events, says regional sport manager Scott Bicknell.
"It will take up pretty much the entire Main Beach, as well as around the corner where the boats are. It's going to be pretty epic."
Thundercats are goFor those who like their surf action a bit more wild and motor-driven, the beaches of the north will roar to the sound of racing Thundercats over summer, too. The sport of racing souped-up inflatable boats through surf breaks was invented in South Africa, and started here around 18 years ago.
A Gold Coast competitor sprints for the finish line. Photo / Supplied
This season 11 teams will fling themselves into the waves at events from Ninety Mile Beach to Napier. Teams of two pilot inflatable boats around 4m-long, powered by 50hp outboards, with one crew member steering and the other providing weight for balance and stability.
The national championship series starts this weekend with national "surfcross" events at Matarangi and Whangamata, where each race takes just six or seven bone-jarring minutes. In a Le Mans start, crews run to their boats, head out through the waves, run parallel to the beach, then surf back in - hopefully, the right way up - and drive up on to the beach, with the crew jumping out and running to the finish line.
Teams also compete in longer endurance events, such as the race at Tauranga on January 24, which sends competitors around two laps of Matakana Island. The ultimate endurance race is along the length of Ninety Mile Beach, in the breaking surf, on February 7.
"That's quite a special race for everyone who does it. It's quite something to be able to say you have raced up that beach," says Thundercat racer Brad Stark.
The sport attracts a wide range of competitors, some from a surf life saving or boating background and some, like Stark, with an interest in other motorsports such as dirt-bike racing, who have "crossed over" on to the water.
"Our youngest competitor is 15, and our oldest in his mid-late-50s," says Stark. "Once you try it it's pretty contagious. Once you've been out in the surf you want to do it again and again."
He says the thrills and spills of racing make it an action-packed sport for spectators. "The short inshore races are great to watch. Everyone's always looking for the crash, and there's usually a bit of that."
Coromandel
Today: Thundercats national surfcross, Matarangi
Tomorrow: Pauanui Junior Surf Carnival; Thundercats national surfcross, Whangamata
January 9 Whiritoa Junior Surf Carnival,
January 11 Coromandel Cup junior surf lifesaving carnival, Whangamata
Bay of Plenty
January 17 Papamoa Junior Invitational Surf Carnival
January 24 Thundercats national endurance event, race around Matakana Island
January 24-25 Eastern Regional Surf Life Saving Championships, Main Beach, Mt Maunganui
January 25 Thundercats national surfcross, Tay St Beach, Mt Maunganui
Northland
Tomorrow Northern Region Patrol Championships, Mangawhai Heads
January 17 - 18 Northern Region Junior Surf Carnival and IRB Championships, Waipu
January 31 Northern Region Junior Champs, Orewa
• For more information or to find a surf life saving club, see
northernregion.surflifesaving.org.nz
or
• Use the Find a Beach website to find the nearest patrolled beach and see up-to-date wind and wave conditions, surf patrol times, safety tips and general information.
• City Nippers is running January 12-16 and 19-23 at St Heliers and Bucklands Beach/Maraetai; January 12-16, 19-23 and 27-30 at Takapuna; and evenings and weekends during term one. See northernregion.surflifesaving.org.nz/education/city-nippers
• The annual Surf Life Saving New Zealand Summer Appeal is on now and runs through until February 28. Look out for collectors or text SURF to 849 to automatically donate $3.
• For more on Thundercats, see thundercatracing.co.nz