May 7, 2025 • 43 mins
Our journey takes us to New Zealand's wild west coast, where experienced local fishers share crucial knowledge about surviving the unforgiving surf, beach launches, and bar crossings that make these waters so challenging yet rewarding.
• Five west coast legends with decades of frontline experience reveal their hard-earned wisdom
• Mark Gill from Manukau Sport Fishing highlights the importance of proper vehicle preparation and weather forecasting
• Chris O'Neill and Duncan Clarke from Piha Deep Sea Fishing Club explain why club membership provides essential safety networks
• Craig Ross from Muriwai Sports Fishing Club describes his 37 years of beach launching experience and techniques for reading surf conditions
• Dr. Mick Kearney from Drowning Prevention Aotearoa emphasises planning as the foundation of west coast fishing safety
• Local knowledge passed through clubs provides crucial information about changing conditions, safe launching spots, and rescue protocols
• Proper preparation includes deflating tyres to 10 PSI, carrying spare parts, and always wearing life jackets
• Understanding tide, swell, and wind patterns is essential before attempting a west coast launch
• The west coast is "self-governing" - its challenging conditions naturally limit fishing pressure and maintain healthy fisheries
• Experienced fishers prioritise safety over catching fish, often cancelling trips when conditions appear marginal
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the New Zealand Sport Fishing Council
Pod and Reel podcast.
I'm Mike Plant from the NewZealand Sport Fishing Council
and today we're heading out west, proper west.
Out here the coast is wild, thesurf unforgiving and the fish
worth every second.
(00:20):
There's no marina, no pontoon,no calm estuary, just beach
launches, bar crossings, surfbreaks and a crew of stubbornly
smart fishers who know what ittakes to get out and, more
importantly, get home.
In this episode you'll hear fromfive west coast legends with
decades of frontline experienceout west.
(00:40):
They've all lived it Boatsrolling, bars rising fast, mates
getting rescued in those gnarlymoments from when you're riding
a wave in that dusk with abroken prop, hoping like hell to
hit the sand and not the surf.
You'll hear about thegenerational knowledge passed
down through families at clubslike Muriwai, piha and Manako
(01:01):
Sportfishing, and how one wrongcall, a tide tackle, a mindset,
can cost you everything.
This episode isn't just awarning, it's a bit of a wake-up
call.
The west coast is fierce.
It's beautiful but brutal.
Treat it with respect or paythe price, whether you're
launching off the beach, fishingthe rocks or chasing marlin
beyond the.
This is one episode for you, solet's get into it.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
You learn to respect the environment.
Obviously, we're dealing withthe wild west coast as it's
known, and growing up, youalways heard of people going
missing and bodies washing upand the likes and parents and
everyone always kind of tellingyou be careful, be careful.
And it's just what we've alwaystried to be is careful.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Let's start with Mark Gill from the Manukau Sport
Fishing Club.
A committee member, a delegateand someone who spent his life
fishing on the west coast, heknows what catches you out and
what keeps you safe.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
The tides have always been an issue in the Manukau
Harbour particularly.
You know, floundering in thatat night time getting caught out
.
It's just a wild place and ifyou make a mistake unfortunately
you can perish.
It's just a slow progressionand always trying to learn and
always trying to remember andknowing that we're only a small
cog in this big machine.
(02:20):
You know, not one place or oneline of information has kind of
taught me what I know.
It's more or less anaccumulation of earlier years
parents and people in thecommunity and the later years,
older people in the fishing clubmanukau sport fishing club
particularly people like peterjackson, and he's kind of more
or less pioneered the fisheryout there out of the manukau and
(02:42):
kind of paved the path for usyounger generation to kind of
operate under and through andflourish, you know.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Now over to Chris O'Neill and Duncan Clark from
the Pihar Deep Sea Fishing Club.
Both are also seasonedlifesavers.
Duncan grew up fishing andlifeguarding here.
He remembers learning the hardway.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
My first trip was with the old man when I was shit
.
I was probably only 12 orsomething and a little 14 foot
tinny with a 20 on the back.
He had a head of rod and reel,but I was relegated to the hand
line Having a go at me frommucking around pulling a snapper
and when I flipped it over theside into his lap and it was
about an eight pound snapper, hewas like holy shit, you should
have said something.
(03:21):
But yeah, it's always that.
Make sure your gear'smaintained, make sure, like my
outboard mechanic, he's mobileand he laughs at me.
He goes some years.
You know he'll service theoutboard and I've done 10 hours.
Another year I've done 150hours.
So it's just a thing I do everyDecember Get everything
serviced ready for the upcomingseason.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
You know, and I guess the West Coast doesn't really
forgive mistakes.
Can you guys think of a time?
Speaker 4 (03:48):
when you or someone you know pushed the limits and
maybe it backfired a bit yeahfor that, yeah, yeah, we've seen
a few guys out here that comeout.
They're not club members andthey because you can get onto pr
sometimes and launch your boat,and so I've had a few guys that
have gone out in little tinniesand like basically haven't been
able to get back through thesurf, just not, not fast enough.
So I've seen that a few times.
You know, sometimes you canlaunch and the tide changes and
then it's a whole differentbeach when you come home.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
So you see that occasionally, and there was one
guy that borrowed hismother-in-law's Jeep Cherokee
and followed one of our membersonto the beach with a bit of
baffling bullshit and he backedinto the hole to take the boat
off.
And he just must have thoughthe was East Coast because you
know, back down on the lull,walked back, was untying it all.
And then his set came in andthe next thing, the Cherokee,
(04:31):
swimming, was up to thewindshield.
And yeah, that was a fullfiasco because you know, the
boat was stuck on the beach, thetruck was flooded, it wasn't
running, so I had to tow himhigh and dry and get his boat
and gear off the beach.
At the end of the day he stillwent fishing and then he
borrowed someone else's wagon totow the boat off the beach and
he left all his rods in the rodholder up high and as he went
under the trees he just cleanedthe whole lot off, just snapped
everything down to the butt.
(04:52):
It was a full fiasco.
But yeah, we had a club memberthat just threw, no fault of his
own, we were all out fishing meup and he goes mate, I can't
get the airport to start and sowe talked through a few things
and we just stopped fishingstraight away and motored over
to where he was.
He had his wife and kids onboard all in life jackets, and
so we took them on our boat andhooked them up and I said, oh
look, we'll just tow you inslowly and we'll make a plan on
(05:14):
the way in, because we're at the50 meter mark and um, as we're
heading in, I radioed and rang acouple of other boats and and
so they all shot in ahead of us.
So we had a crew on the beachand I just had someone manning
the tow rope ready to cut thebridle if we had to.
And I was just like we're goingto tell you flat nuts, and if
we have to, we'll cut you loose,and whatever happens happens.
But we managed to get him intothe beach rope and as we came
(05:34):
close we set him free and theother guys ran outha that are
refusing to join the club.
And there was one night theywent out, the wind got up to 40
knots from the northeast andthey couldn't start and they
rang a mate who then rang a matewho launched the same size boat
(05:55):
with three guys in it and ittook them three hours of towing
from the 30-meter mark againstthe 40-knot northeast because
they had three guys in thebroken down boat and three guys
in the tow boat and they justwent nowhere but, again, didn't
tell anyone, went and did it ontheir own.
