Young Enterprise: Drowning stats inspire Hawke’s Bay swim teachers to dip toes into floating platform market

Swim instructors Angus McGarrol (left), Kavy Singh and Jack Craft were inspired by New Zealand's "gruesome" drowning statistics and started their own pool platform company as part of a Young Enterprise project.

An idea floated as part of a school project and inspired by the country’s high drowning statistics has “snowballed” for three young Hawke’s Bay swim teachers.

The trio hopes its solution for swim safety and support can continue to make waves in community pools across the country.

AquaLaunch, which creates PVC and PolyVinyl Swimming Platforms, is the brainchild of Hawke’s Bay Regional Aquatic Centre swim teachers and Year 12 students Angus McGarrol, Kavy Singh and Jack Craft.

While swim platforms are nothing new, and there are other specialised businesses around, the group believes they’re set to make a splash in the market with their unique design and use of recycled materials.

Working part-time as swim teachers, the boys were inspired to create the business after seeing Aotearoa’s “gruesome” drowning statistics and the need for more support platforms at their local pool to help children and those with disabilities.

With the assistance of platforms, the user is elevated out of the water. This allows them to become more engaged during lessons. It also allows those who would otherwise not be able to take swimming lessons to swim freely.

After pitching the idea for Hawke’s Bay’s Young Enterprise scheme and seeing great success, the business got much bigger than the group initially thought.

“We started Year 12 Economics at St Johns College and part of the curriculum is taking part in the Young Enterprise Scheme. In our business pitch we did quite well and got very high marks, so from there it’s become sort of a passion,” McGarrol said.

“We’re in conversations with the Aquatic Centre at the sports park and the Hydrotherapy centre there. We’ve already got one platform at the Aquatic Centre pool,” Craft added.

McGarrol said there were “a few things” that set the group apart from their competition.

“In respect to the production of our platform, we’ve got additional joints and rivets to hold it in place. We’ve also got a lace that goes around the seam that protects it from fraying, unlike many other platforms we’ve seen.”

Working closely with Douglas textile and innovation, the group settled on a different polyvinyl mesh compared to others. In another point of difference, the mesh is supplied to the boys as recycled offcuts that would’ve otherwise been thrown away.

“We’re also doing by-specification, so the platforms that we’ve made for the pool at the aquatic centre are actually to their designs and what they need them for,” Craft said.

“We are looking at doing a step for hydrotherapy as well.”

The group said while they are still in the planning stage of expanding the business, they look to retail their products at a price that is significantly lower than what is currently available on the market.

There’s also a hope they can boost their business through a National Young Enterprise initiative for innovation that would see them gain $1000 towards their company if they won.

“That money would significantly help improve our business and perhaps decrease the number of children and those who are disabled who struggle in swimming lessons,” McGarrol said.

Moving the business forward in their last year of high school and onwards would be “a dream”, but the boys say they are taking things one step at a time.

“We’ll see what happens next year, it’s just been a rollercoaster.”

Mitchell Hageman joined Hawke’s Bay Today in January 2023. From his Napier base, he writes regularly on social issues, arts and culture, and the community. He has a particular love for stories about ordinary people doing extraordinary things.