Coastguard

Have you ever wondered what a ‘normal’ week looks like as a Coastguard volunteer?

During the weekday most of our crew maintain full time jobs. This means that sometimes we can have a delayed response time or alternatively, if we don’t have crew available to respond, the next closest unit will be tasked. The same will happen to us if our neighbouring units are unavailable.

To ensure there will always be at least one Coastguard Rescue Vessel (CRV) available, the six units within the Hauraki Gulf area have a duty boat system. Every 6th day Hibiscus Rescue One is the duty boat, so on duty day we ensure we have crew available and within 20 minutes of Gulf Harbour Marina if for any reason we are required.

After work, from approximately 6pm until 6am the following morning, we will also have crew ready to respond. This roster is split between our six skippers and our 30 local volunteers, who can be at home or out and about with friends and family, but always ready to respond.

On weekends and public holidays the rostered crew are available on 24-hour shifts. Normally our crew will meet on the boat at around 11.30am and finish their day around 6pm. Unless of course we are paged out, required for a longer tasking, or there have been multiple vessels requiring assistance through the day. Why an 11.30am start? We’ve found that most call outs tend to be after 3pm as boaties attempt to start their journey home.

While weekend days are often our busiest days they are also the days we spend the most time training. It is not unusual to see Hibiscus Rescue One or Two driving around in what might appear to be circles within the marina, or putting our bow pontoon, or our stern cage on pilings (poles). We call this Close Quarter Manoeuvring. (CQM)

We train all our crew in CQM, as it is incredibly important that we can control our CRV in all wind speeds and direction. Crew need to know how the vessel will respond in different situations. We also train putting our bow or stern onto pilings so that we can slide larger vessels back into their marinas when required, no matter the weather conditions.

And of course on days when most boaties are coming home because of the weather, you’ll see us heading out. Our crew need to be able to handle our CRVs safely in rough weather, sometimes at speed, because sometime, someone’s life might depend on our incredible volunteers and their training.

Rachel Hessey | Vice President – Coastguard Hibiscus