When they got back to the beachthey were like, oh you know, it
was pitch black and they werelike that could have been a bit
of a muck up.
(06:15):
And I said, well, your firstbig mistake was not telling
anyone what you're up to, youknow, and in those conditions
coast guard's there for a reasonas well that's the other thing.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
We don't really have coast guard here either.
You know like nearest coastguards, was it?
Yeah, probably who either?
Which is depends how big thesurf is, but that could be you
know, three hours away kind ofthing.
So just getting on the blowerand calling for a tow isn't
really a thing.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Yeah, a few guys have mentioned that, like firstly,
you touched on the importance ofbeing a part of a club, because
then you've got like a supportsystem, but also a knowledge
base and a group of mates thatyou can always reach out to.
So would that be your firstsuggestion as become a club
member the fishing club, ifyou're, you know, wanting to
fish out of Piha, so you have abit of an on-the-ground
(07:01):
knowledge from the guys outthere doing it regularly.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
Well, on-the-ground knowledge from the guys out
there doing it regularly.
Well, anywhere you're fishingfrom, if there's a local club,
it's good for you know Pihau'sgood because you put it out
there on our chat pages that,hey, we're thinking of heading
out on a fish on Saturday andyou hear from everyone else
that's going to go.
And then you know, ring around,have a chat with the boys how
did they get on last week orlast month and what depth were
they at?
So it sort of cuts out a lot ofthe guesswork.
(07:24):
And then you have your monthlymeetings.
We have a bit of a get-togetherand a couple of refreshing
sarsaparillas, shall we say, andjust a general sort of
knockabout with your mates.
It's good.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Further up the coast is Craig Ross from Muawai
Sportfishing Club.
Nearly four decades of beachlaunching behind him.
He's got some stories and somesolid advice.
Speaker 5 (07:47):
I've been a member of Murawai since I was probably 13
.
I'm nearly 50, 50 in a coupleof weeks.
Yeah, before they were a memberof the Carver Cruising Club,
but there weren't a lot of gamefishermen in the cruising club,
carver Cruising Club.
So that's why we joined Murawai.
That was the old man back inthe day.
There was no one sort of in thecorporate cruiser club, it was
fishing the west coast harbourfishermen.
(08:08):
So, yeah, hence we joined theMirawai club.
And then, 37 years ago, Isuppose, do you?
Speaker 1 (08:13):
remember your first trip out west and what gear you
had, and did you learn any?
Speaker 5 (08:20):
I did, yeah, I barrel-rolled boats.
So, yeah, put them upside down.
That's how I learnt how not todo it.
Yeah, I was lucky enough to bebrought up the old man and my
uncles have done it since theywere young so I had to torture
the ropes with them, you know,and the 12-footers, and, yeah,
sort of learnt that way.
But no, I've only, to be honest, I've only had two.
The wave picked me up frombehind and then another one.
(08:44):
I'll just tip along on the sidecoming in on a double wave, you
know, but not not in much water,so I've been pretty lucky
really quite often when we goout there will be a couple of
boats and we I always sort ofhang behind, let the other guys
go first and go behind them.
We had a mate and myfather-in-law in a boat in front
of us.
They went through a wave thatwas a bit big for the for them
and they end up flipping rightout backwards.
And it was quite a big day.
They were floating around onthe surf and there was a strong
(09:06):
current heading north.
So luckily I had my son-in-lawwith me, a strong boater, and we
sort of buzzed out To Ross up.
He dislocated his shoulder.
He was the first guy we got onboard because he was having
trouble.
Robbie was having to hold himup.
He couldn't swim yet.
They all had life jackets onand then a big set was coming in
.
I was trying to get Robbie tolet go of the boat.
There's no way he was leavingthe boat once he had decided.
Luckily Louis was strong enoughand threw him in as well and
(09:32):
then got in a position where wecould take on the next set.
And then I got our boat sortedout because we were half full of
water by that stage as well andgot our stuff sorted out and
then back to the beach.
And then Ross ended up in anambulance.
He had dislocated his shoulderquite badly.
It still popped out when wedropped him in.
And then me and Louis, theson-in-law, we went back out and
had a mate drop me in the water.
We both got the other boat backto the shore, Just swam a rope
(09:53):
to it and dragged it back up.
Just a bad timing is the mainone.
For instance, I've seen they'rejust not patient enough to wait
for the sets to roll throughand take a good day.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
So far, we've heard how quickly things can go wrong
out west and how knowledge ispassed down through generations.
Mark Gill breaks down the prepneeded before you even think
about launching from the beach.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
You have to be using the right vehicles.
You can't be going there inyour front-wheel drive Mazda,
demio, you know.
Any half-decent four-wheeldrive vehicle will get you on
and off there.
Drive to the conditions, drivenear the low tide mark.
You don't want to be up in thatsoft sand causing a nuisance
where the people are stoppingand having picnics and the likes
, obeying the road rules.
(10:35):
It's people going out therespeeding and they're going to
get these places shut down so wecan't utilize them.
It's a generational resource.
It's been there since beforetime and we've had the privilege
to utilize it with vehicleaccess and get us to some of
these awesome fishing spots.
And it's just taking the timeand getting the gear right goes
(10:56):
back to when you're rock fishing, to any form of fishing or any
expedition or trip.
You're going on.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
It's the planning, it's the forethought craig r
Ross talks to us about readingthe sand, the tides and the
swell before towing his boatanywhere near the water.
Speaker 5 (11:11):
So predict how.
I mean quite often if wehaven't been out for a little
while, we'll go run out thereand see how soft the sand is,
see what we're in for before weeven get out there, you know.
But during the season or gameseason, we're out there every
second or third day, so we're infor it.
But I normally let my tyresdown before I even have to worry
about getting stuck.
I've got a compressor on myhoax so I just dump my tyres.
(11:33):
So 10 PSI is a good number.
A lot of guys don't like goingthat low, but at 10 PSI you can
tow your boat pretty muchanywhere.
And I suppose, checking atWilson's Road in particular, if
it's been windy, there's quiteoften trees across it or
something across it.
You know in your way andElliot's coming the opposite way
that can jam up the track aswell, because it's only a.
I don't know if you've been outthere or not it's quite a
(11:53):
narrow track.
But no, just making sure youdon't get stuck, because it's
hard with a boat on if We'llalways have another vehicle and
let him go first.
So if we do need a tow he'salready in front, because you
can't get around when you'restuck on that track and quite
often we'll just take twovehicles anyway, just to make it
easier.
And then, I suppose, getting tothe beach, I always sit and
watch.
If it's a big day, I'll alwayssit and watch the surf for an
(12:16):
hour half an hour depending onhow I just get a bit of a
pattern going.
See, good, the lulls are thatare coming through, and quite
often not this sort of going onwhat I have taught my son-in-law
and my son how to read it aswell as quite often I'll try and
find a hole in the beach, likea hole, where there's a rip
(12:37):
going out and quite a calm patchbeside the rip.
