Pride of NZ Awards: Coastguard years began as dream of sea rescue

Iain Gulliford has spent his life on the sea. Photo / Supplied

Iain Gulliford

Community Spirit

A lighthouse keeper's daughter inspired Iain Gulliford to spend his life on the sea.

The Helensville resident of 11 years and voluntary coastguard was 7 when he read the true tales of Grace Darling, who famously helped her father save the lives of shipwrecked crew in the early 1800s and thought, "that's something I really want to get involved in".

Nearly 40 years ago Mr Gulliford picked up his skipper's ticket and was able to fulfil his childhood dreams.

He retired after 30 years in the Royal Navy and emigrated from England. "I left the Navy on the Wednesday and moved to New Zealand on the Friday," he said.

After only three months, he wandered down to the local coastguard and offered his services.

Mr Gulliford works full time as a radio technician at the Devonport dock but gives hours of his personal time working for the coastguard and raising boating safety awareness in his community.

"He is always ready to help and never accepts a thank you," said his nominator.

One of his more memorable rescues was an 11pm call to help rescue a man with a heart condition who had been adrift in Kaipara Harbour for eight hours.

"We tried everything to get the boat there, including going across mud banks and sand banks and running aground ourselves," he said.

But the water was too shallow to get the boat in. They had to call in a Westpac Rescue Helicopter, which flew the castaway to Shelly Beach.

"But the most memorable thing was standing in a car park at Shelly Beach talking to the family while medics checked him out. It was quite a powerful experience."

Mr Gulliford said it was always "quite an experience" talking to families after a rescue, as emotions were high.

"It's nice to be able to put their minds at rest. We're all volunteers and we drop everything when the pager goes off ... they were very, very thankful."

He said he would be lying if he didn't himself feel at risk during some of the rescue operations.

But he said the pressured situations actually encouraged concentration and the crew were well trained for rough conditions.

"Sometimes it's fairly unpleasant but you've just got to keep going and make sure the people who called you out are going to be safe and sound."

When Mr Gulliford is not on the water, or manning the dock radio, he is collaborating with St John and the Fire Service to try to encourage boating safety in the community.

The Pride of New Zealand Awards are proudly brought to you by The New Zealand Herald, The Hits and TSB Bank. Nominations for the 2015 awards have now closed.
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