Saturday 9th January

Saturday was a tale of two coasts with a quiet day on the east but three metre waves on the west coast led to a very busy day for guards. Most patrols on the West Coast kept their flags up until 6:00pm with Muriwai, Raglan and Bethells not closing until 6:30pm.

Mangawhai had one major first-aid, and one minor-first aid. Waipu had an assist which required no help from Surfcomm. Wenderholm had one minor first-aid.

Muriwai topped the number of people assisted with 105 assists involving 346 people. They also performed four minor first aids.

Piha had a mass incident when a flash rip washed five people out of the flags. Three were able to walk out with lifeguard assistance, while one needed to be pulled out by tube, and the last was picked up by IRB. None required further assistance once out of the water. The guards also assisted a swimmer out of the water at the end of the patrol.

Kariaotahi had one major first-aid who was treated in the club first-aid room before being taken to hospital by ambulance. The lifeguards performed four assists pulling struggling swimmers into shallow water.

Raglan had an extremely busy day with large waves and strong rips. They performed 11 rescues and nine assists, as well as four minor first-aids. Raglan had a mass rescue involving nine people when a flash rip sucked them out on the low tide. An IRB and three tube swimmers rescued seven people and assisted two others. Another swimmer was rescued by tube later in the afternoon. As they were closing patrol they rescued three people, one whom was struggling to breathe and semi-conscious. Lifeguards treated her until ambulance arrived and took her to hospital.

Saturday’s statistics:

Sunday 10th January

Sunday was a fairly busy day throughout the region with high numbers of beach-goers. Ruakaka had a peak head count of 940, and Orewa had a peak of 875.

Raglan had six assists. In the morning four pole-skis were assisted back to shore by IRB after their engines failed. Later, two boogie boarders drifted out the back of the flags into a rip and were tube-rescued back by two in-water lifeguards.

Piha had seven assists of people who drifted off the bar at low tide, as a couple of large sets came through and washed people out. An IRB picked them up and returned them to shore.

Mangawhai had a major first-aid, as a young male had fallen on the rocks and taken on water while unconscious. They responded with first aid-gear and assisted the rescue helicopter by setting up a landing zone.

Bethells conducted a land-based search for a missing young female walker on the Hillary trail. The informant managed to contact the woman two hours after they were last seen and lifeguards ensured that the two were successfully united.

Sunday’s statistics

The Weekend Statistics are as follows:

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