I'll launch into the hole.
So you got, yeah, but a deepwater to sit and do.
But then I always try and go forthe roughest bit you've been
looking at, try and get thatcalm there, and then, if you do
get in the shit, you've alwaysgot the calmer area to run into
as a backup.
So I always try and get outwhere you know it's going to be
bad Not bad, but the worst bit.
If it's good enough to gothrough there, you can go, but
(13:05):
you've always got a hole or achannel to swerve into to get,
if a big one does come in, youknow, rather than if you're
trying to launch into thechannel and it closes in, you've
got nowhere to go.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Back to Mark.
He reckons your best defence isplanning, knowing the surf,
knowing your set-up and don'tcut corners.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
When it comes to the weather forecasting, there's a
lot of apps and websitesavailable to us.
It's working through what youfind useful.
There's a lot of informationout there that's not very good
and quite pointless in myopinion.
I more or less stick to Windy.
I'm quite a firm believer inthat site.
I've used it for a long timeand it's quite reliable in my
(13:35):
opinion.
Also, using surf websites andforecasts with their swell
energies very, very helpful onthe West Coast, and it's very
important to always check thesize of the tide.
It's more or less wind, swell,tide size.
They're the three mostimportant facts and then the
wave energy that you get fromthe surf Forecasting is the most
accurate at that, and then youcan make a formed report for
(14:00):
what you want to go out and doand if you can achieve it.
So once we get to Little Hewer,where the Manukau Club members
predominantly launch, we've gotbeach access there onto the
harbour, so it's quite a safebeach.
Still, it's got a few lessonsthere.
We're not on a concrete ramp,we're on sand or shingle and a
lot of guys do come unstuckthere even, but we don't have
any swell as such Moving aroundonto the coast.
(14:27):
The piha is quite a unique spotlaunching down the south end.
There you have to be a clubmember to launch there.
To get the key access they'venow got a tractor tractor.
The piha club's got a tractornow for their club members to
use as well.
That beach is quite hard tolaunch at because the sands can
be quite soft at times and it'syou need to have local knowledge
because of the sandbars outfrom Piha and that they're
always forever changing.
(14:47):
You always hear the old guystalk about it didn't used to be
like that and you always have toremember everything changes
everywhere.
So launching out at Piha isquite unique and you have to be
a club member, so that kind ofdistills any random guy from
ripping down there, you know.
And then out at Mirawai is thesame thing.
There They've got the down thesouth end, they've got the key
(15:10):
access there and the gate andyou have to be a club member at
Mirawai and attend a safetybriefing.
That's only for down the southend.
Any Mirawai, anyone else onMirawai, anyone else can launch.
Launching into the surf is quitecomplicated.
You need to have priorexperience or you need to have
someone there with the knowledgethat's done it before, because
(15:31):
it is a dangerous launch, that'sfor sure.
Spinning a boat around withwaves coming through, it's not
easy.
Having to hold the boat whileyour driver goes and dumps the
truck up the top of the beachabove the high tide mark,
running down and jumping theboat, you've got to push it out,
nose out to the surf, it's noteasy.
And once you're on the boat,you've got to wait for the time
(15:54):
to get out.
Once you make that call, you'vegot to make the right call
because otherwise you'll go upand over, and there's a lot of
guys over the years up Mirawaiand up Ahipara.
They've gone right over Same.
Retrieving the boats coming inon the beach is dangerous as
well.
A lot of guys have accidentsgetting on and off the boats.
At surf beaches.
You need to have experiencedguys around you and that's why
(16:16):
it's essential to be joiningclubs.
If you want a beach launch, youneed to be joining clubs like
ahipara, mirawai.
Piha can't speak highly enoughof the mirawai ahipara boys, of
how they they handle their beachlaunches.
There are second to none on thewest coast surf beaches joining
us again at chris and duncan islifesavers.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
they've seen what happens when fishers gamble with
the ocean, and here's howDuncan puts it.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
I worked with a Dutch guy when I was young, an
apprentice, and he saidsomething very pertinent was
luck is for the unlucky.
So if you're going to rely onluck to get you out on the West
Coast, prepare for it to run out, because Murphy's always there.
He's always got a little handin the background that will make
everything you can line up canturn to shit in the heartbeat,
and you've just got to beprepared for that really.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
That's the whole reason I'm doing this, boys, is
to just try.
And you know like it feels likea perfect storm at the moment,
where fisheries on the EastCoast have been depleted, places
are being locked up, it'sharder to secure a feed.
Social media is showing greatfish being caught out west and
people are going hey, I want togo at this, but half of the
reason the fishery is so goodout west is people can't get out
(17:25):
in a lot of weather patternsbecause you want to play it safe
and you're not going to pushthose risks right yeah, exactly,
and I mean it was about 15years ago.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
Forest and bird were pushing to put the west coast as
a marine park, which meant youcould recreational fish.
It was notifiable.
We went into the meeting to tryand get that abolished.
And there's this panel ofpeople there and they were
arguing the point and I said, ohlook, I can take three of you
up tomorrow in my 14-foottinny-off piha.
And the guy's like, well, whatare the conditions?
Like I said, oh, it's fourmetres and there's a 30-knot
(17:55):
sou'wester.
And he goes, you're goingfishing in that.
I said, well, no, that'd bestupid.
But I said that's.
My point is that the coast isself-governing.
You know, some summers, as Isay, you can do 150 hours on the
water on your outboard, andother summers you're lucky if
you do 10 hours in the wholeseason.
So it is good, you know, go outin the morning and catch a feed
and be home in a couple ofhours.
(18:16):
Or you know, go out in themorning and it blows up and
you've got to come home how doyou battle the planning?
Speaker 1 (18:23):
look, we've got a weekend, all right, boys, we'll
go out, you know, in two weeksand you take time off, work,
maybe for a thursday, friday orsomething like that, and then
the weather isn't playing ball,but maybe it is.
How do you make that call like,what's the reality for you guys
is, is safety first?
Or you know, do you see guyspush those weather windows?
How's that play out?
Speaker 4 (18:44):
Not in the club.
Normally Most guys are prettyconservative, you know, Like
everyone in the PR club ispretty willing to just go.
No, not going.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
Is that a club kind of?
It's been passed down from someof the older boys and the
younger ones are embracing that.
Like you know, one's there tobe a hero kind of thing probably
.
Speaker 4 (19:03):
It's probably just not worth it.
You know you have you have thepucker factor a couple of times
and just you know it's just justisn't worth it.
It's it kind of ruins your dayas well.
If it's real stressful gettingoff the beach, you know best
days fishing is when you chuckthe boat in, cruise out, stay
dry.
Everything's easy.
When you've got to negotiatesome surf before you've even got
(19:23):
off the beach.
It kind of ruins the day.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
And for you guys, it's not just negotiating the
surf, it's also negotiating thesurfers and other people in the
water, because you're prettymuch going through a lineup
where guys like to catch thosewaves.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
And quite often than not, they're using the same rip
and the same holes that we'reusing to get out there, you know
, and so this is especially whenwe come in during summer and
the game season sale.
