Riversdale crowds playing safe

Crowds of between 300 to 400 people at Riversdale Beach have kept safe and well behaved, says surf club captain Mike Taylor.
At 10am yesterday, 250 people were in the water and 150 on shore and Mr Taylor said the number on the beach was consistently between 300 and 320 on fine days.
Beach traffic was steady through the day with "a drop-off as they nip off for lunch".
Mr Taylor said lifeguards have been asking people to stay between the flags and the response "has been very good".
New members and a new tower have enabled the surf club to open a second patrol at the south end of the beach.
The tower, built by Loader Engineering and Stevens Marine, is "larger and more user-friendly" than the first one. It was donated by the Tinui Castlepoint Uriti Community Trust.
Apart from some rough weather on January 1, the sea had been good for swimming Mr Taylor said.
Speaking from the beach, Mr Taylor said the sea had a good gentle surf, breaking just above waist height yesterday.
"Because it's so calm at the moment, you can see for miles," he said. "The surfers have been a bit disappointed, but there are lots and lots of families with kids, and a lot of people sunbathing on the beach."
The lifesaving team had made two boat searches over the past week for swimmers or kayakers who had stayed out longer than expected, but on both occasions the missing people were found within 20 minutes.
The kayakers had been with rowing with dolphins, Mr Taylor said.
In another incident, lifeguards became impromptu fisheries officers after some Riversdale Beach locals "saw some people taking in undersized paua", he said.
The would-be poachers had wanted to keep their haul and said, "Just fine us". But they were persuaded to return the catch to the sea.
A Wairarapa man was netted with a haul of almost 60 mostly undersized paua during a routine fisheries patrol at Ngawi on Thursday.
Wairarapa Ministry of Fisheries officer Adrian Patete, said the man was apprehended at the South Wairarapa coastal beach with 58 paua, of which only 13 were of legal size.
Mr Patete said the man would face prosecution.