Surf lifesavers broaden skill-base

Marlborough’s lifeguards are expanded their scope of operations, by getting experience alongside professionals for their brand-new Search and Rescue team.

Seven Rarangi Surf Lifesaving Club lifeguards took the opportunity to work with Coastguard, LandSar and Police in their first SAREX training exercise completed on April 5-6.

Five lifeguards took to the water, with another two in the mission control room, when the joint taskforce was given the mission to find 10 ‘pretend-missing’ trampers in Queen Charlotte Sound.

“It’s a new line of efforts for us which as a club we’ve been eager to get involved in for a while, but we know we have the personnel to do it and get our first proper search and rescue training alongside the professionals,” said Rarangi club captain Brendon Ferguson.

“The exercise was a real eye-opener... to see the search and rescue processes on land and water in action and how they look for clues, but also how to direct operations from home base between multiple organisations.”

The practise mission saw the group cover from Anakiwa to Tauranga Bay on the eastern side of Blackwoods Bay.

Brendon says that the experience has invigorated many of the region’s senior lifeguards and expanded what the crews feel capable of, while giving club members meaningful experiences and starting a pathway for future development.

“Our senior lifeguards have been 100% behind this from the start, and it means our operations can now be 24/7 in our area from Port Underwood, down the coast and into the Wairau.”