I'll get a guy up either sidelooking forward, you know,
spotting surfers, and they'rejust talking to me the whole
time.
I've got my eyes on a swivel,your head on a swivel, but yeah,
I mean swivel, but yeah, I mean.
The only only incident I canever think of is we were
(19:58):
launching the boat.
We're standing chest deep andthis guy on a longboard just
surfed straight into the side ofmy boat.
Now it's a six meter surtees,pretty hard to miss, but he just
came planning along the waveand buffed straight into it and
called me everything under thesun, so I didn't know what else
to do.
Speaker 4 (20:11):
Really, I was a bit gobsmacked on that one so once
you launch your options to turnaround and run away from a set
or something and non-existentmost of the time you know, once
you, once you pointed the noseat the horizon, you're going
that way.
There's no turning because youjust you'll mow down half a
dozen surfers.
If you try and do that, yeahyou're committed.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
You are committed and and you need to power through
at times as well when you'regoing out.
I guess it's probably easiergoing out than coming back in
when you're behind the troughand you can't see what's in
front of it.
Is there a difference for youguys, you know, leaving the
beach or returning?
Speaker 3 (20:44):
On the busy days we'll actually sit out the back
and make a plan.
And it may be we cut inside thesurfers and then parallel run
along the beach.
And that comes from ourexperience, you know, in the
surf club being able to pickyour way along the back track
along the beach and maybe take awave broadside.
But it is, it's just don't goin guns blazing.
You sit back, make a plan,execute the plan and then
(21:06):
prepare for a fucker.
Speaker 4 (21:08):
The other thing is when you're landing on a beach
it's not like crossing a bar,where you sort of sit in the
trough halfway between the waves.
Coming onto the beach is bestto sit on top of a wave so
you're as close to the peak aspossible without tipping over
the front of it, and then you'reperched up high and you can see
everything.
Yeah, you know, the waves onlycome in from behind you, so that
gives you the maximum workingroom.
(21:29):
It's sort of counterintuitive,but it's best to sit on top of a
wave.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
The thing about being a crew on a boat on the West
Coast too is you know your crewis as much part of what's going
on as the skipper.
They can see stuff that skippermay have his head down trying
to find the fish and next thingyou know there's something going
on he wasn't prepared for.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
So there are a few guys doing the solo missions,
but it's pretty rare or it's inthe smaller boats really that
those guys or jet skis or thatkind of thing, that guys are
going solo, otherwise you're ina crew.
Speaker 3 (21:58):
Preferably In the bigger boats.
It's easy Well, you'relaunching on a beach, you've got
to have someone to hold theboat.
Chris has got a nice littlestady that he can go out by
himself quite happily.
But again, it's having theknowledge and the skill set to
be able to do that.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
What's the reality for those guys listening of when
it does go wrong in close?
Uh, a boat getting flipped nearthe bar.
So you've been through that,chris.
Did I flip that?
Speaker 4 (22:23):
you did.
Yeah, I flip a lot of boatsnormally try not to make it my
one.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
But the orange ones we don't own, so we don't care
about those too much yeah, sothe surf, surf boats are made
for it.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
But for a guy going fishing, you've got tackle,
you've got all sorts in the boatanchors.
Speaker 4 (22:37):
If I saw it coming, like if my engine stalled in the
surf or something like that I'dtake to the sea mate, I'd get
as far away from the bloody boatas possible.
And you're swimming home, youknow, the thing that scares me
is to go over, you know, getflipped over backwards or
something and have the boat comedown on top of you and then
you've got.
You've got anchor warp, you gotan anchor flying through the
air, you got nylon, just allsorts of crap in there that you
(22:58):
just don't want to deal with.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
So if I saw it coming , I'd pull the pin early and get
away from the boat, you knowlife jacket on because you're
launching, you got a flotationdevice and you're away from
anything hard that can hurt you.
At the end of the day, um,insurance will cover it.
You know it's only a boat,whereas insurance doesn't cover
life that well.
Once you're dead, it's prettypermanent.
The obvious one is enginefailure, which can be fuel, it
(23:21):
can be maintenance, it can bebattery, it can be a combination
of everything.
And if your engine's dead andyou're broadside to a wave and
it's solid, you don't reallywant to be there.
Speaker 4 (23:32):
I mean, there's a good chance your boat might be
okay but if it's not and you'reflipped over with, then you know
it's a bad place to be.
I've seen that on the raglanbar a few times.
You know where guys go over.
I think there's been maybe fouror five drownings where they've
found them inside the boatafter it's gone over, you know.
So yeah, I just I just wouldn'twant to deal with it.
You know that boats are prettybloody hard and the other thing
(23:55):
is once, once it starts to go,you know, if a wave's caught you
and you're about to get poopedor you're broaching or something
, there's not much you can do.
You know, because you can'tmove around, you've got to hold
on to the boat and the name ofthe game would be just don't get
to that situation.
You know, abandon ship prettyearly is what I'd do.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
Because I mean, at the end of the day, if you've
got a six, seven metre boat,it's got a hard top and you've
got your life jacket on thathard top upside down and you're
under the hull, that lifejacket's going to help you float
inside the hull, which may notbe no air in there, and it makes
it really hard to get out.
You know, get out outside theboat again.
So you know sort, you know sortof the worst-case scenario
(24:36):
would be heading out to sea.
I've been, we've been out andcoming home and I've just said
to everyone make sure your lifejackets are done up.
You know the conditions werethat bad that I was just like if
we need to get out.
You know today's the day, a lotof my mates sort of scoffed at
it once we hit the beach.
But that's the reality of whatwe do and you know, prior
(25:01):
preparation prevents piss.
Poor performance is a classicum and if everyone's ready to,
you know, get out of kansas ifyou have to.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
If the skippers go, they go our final guest is dr
mckinney from drowningprevention aotearoa.
Don't let the title fool you.
Mick's no ivory tower typeacademic.
He's a straight shooter who'sbeen waist deep in this stuff
since the 80s.
He started as a lifeguard atunited north piha surf
life-saving club.
(25:25):
He's seen it all and he doesn'tsugarcoat it oh, it's all
planning.
Speaker 6 (25:29):
Hey, what's that one?
The four p's?
Poor performance.
Oh, planning prevents piss.
Poor performance, five, youknow it couldn't count, you know
.
Yeah, mate, it's all, it's allplanning.
If you're going to go for a fishout west, you you got to know
the conditions and what'shappening.
You rock up there and ifthere's a very big groundy swell
coming through, it can throw acurveball at you.
(25:50):
You know, if you don't know theconditions and all of that,
you're in a hiding to nothing.
It's the simple things you know.
Like you're waiting out,youading out, you think you're
sweet as you're at waist depthand all of a sudden you step
into a hole.
You know it might be low tideand then all of a sudden you're
up to your pretty chest or neckand you're not a good swimmer
and oh, how can it break?
Loose Waves come in, they washup the beach and then that
(26:15):
water's got to head out Now andthat's when you'll see the water
running into holes, into thedeeper part, and then that just
cracks those rip currents.
