Focus on volunteers: Foxton Beach Surf Lifesavers in action

1958 Agfa Silette-Holly, Kelsey Lewis and Thomas Harding carry out a rescue drill. Photo / Jacob Brookie

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.

The hot days of summer saw Foxton Beach full of swimmers - and the Foxton Beach Surf Lifesaving Club was busy keeping them safe in the water. In this photo-article MAVtech’s cameras joined club members Holly Pedley and Charlie de Woeps on a surf patrol - and even ventured out on the water courtesy of an IRB.

The Foxton Surf Lifesaving Club has around 40 volunteers including 12 surf lifesavers. Volunteers hold many vital roles away from the water, including patrol support members who help with observation and first aid as well as committee members and fundraisers. No matter where they volunteer, everyone helps to keep the beach safe. The club’s summer weekend patrols are run by volunteers and there’s also lots of training which goes on behind the scenes. The previous season saw club members donate 1262 volunteer hours.

The local council supports weekday paid patrols over the peak summer season, and some local lifesavers are part of these alongside members of other regional surf lifesaving clubs. In the past year, the Foxton Beach Club members have volunteered their time to host weekend development sessions. These familiarise other clubs on the conditions of Foxton Beach in preparation for summer.

An important part of the volunteers’ training is practising a rescue in the IRB. These inflatable boats can skirt over the waves with ease but operating one, and knowing how to maintain it, is a real skill. Some of the photographs in this article show a rescue drill, with a club volunteer taking the place of a swimmer in difficulty. The other volunteers practise safely removing the swimmer from the water and taking them safely back to shore. Usually this exercise needs just one IRB but this time a second boat was sent out to hold Jacob and his camera.

Image 1 of 10: 1990s Seagull 4A-Holly and Charlie set up the IRB before the patrol begins.

During this season’s peak summer period the club performed 28 rescues and many more assists. These were mostly due to a permanent rip which lies off Foxton Beach. Rips are caused when water brought to shore by breaking waves takes the fastest route out to sea, often taking swimmers with it.

You can recognise a rip by crisscrossed water, masses of debris or a deceivingly calm patch of water amongst breaking waves. Swimmers caught in a rip are urged to remember the ‘Three Rs’: Relax, Raise your hand and Ride the rip. Once beyond the breaking waves, the rip will stop. But the most important thing is to swim between the flags!

An unwanted feature of this summer’s swimming has been the number of bluebottles on the beach. These jellyfish-like creatures have been a common sight washed up on the sand. Volunteers on lookout duty have seen huge groups of them out at sea, where they look like a blue oil slick being pushed around by the currents.

The photographs taken from the IRB were made with a 1958 Agfa Silette. This camera was one of the first in a long range which helped make 35mm photography popular and they replaced the older folding bellows cameras. Unlike most bellows cameras, it is small enough to be held with one hand - a useful feature when the other hand is holding tightly on to an IRB. Although there were times when it seemed the photographer was going to have an unexpected swim, the camera made it back on dry land.

This Silette belongs to Jacob’s personal collection - the museum cameras stayed dry! The other photographs were taken with a 1990s Seagull 4a camera.

To get the latest news from the Foxton Beach Surf Lifesaving Club (and find out how to volunteer) visit their website www.foxtonslsc.co.nz. If you’d like to see more photographs taken with vintage cameras, visit www.mavtech.org.nz.