Phil Gilmore says the Castlecliff Surf Lifesavers have "truly exceptional skills second to none".
This year the club has eight new trainers, most are girls, and he's enthusiastic about what they bring to the team.
He's praising his team of lifesavers who will be out on Castlecliff and Mowhanau Beaches the week before Christmas, with Christmas day the only day they get to have off over the summer.
However, Mowhanau Beach on Boxing Day is traditionally packed with people.
Mr Gilmore, spokesman for the Castlecliff Surf Club, said the Castlecliff Surf Lifesavers has been a professional organisation since 1966, and it has always had an abundant pool of lifesavers to call on over the years.
Some of the lifesavers with 20 years' experience now work in the community, and he's seeing their children come through the ranks.
"We started training 90 per cent of them when they were seven in the "nipper life guard" and by the time they turned 14, they were ready to sit the exam.
"We have kept them in the system because we were able to offer them something," adding that they receive funding from the Wanganui District Council to pay the lifesavers.
Mr Gilmore is critical of the Department of Education which has divorced itself from teaching swimming in schools. He says they should bring back classes.
"We are surrounded by water and children aren't geared for it."
The west coast surf can change in minutes, from calm to rips, but the skills his team generates can handle those changes.
"The Tasman seas are more aggressive and the swells are closer together."
Furthermore, the Morgan St Beach is not a swimming beach as the tide turns quickly. It is for board riders only.
Mr Gilmore recounted a time when they rescued a board rider who had been swept 12 and a half miles off the Wanganui coast.
The Castlecliff and Mowhanau Beaches would be shut down if the conditions were dangerous, but they could not make people get out of the water, or not go into the water. They can only advise the swimmers they were putting their lives at risk.
Prior to 1994 and the zero-tolerance to flouting surf safety, Mr Gilmore said 180 people a year were being pulled out of the surf or were rescued in some way on our coastline.
When zero-tolerance and preventive became the norm, the numbers dramatically reduced.
"Drowning is a harrowing experience. Swimming is dangerous. You can drown in a teaspoon of water," he warns.
Mr Gilmore said when Baywatch hit television screens, the club was inundated with young men. "They came in their droves, but once we started putting them through the training, they realised it was not like television."
Staying safe
Never swim alone and if in doubt, stay out
Swim between the flags at Castlecliff and Mowhanau Beaches
The Morgan St Beach is for board riders only
Look after your eyes and wear wrap-around sunglasses
Use sun block - melanoma is real