So literally on the west coastyou could be standing knee-depth
and then five meters away, it'sover your head.
It doesn't even have to be astrong current feeding in there.
If you're not swimming you'renot getting out.
(26:38):
I've rescued numerous bods uminshore close and it's um, not
even that big a surf, it's justdeep water, and there there's
enough current for them whichthey can't swim against.
You know, they're not strongenough.
If they're on the west coastand this is a broad
generalization mid to high tideis generally the safest time and
then when that tide, becausethere's a lot of water on the
(26:58):
beach and it's getting pushed up.
But when that tide swings andit's outgoing, then a lot of
additional water wants to leavethat area and around low tide
it's just generally really nasty.
Um, out on that west coast,those guys really know what
they're doing and they'll bechatting about it and like but
my mates, they cancel so manytrips, the keen airs, you know,
oh yeah.
And then it's like oh, bugger,it's just a little bit rough.
(27:20):
Just like the PRTC Fishing Club, you know they cancel or
postpone their fishing comptwice because of conditions,
rightly so.
It's that local knowledge, butit's an interesting one, like
launching off a beach.
Now I've rescued a few bods andboats out there.
Actually, one time guys were injust like a little Renko Ranger
(27:40):
, I think a 15 on the back andthey had like three bods in it
and started off in the morning,you know, and it was probably
only two, three foot and then itsort of peaked to sort of four
or five, you know, and they justdidn't have enough oomph in the
engine to get in.
It's that local thing launchingoff the beach, but there's a
hell of a lot of skill in there.
It's like even just gettingyour boat down there, you know,
(28:03):
and little tricks of the trade,you know, obviously, with your
tyres and stuff, knowing wherethe sand's hard and soft and
where you're going to launch.
But you've also got to bereally careful, like Pia's quite
a popular beach.
So if you're going fanging downthe beach so you're not getting
stuck, you've got to be awareof kids and other people around
there.
And you'd feel bloody terribleif you come screaming around the
(28:24):
corner and you bowl a kidbecause, oh, I've got to go flat
out to get across that softsand.
And it's the same thing as whenyou're going out through the
surf, particularly at Paya,around the Nun and Key Isle, and
that A lot of guys are surfingthere.
You've got that rip there andthey just hang up the point
crack some waves, and that'swhere you go out in the boat.
It's a lot easier when you'reheading out because you can go
(28:45):
slow and you can see and you canpick your way out.
You can always see sort of infront of you.
But if you're coming in afterevening fishing, if you had a
few beers not a good idea.
You're probably not thinkingstraight.
Not a good idea.
You're probably not thinkingstraight.
Probably a bit tired.
Swell might have picked up,could be full up with bod
surfing and it's quite seedy andyou get it wrong.
So all of a sudden you'recommitted and you're cruising
through a pack of surfers.
(29:06):
So it's really important whenyou're launching in those places
, look after not only yourselfbut other people, and that's it.
You always want guys spottingand giving you info when you're
in the boats, like where thesurf is yep, you know, and then
just keeping an eye on it.
Yeah, a lot of it's got to dowith the tide as well.
It's sort of it could be like aconsistent swell, all good,
(29:28):
same direction, same swellperiod, and then the sweaters
and the tide changes and thenthe whole dynamic of you know
the ways of breaking off therocks or bars changes.
So all of a sudden, generallywhen you're in, going out, geez,
I might have shifted five orten metres.
So it's just that understandingof geez, where am I coming in
and out?
You know, and you've got tolook after not only yourself but
(29:48):
other people, you know.
You know guys surfing got justas much right as anyone in the
water, so you've got to lookafter them as well.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
Duncan, you've got to look after them as well.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
Duncan from Pihar sees it like this.
Yeah well, death is permanent,you know, and you can be as
confident as you like and be asmuch of a smartass as you like,
but Murphy's always there tolevel out the playing field.
And even for the mostexperienced, like one of our
most experienced fishers out ofPihar.
He's got two boats, he'sflipped a small boat three times
now and he's out more thananyone I know and again wears
(30:20):
his life jacket.
But he, you know, he just thingis I fish more than anyone, so
it's bound to happen.
Well, yeah, I don't agree withthat either.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
Chris explains how quickly it can escalate.
Speaker 4 (30:33):
On the sea.
You know like problems compound, small problems turn into real
big problems real quick.
So you want to insulateyourself against that sort of
stuff as much as possible.
You know it's one of thosethings where you might learn the
hard way but you might not getto learn it.
You know, if you don't make itthrough the first fuck-up, you
don't get another go.
So things like if I go on myown, I have my EPIRB things like
(30:55):
that really worry me.
You know, like if you, if youfell out of your boat or
something, that's kind of amajor concern.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
Yeah, and obviously always wearing a life jacket and
I normally have like myflippers are in my boat as well,
just just in case you know youmight have to get around the
outboard or something like thatare there been situations where
you guys or older members havepulled some of the youngest
aside and said, said mate, don'tdo that, or you know, maybe we
saw you out there pull your headin kind of thing, or guys going
(31:23):
fishing.
Are these conversations had onthe ground?
Speaker 3 (31:26):
Yeah, absolutely yeah , we're band members, and with
the band comes a revoke of usingaccess to the beach through our
dedicated ramp, and then, yeah,we just take it pretty
seriously and you know's, it'snot necessarily the skipper that
can be in danger.
It could be, it's the peoplethey take with them, and if the
attitude of the skipper is oneof not really giving a shit,
(31:46):
then the people around them takethat on as well and it just it
can lead to major issues wedon't have a lot of that, though
I most of the guy, because allthe kids are in the fishing club
as well.
Speaker 4 (31:56):
so most, most of them grow up here and they kind of,
you know, they learn the gig byosmosis anyway.
So it hasn't happened.
A couple of guys have beenbooted out of the club for being
idiots, and yeah, that's.
Speaker 3 (32:07):
Yeah, it's an exception and generally, yeah, a
couple of situations.
The apple didn't fall very farfrom the tree, so unfortunately
they didn't stand much of achance of an evolution's not
really on their side.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
I guess the main point I'm getting at here is the
club has embraced this kind ofsafety culture that is becoming
generational through the clubwith the young kids.
They're getting this from ayoung age where someone who's
not in this environment andthey're coming from another part
of Auckland or somewhere elseto give it a go they're missing
(32:38):
all of this culture that youguys have around.
A club that keeps you guys safe, respects the ocean yeah pretty
much.
Speaker 4 (32:46):
I mean, there's a lot of lessons you kind of get from
the clubs that you just thingsyou just wouldn't even think of,
you know, if you didn't havethe other guys around you.
Because you hear, you know,every time some you know a
little fuck up happens tosomeone you make sure everyone
knows about it.
Speaker 3 (33:03):
You know well, the classic was this summer.
You know I'm pretty fanaticalwith maintenance on my boat and
for whatever reason, my bilgekept filling.
I went back to tighten the bungand rip the whole bung and and
uh, mounting plate clean out ofthe out of the um, out of the
bilge.
And uh, chris was on the wheeland I turned around and just
went oh, we're fucked.
