Coastguard Lake Taupō seeking volunteers

Coastguard Lake Taupō respond to callouts 365 days a year.

The members of Coastguard Lake Taupō are used to searching for people, but are currently hoping people might seek them out instead.

The crew are in need of additional volunteers to help with callouts, which can vary in frequency and nature.

No two callouts are alike, they say, but a typical one might begin with a buzzing phone on a sunny, breezy afternoon, with a message saying two fishermen and their “tinny” boat are overdue.

The Taupō unit is tasked with a search-and-rescue mission; the Coastguard Rescue Vessel (CRV) soon has the engines warming up and the first crew to arrive prepare the vessel to venture out on the lake.

The CRV soon gets under way and heads to the search area at high speed.

After thirty minutes of searching, the missing vessel is sighted and the CRV is brought alongside.

Thankfully, the two fisherman are alive and well but their engine has experienced a mechanical failure.

The vessel is taken under tow to the boat ramp it left many hours previously.

Before being brought alongside the ramp, the vessel is “barged” next to the CRV and the helmsman brings the two vessels safely into the pontoon, where it is secured to and retrieved on its trailer.

It takes a while to get to this point, with plenty of training offered to potential new recruits to ensure they can conduct themselves safely aboard a vessel, starting with working with ropes and lines.

This leads to more complex scenarios such as taking another vessel under tow and then securing it alongside, known as barging, in order to take it to a wharf or boat ramp.

Further training includes a first-aid course, “man overboard” drills, in-water survivability training and some basic boat handling skills, which lead to a recruit qualifying as a Coastguard deckhand.

For volunteers, there is a choice to remain at this level or progress through qualifications towards becoming crew, senior crew members and skippers.

Each further step involves comprehensive training in areas such as helming, advanced navigation, VHF radio operation, search-and-rescue and leadership.

Training is free, and can be done at the individual’s own pace.

In order to minimise response times, crew members are expected to live within an approximately 10-minute radius of the CRV wharf, behind the harbourmaster’s office.

Boating experience is not necessary, and training normally takes place once a week on a weekday evening or weekend morning.

Once qualified, crews are rostered on-call every third week.

For more information, contact Gary.Langrish@coastguard.nz or call 021 210 8195.

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