The next in our series marking the 50th anniversary of the partnership between BP and Surf Life Saving New Zealand.
This is a story of family. There are plenty of famous names in there – but the real point is how surf lifesaving is a family in itself and often becomes the strongest chamber in the beating heart of many family units.
The names in this tale range from those famed in surf lifesaving (like 78-year-old Dick Glover) through famous national representatives (like Cory Hutchings), to internationally renowned Olympic gold medallists Alan Thompson, Grant Bramwell, Ian Ferguson and Paul MacDonald.
But it is also a story of surf lifesaving reaching down through three generations, now touching the lives of grandchildren of families involved in Gisborne's surf clubs Waikanae, Midway and Wainui.
Let's start with Debbie Hutchings, daughter of Dick Glover, and mother of Kayla (17) and Ben (15) – the latter carrying the same name as great-uncle Ben Hutchings, a surf lifesaving hall of famer on both sides of the Tasman and whose background in surf lifesaving led him into kayaking (the same pathway taken by current canoeing star Lisa Carrington).
Ben coached champion New Zealand surf lifeguards-cum-canoeists Ferguson, MacDonald and local Gisborne lads Thompson and Bramwell to their gold-medal wins at Los Angeles in 1984 – their efforts bumping New Zealand's gold tally at the Olympics up to eight, still the most this country has won at a single Games.
They also starred in the 1988 Seoul Olympics, helping a record haul of 13 medals overall, a mark that stood until the 18 won at the 2016 Rio Games. Cory Hutchings, son of Ben, was three times world surf lifesaving iron man champion and dominated the event in New Zealand for over a decade.
But let's get back to Debbie, now 46 and who was married to Jason, Ben's brother. She was heard to proclaim as a teenager: "I will never join a surf club."
Much of that was typical teenage reaction to "being dragged to surf clubs" by her parents and particularly father Dick Glover – involved in surf lifesaving for over 60 years and whose surf and sports CV has an encyclopaedic ring to it.
He qualified as a lifeguard in 1955, was national coach from 1983 to 1987 and President of the Surf Life Saving New Zealand national body from 2001 to 2002 and a life member—not to mention being president of Gisborne Surf Life Saving Association and chairman of his beloved Waikanae club. In rugby, he coached Gisborne Boys High School and Auckland Grammar School First XVs, the national secondary school side and the Poverty Bay representative team.
But there was Debbie – almost literally digging her heels in to avoid joining a surf club. Until, that is, her sister Kristen, two years younger, joined Waikanae and began doing well. Debbie's competitive spirit kicked in and she began to exhibit prowess in the beach events – the beach sprint and the beach flags.
"I really wanted to beat my sister. I was a land crab – good at the on-shore stuff," she said. "I didn't get my feet wet much."
In fact, even though she was a qualified lifeguard, she had to be rescued a couple of times by safety overseers at surf competitions when she pushed things a little far; she has never actually rescued anyone herself.
That is the dichotomy of surf lifesaving. There is the lifeguard element and the competition/sporting aspect. All do both but often club members concentrate on one or the other.
"I was keenest on the sports side – though you still have to qualify as a lifeguard to compete," she says. "Now Kayla is enjoying that too while Ben has joined the Wainui club and is much more interested and involved in the lifeguard aspect – he just loves going on patrol."
"Kayla really has a feeling of responsibility to help keep people safe around water – in a way I never felt at that age. But that's surf lifesaving – it instils values, discipline and respect."
Like her sister, Kristen Willock and husband Andy have stayed involved as parents, managers and officials at events. Their children Brooke (16) and Jack (13) are the latest clan members bitten by the surf lifesaving bug.
It all stemmed from Dick Glover whose fondest sporting memory came when a member of the Waikanae six-man rescue-and-resuscitation team which won the 1962 national title: "That team's success came from great team spirit, the best I have ever experienced."
Waikanae has the proud boast of never having suffered a drowning during patrol hours, over more than 60 years. Glover says arguably the most famous rescue there happened in 1953 in huge surf when a group of nine Sea Scouts set sail from the mouth of the river and were swept out to sea in their boat, which capsized.
Barry McLean, one of New Zealand's best known surf swimmers and a founding member of Waikanae surf club, ferried the scouts to safety with repeated surf ski trips while other lifeguards held the boys up, preventing them from drowning in the surging surf.
You can still find McLean (now 83) and Glover in the gym at the Waikanae club's new $1.8m headquarters. It's yet another sign of the way surf enters the bloodstream.
"There's an old surf lifesaving creed – 'In It For Life'," says Debbie Hutchings. "That's what it is and that's what it does."
*To celebrate their 50-year partnership with Surf Life Saving New Zealand (SLSNZ), BP are making a donation to SLSNZ for every litre of fuel purchased at BP retail stores until February 18 – Every Litre Counts.