Hot water lifeguards battle for permanent clubhouse

Gary Hinds (left) and Sandy Lowe at their Hot Water Beach tent. Photo / Alan Gibson

Lifesavers at Hot Water Beach - a popular tourist spot that can attract up to 1500 bathers a day - have been battling to get a clubhouse and watchtower for the past 15 years.

The 2km stretch is the only beach patrolled by Surf Life Saving Bay of Plenty that doesn't have a permanent base.

The beach - on the east coast of the Coromandel - has two notorious rips on either side of Hot Water Rock, in the middle of the beach.

Lifeguards patrol the stretch from a tent on a patch of grass at one end, from a seat between the flags in front of one of the two beach carparks, and from on top of the rock.

They have been storing their gear on a neighbour's vacant section for the last 10 years, but the land is now for sale.

The Thames-Coromandel District Council had approved a spot above Hot Water Rock, but not all of the beach can be seen from the site, there is intermittent radio reception and the land is tapu as it is near a Maori pa.

Club captain Gary Hinds is working with the council, local iwi and ratepayers groups to secure a base at the opposite end of the beach.

Surf Life Saving Bay of Plenty, which governs the area from Hot Water Beach to Opotiki in the south, had threatened to shut the club down last year because they were struggling financially.

But chief executive Megan Cleverley worked with the club to get them back on track. Hot Water Beach lifesaving club, which has about 35 lifeguards - several of whom have just turned 14, the legal age to be registered - patrols from Labour Weekend to Easter.

Senior lifeguard Sandy Lowe said a clubhouse would help attract more young volunteers, who would learn life skills from lifeguarding.