But again had the wherewithalon the boat.
To, you know, wrap someplumbers, sparky tape around it
here's a big sinker and bash itback into place and just keep it
(33:26):
on it for the rest of the day.
And then I came back to theclub and said to everyone look,
check your bones.
It's not ever something I everthought I'd need to do and,
being a surtees, it had twobones.
The first one, I replaced thatstraight away.
Second one checked that, boom,that came out too.
And then did my homework andgot the appropriate sealants and
fixings and made sure that wasdone.
And then I posted that on aforum a bit and it wasn't naming
(33:46):
and shaming the boat, nothingwrong with the boat, it was
something I'd never considered.
And that was seven miles out atsea.
We had a fountain of watercoming into the boat.
So it's just, and you know,went back to the club, sat with
everyone, told them of mymistake, owned it and shared
that knowledge which thelaunching and retrieving of
boats at the beach, you know,for one day could be one end of
(34:07):
the beach and a week later isthe absolute other end of the
beach.
And just being fluid and ableto do that Again, knowledge
shared with guys that are goingout.
I've got, I wouldn't say, anextensive toolkit spare change
of plugs in case something goeswrong there.
You've got to start yourbastard or CRC and just, yeah,
ropes and tapes, and just youknow.
Now I've got even more sparebungs and rubber stoppers and it
(34:30):
could be the bill of a.
You know marlin goes throughthe side of your boat and puts a
hole in your boat.
I've heard guys using carrotsto bung those up.
But just you know, if you had asingle battery boat, have a
jump starter or a backup batterysystem that you can, you know,
get yourself going.
I've got a dual system.
So always make sure thebatteries are topped up before I
go.
Um, it's just, one of thosethings is um, if you're not sure
(34:51):
don't go.
I mean, we had a, a um, a guythe other day borrowed a boat
off a mate that hadn't been usedin four years, took it out
pretty marginal conditions, I'llsay.
No one else went and I went tothe beach just to watch, make
sure he launched, okay.
And uh, just I was a bitworried why he didn't sort of
exceed five knots when he'scrossing the outside bar.
When he came back in later thatday waiting for the tide, and
(35:11):
came in on the high and he justsaid that wouldn't go any faster
.
It was in sort of limp mode.
And when I talked to him priorto going I said well, you know,
you've changed the field, doneall that and all that.
And when I spoke to himafterwards he goes oh, I didn't
really change the fuel, I justadded some fresh.
Now this boat hadn't been usedfor four years, it should never
have gone out on the west coast.
And what I said you know, didyou get service?
Did you do all these thingsthat any normal person possibly
(35:34):
would have done?
And he was just like, no, no,but you know, it's been on the
West Coast before, it should befine.
And I was like, well, that'sexactly the wrong attitude.
Speaker 4 (35:41):
So I keep quite a few spares in mind because, look,
I'm either fishing off PR or Igo on the Kuiper quite often and
you know that's pretty big andthere's also a bloody great big
hairy bar out there.
If something comes, you know,your ground tackle comes adrift
or something.
And so I have like spare fuellines, fuel connectors, like
things that, like you know, ifyour fuel line, your connector
(36:04):
broke or something like that,you're pretty stuffed.
So I have all those spares.
I've only got a 40 horse so Ican pull start it.
So I have all the tools inthere to get the top off the
motor, so I can get a ropearound.
I've got a little bit of ropethat I can pull, start it with A
jump starter, one of thosejumper packs, bit of rope that I
can pull, start it with a jumpstarter, one of those jumper
packs.
They're only like 200 bucks andit's because that that'd be a
(36:24):
major, you know, for me if, ifI'm on my own and the motor dies
or something, that'd be quiteserious and loads of CRC as well
, just because you know, bit ofwater in the wrong place and you
and your stuff just to um givean idea of how you're.
Speaker 1 (36:37):
When you said you're fishing the Kuiper, are you
going up to Wilson's and goingoff the beach, or how are you
fishing?
Speaker 4 (36:43):
Yeah, I fish off Wilson's sometimes, yeah, so
that's pretty remote on your own, but also just out near the
graveyard and that.
Speaker 1 (36:51):
So those spots you know pretty well-known spots,
but if your engine didn't startand you didn't have the tools to
fix it because you guys are,what you're saying is you're
pretty self-sufficient to sortshit out yourselves.
But if someone wasn't andthey're trying to call Coast
Guard, how long would that inreality take to some of these
spots, even off PR or the likes?
(37:12):
For someone who goes on theCoast Guard channel and says,
hey, I can't start the engine,like are we talking hours before
a boat would even get there.
Speaker 4 (37:21):
Probably to the graveyard.
You'd be going an hour.
The Coast Guard's inHellensville, so that's a bloody
long way away.
And you know what concerns me.
Out there is in a small boat.
You get your anchor working itsway down under the sand and
then, if you get the tide comingin, sometimes your anchor's
buried so much that you can'tpull it up and your anchor ends
(37:43):
up pulling your boat down underthe water.
So there's that.
And if you combine that with,say, you drop your pick because
your engine wouldn't start, youcould be in serious trouble.
You know you've got no.
You either set yourself adriftand cut your anchor rope and
you're floating around the mouthof the Kuiper on your own with
no options, or you're looking atmaybe potentially getting
pulled under by a swell orsomething.
So yeah, that's why I'm prettycautious up there.
(38:05):
And if you were launching offWilson's Road, you're on your
own, you're not getting anything, you know.
Speaker 3 (38:10):
But again, maintenance.
You know what your gear's like.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
Mark thinks this is the best way to prepare for the
wild west coast.
Speaker 2 (38:17):
Yeah.
So the best way to get if youwant to start fishing out
anywhere on the west coast is tojoin a club.
Local knowledge is important.
Come along to a club meeting.
There's multiple clubs, doesn'tmatter where you are from
Raglan to the Hoki to Ahiparajoin a club.
Local knowledge is theknowledge you need.
When you join a club, you meetother like-minded people and you
(38:38):
can buddy up with other peoplefor your first crossings.
Quite often there's um groupgroup chats or messenger and the
likes about the conditions,who's going out.
It's always better to go outwith other like-minded
individuals at the same time.
You've got other soundingboards to bounce your ideas off
about conditions.
You're not on your own,obviously.
When we want to go fishing, wewant to fishing and your mind
(39:00):
can captivate you and trick youinto going when you shouldn't be
going, and we're all guilty ofthat to a degree.
Having the club there andsounding those ideas out, if
you're barking up the wrong tree, they'll tell you pretty quick
Pull your head in.
You know you're going to havean accident, and that's really
essential, especially for usyounger guys.
We like to take the bull by thehorns, so to speak, and it's
(39:20):
always good to have an olderclub member tell us nah, mate,
you don't want to be doing that,and those are those lessons
that we need.
And having that advice there, Ican't speak enough of it.
It's kept me out of themischief, I can tell you that
much.
Speaker 5 (39:35):
Craig says the same from the Muriwai Club.
We're always, if anyone wantsto know any tips or whatever.
We always talk about it andwe're always forthcoming,
whether it be off the beach orthrough.
