Garner full throttle on boat safety

Water safety New Zealand CEO Matt Claridge (left) with Duncan Garner. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Media personality Duncan Garner is swapping his blazer for a lifejacket this summer - and is calling on boaties to remember theirs too.

The TV3 and Radio Live journalist is Water Safety New Zealand's newest ambassador and is helping with a campaign that aims to cut the number of Kiwis drowning while out on boats.

Last year, 18 people died in power-boat incidents - up 80 per cent on the five-year average. So far this year, five people have died.

Garner, a keen fisherman and boatie, was out at Okahu Bay yesterday, having signed up for the Coastguard Boating Education Day Skipper course.

"I think you have to be brain-dead not to wear a lifejacket on small craft. Why would you put your life at risk?" he said.