Busy days for Surf Lifeguards

It’s been a busy couple of days on beaches around the country as several major rescues have kept Surf Lifeguards on their toes.

This morning Surf Lifeguards at Muriwai Beach on Auckland’s West Coast recovered a man’s body, believed to be that of the missing Philipino fisherman swept off Flat Rock at Piha on 3rd January.

A man has died at Ninety-Mile Beach - 2km north of Ahipara Beach in the Far North after Surf Lifeguards were called upon by a member of the public. Surf Lifeguards were dispatched to the unpatrolled beach to assist a member of the public who had pulled a person from the water and performed CPR to no avail.

Lifeguards at Orewa beach were called upon this morning after a beachgoer suffered a suspected heart attack and stopped breathing. Lifeguards performed CPR and used a defibrillator to successfully restart the man’s heart and resuscitate the patient before handing him over to Paramedics who then transported him to hospital.

Yesterday a female body boarder was hospitalised after taking on large amounts of water after being caught in a rip at Waimarama Beach in Hawkes Bay – Surf Lifeguards launched an IRB to bring her back to shore where oxygen was administered before being airlifted to hospital.

And off-duty Surf Lifeguards and the New Zealand Champion Titahi Bay Surf Boat Crew were training in their fibreglass Surf Boat training yesterday at Wellington’s Titahi Bay when they rescued two kayakers who got into trouble after weather conditions suddenly worsened. Winds rapidly increased from 5 to 35 knots in a short time and the kayakers were being pushed off-shore.

The 4 man Surf Boat which was used as Surf Life Saving’s main form of recue boat before IRB’s were phased in in the 1970’s was instrumental in the ‘old style’ rescue after the boat crew attached one kayak to the surf boat and used it’s four-man crew to row one of the kayakers back to shore in treacherous conditions. An IRB was dispatched to rescue the second kayaker. Both kayakers were treated for hypothermia and shock.

So far this summer Surf Lifeguards have performed 442 recues, 647 first aids and conducted 142 searches.