The bar is a big one as well,because we do a lot.
If the beach is too big, we cannormally get out the bar, maybe
another half a metre highertype thing, so a metre and
there's always we sort of sticktogether as a group going
through there.
If there's any newbies, we dragthem through behind us and then
(39:57):
tell them where to put marks infor the bar as well.
There are a lot of guys thatwon't listen and they think they
know it all and go out thereand go full bore into a wave and
wonder why they hurt their crew.
Club members.
You can apply for a key, gothrough a locked gate to get
there and then tone through thecutout.
You've got to have a decentsort of car to get through the
soft sand anyway.
(40:18):
The worst I've seen is guysthat just launch in a rush, jump
in and just go straight out andhit a big set and hit the waves
full wall.
Speaker 1 (40:25):
Here's the kicker.
Despite how dangerous beachlaunching is, Chris and Duncan
surprised me.
They'd rather launch off thebeach than take the Manukau Bar
on.
And that says it all.
Speaker 3 (40:36):
You get the old common wind against water which
you end up with standing wavesas well as the swell coming in.
You know, the North Channel atthe Manukau is a classic and
that's taken a lot of boats overthe years and some very
experienced skippers with it.
You know Some big boats withall the power in the world and
they just get caught and thenthat cycle of wind against water
, standing waves, they can'tpush through it and a wave comes
(40:58):
from behind them, just mowsover the top.
So you know, you've really gotto know.
I mean again the Manukau.
I've been the southern entrancea few times, done the northern
a couple and I'd rather take onthe bar at Piha any day than
that body of water.
Speaker 4 (41:12):
Yeah, I'd prefer launching off the surf beach as
well, because once you hatch aplan and there's a lull, it's
all over in two minutes.
Speaker 3 (41:20):
you know, coming into the manukau, sometimes it's
like 15, 20 minutes of it withyour head on a swivel and shit
coming from bloody everywhereyeah, we went out one day when
the mates um, 6.7 certies hereto 200 on the back, so all the
power in the world and we shotout of the manukau at the
northern channel and it was deadflat.
And he cut across the bar atthe head of the manukau and
(41:43):
fished all day Again.
Full cast was for it to pick upand it did.
And I said to him heading homeand he's a really experienced
skipper I said, look, whateveryou do, don't follow your track.
We're going to have to find thebar and go around it.
Anyway, he's sort of off in adaze, not really thinking, and I
looked I was down the backsorting out the bilge and
sorting out some other things,and I poked my head up and there
was just a set of four meterplus waves marching towards us
(42:04):
and the one two back wasbreaking and I just said, mate,
could you just go hammer timeand don't look back.
And uh, he pushed the, push thethrottle right down and then
turned around.
He goes what the fuck?
And I was like, yeah, mate.
And then I said then I lookedat the sounder and he had
followed his track back and weluckily outran that one.
But I just said to him.
This is the whole thing.
All the conditions in fivehours have changed from a day on
(42:26):
the lake to you know.
Could have been bad news for us.
Speaker 1 (42:30):
Thankfully this one didn't end in disaster, but next
time we talk about when it does.
Same crew, same coast, but of adifferent tone.
From boat flips to near misses,rescues to hard lessons.
Our next episode dives into thebad news, the stories we don't
like telling but we need to hear.
If you fish the rocks or runthe Manukau Bar, don't miss out.
(42:52):
Catch you then.
The NZSFC Pod and Reel podcastis brought to you by funding
from Maritime New Zealand.
Welcome to the New Zealand Sport Fishing Council
Pod and Reel podcast.
I'm Mike Plant from the NewZealand Sport Fishing Council
and today we're heading out west, proper west.
Out here the coast is wild, thesurf unforgiving and the fish
worth every second.
(00:20):
There's no marina, no pontoon,no calm estuary, just beach
launches, bar crossings, surfbreaks and a crew of stubbornly
smart fishers who know what ittakes to get out and, more
importantly, get home.
In this episode you'll hear fromfive west coast legends with
decades of frontline experienceout west.
(00:40):
They've all lived it Boatsrolling, bars rising fast, mates
getting rescued in those gnarlymoments from when you're riding
a wave in that dusk with abroken prop, hoping like hell to
hit the sand and not the surf.
You'll hear about thegenerational knowledge passed
down through families at clubslike Muriwai, piha and Manako
(01:01):
Sportfishing, and how one wrongcall, a tide tackle, a mindset,
can cost you everything.
This episode isn't just awarning, it's a bit of a wake-up
call.
The west coast is fierce.
It's beautiful but brutal.
Treat it with respect or paythe price, whether you're
launching off the beach, fishingthe rocks or chasing marlin
beyond the.
This is one episode for you, solet's get into it.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
You learn to respect the environment.
Obviously, we're dealing withthe wild west coast as it's
known, and growing up, youalways heard of people going
missing and bodies washing upand the likes and parents and
everyone always kind of tellingyou be careful, be careful.
And it's just what we've alwaystried to be is careful.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Let's start with Mark Gill from the Manukau Sport
Fishing Club.
A committee member, a delegateand someone who spent his life
fishing on the west coast, heknows what catches you out and
what keeps you safe.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
The tides have always been an issue in the Manukau
Harbour particularly.
You know, floundering in thatat night time getting caught out
.
It's just a wild place and ifyou make a mistake unfortunately
you can perish.
It's just a slow progressionand always trying to learn and
always trying to remember andknowing that we're only a small
cog in this big machine.
(02:20):
You know, not one place or oneline of information has kind of
taught me what I know.
It's more or less anaccumulation of earlier years
parents and people in thecommunity and the later years,
older people in the fishing clubmanukau sport fishing club
particularly people like peterjackson, and he's kind of more
or less pioneered the fisheryout there out of the manukau and
(02:42):
kind of paved the path for usyounger generation to kind of
operate under and through andflourish, you know.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Now over to Chris O'Neill and Duncan Clark from
the Pihar Deep Sea Fishing Club.
Both are also seasonedlifesavers.
Duncan grew up fishing andlifeguarding here.
He remembers learning the hardway.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
My first trip was with the old man when I was shit
.
I was probably only 12 orsomething and a little 14 foot
tinny with a 20 on the back.
He had a head of rod and reel,but I was relegated to the hand
line Having a go at me frommucking around pulling a snapper
and when I flipped it over theside into his lap and it was
about an eight pound snapper, hewas like holy shit, you should
have said something.
(03:21):
But yeah, it's always that.
Make sure your gear'smaintained, make sure, like my
outboard mechanic, he's mobileand he laughs at me.
He goes some years.
You know he'll service theoutboard and I've done 10 hours.
Another year I've done 150hours.
So it's just a thing I do everyDecember Get everything
serviced ready for the upcomingseason.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
You know, and I guess the West Coast doesn't really
forgive mistakes.
Can you guys think of a time?
Speaker 4 (03:48):
when you or someone you know pushed the limits and
maybe it backfired a bit yeahfor that, yeah, yeah, we've seen
a few guys out here that comeout.
They're not club members andthey because you can get onto pr
sometimes and launch your boat,and so I've had a few guys that
have gone out in little tinniesand like basically haven't been
able to get back through thesurf, just not, not fast enough.
So I've seen that a few times.
You know, sometimes you canlaunch and the tide changes and
then it's a whole differentbeach when you come home.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
So you see that occasionally, and there was one
guy that borrowed hismother-in-law's Jeep Cherokee
and followed one of our membersonto the beach with a bit of
baffling bullshit and he backedinto the hole to take the boat
off.
And he just must have thoughthe was East Coast because you
know, back down on the lull,walked back, was untying it all.
And then his set came in andthe next thing, the Cherokee,
(04:31):
swimming, was up to thewindshield.
And yeah, that was a fullfiasco because you know, the
boat was stuck on the beach, thetruck was flooded, it wasn't
running, so I had to tow himhigh and dry and get his boat
and gear off the beach.
At the end of the day he stillwent fishing and then he
borrowed someone else's wagon totow the boat off the beach and
he left all his rods in the rodholder up high and as he went
under the trees he just cleanedthe whole lot off, just snapped
everything down to the butt.
(04:52):
It was a full fiasco.
But yeah, we had a club memberthat just threw, no fault of his
own, we were all out fishing meup and he goes mate, I can't
get the airport to start and sowe talked through a few things
and we just stopped fishingstraight away and motored over
to where he was.
He had his wife and kids onboard all in life jackets, and
so we took them on our boat andhooked them up and I said, oh
look, we'll just tow you inslowly and we'll make a plan on
(05:14):
the way in, because we're at the50 meter mark and um, as we're
heading in, I radioed and rang acouple of other boats and and
so they all shot in ahead of us.
So we had a crew on the beachand I just had someone manning
the tow rope ready to cut thebridle if we had to.
And I was just like we're goingto tell you flat nuts, and if
we have to, we'll cut you loose,and whatever happens happens.
But we managed to get him intothe beach rope and as we came
(05:34):
close we set him free and theother guys ran outha that are
refusing to join the club.
And there was one night theywent out, the wind got up to 40
knots from the northeast andthey couldn't start and they
rang a mate who then rang a matewho launched the same size boat
(05:55):
with three guys in it and ittook them three hours of towing
from the 30-meter mark againstthe 40-knot northeast because
they had three guys in thebroken down boat and three guys
in the tow boat and they justwent nowhere but, again, didn't
tell anyone, went and did it ontheir own.
When they got back to the beachthey were like, oh you know, it
was pitch black and they werelike that could have been a bit
of a muck up.
(06:15):
And I said, well, your firstbig mistake was not telling
anyone what you're up to, youknow, and in those conditions
coast guard's there for a reasonas well that's the other thing.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
We don't really have coast guard here either.
You know like nearest coastguards, was it?
Yeah, probably who either?
Which is depends how big thesurf is, but that could be you
know, three hours away kind ofthing.
So just getting on the blowerand calling for a tow isn't
really a thing.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Yeah, a few guys have mentioned that, like firstly,
you touched on the importance ofbeing a part of a club, because
then you've got like a supportsystem, but also a knowledge
base and a group of mates thatyou can always reach out to.
So would that be your firstsuggestion as become a club
member the fishing club, ifyou're, you know, wanting to
fish out of Piha, so you have abit of an on-the-ground
(07:01):
knowledge from the guys outthere doing it regularly.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
Well, on-the-ground knowledge from the guys out
there doing it regularly.
Well, anywhere you're fishingfrom, if there's a local club,
it's good for you know Pihau'sgood because you put it out
there on our chat pages that,hey, we're thinking of heading
out on a fish on Saturday andyou hear from everyone else
that's going to go.
And then you know, ring around,have a chat with the boys how
did they get on last week orlast month and what depth were
they at?
So it sort of cuts out a lot ofthe guesswork.
(07:24):
And then you have your monthlymeetings.
We have a bit of a get-togetherand a couple of refreshing
sarsaparillas, shall we say, andjust a general sort of
knockabout with your mates.
It's good.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Further up the coast is Craig Ross from Muawai
Sportfishing Club.
Nearly four decades of beachlaunching behind him.
He's got some stories and somesolid advice.
Speaker 5 (07:47):
I've been a member of Murawai since I was probably 13
.
I'm nearly 50, 50 in a coupleof weeks.
Yeah, before they were a memberof the Carver Cruising Club,
but there weren't a lot of gamefishermen in the cruising club,
carver Cruising Club.
So that's why we joined Murawai.
That was the old man back inthe day.
There was no one sort of in thecorporate cruiser club, it was
fishing the west coast harbourfishermen.
(08:08):
So, yeah, hence we joined theMirawai club.
And then, 37 years ago, Isuppose, do you?
Speaker 1 (08:13):
remember your first trip out west and what gear you
had, and did you learn any?
Speaker 5 (08:20):
I did, yeah, I barrel-rolled boats.
So, yeah, put them upside down.
That's how I learnt how not todo it.
Yeah, I was lucky enough to bebrought up the old man and my
uncles have done it since theywere young so I had to torture
the ropes with them, you know,and the 12-footers, and, yeah,
sort of learnt that way.
But no, I've only, to be honest, I've only had two.
The wave picked me up frombehind and then another one.
(08:44):
I'll just tip along on the sidecoming in on a double wave, you
know, but not not in much water,so I've been pretty lucky
really quite often when we goout there will be a couple of
boats and we I always sort ofhang behind, let the other guys
go first and go behind them.
We had a mate and myfather-in-law in a boat in front
of us.
They went through a wave thatwas a bit big for the for them
and they end up flipping rightout backwards.
And it was quite a big day.
They were floating around onthe surf and there was a strong
(09:06):
current heading north.
So luckily I had my son-in-lawwith me, a strong boater, and we
sort of buzzed out To Ross up.
He dislocated his shoulder.
He was the first guy we got onboard because he was having
trouble.
Robbie was having to hold himup.
He couldn't swim yet.
They all had life jackets onand then a big set was coming in
.
I was trying to get Robbie tolet go of the boat.
There's no way he was leavingthe boat once he had decided.
Luckily Louis was strong enoughand threw him in as well and
(09:32):
then got in a position where wecould take on the next set.
And then I got our boat sortedout because we were half full of
water by that stage as well andgot our stuff sorted out and
then back to the beach.
And then Ross ended up in anambulance.
He had dislocated his shoulderquite badly.
It still popped out when wedropped him in.
And then me and Louis, theson-in-law, we went back out and
had a mate drop me in the water.
We both got the other boat backto the shore, Just swam a rope
(09:53):
to it and dragged it back up.
Just a bad timing is the mainone.
For instance, I've seen they'rejust not patient enough to wait
for the sets to roll throughand take a good day.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
So far, we've heard how quickly things can go wrong
out west and how knowledge ispassed down through generations.
Mark Gill breaks down the prepneeded before you even think
about launching from the beach.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
You have to be using the right vehicles.
You can't be going there inyour front-wheel drive Mazda,
demio, you know.
Any half-decent four-wheeldrive vehicle will get you on
and off there.
Drive to the conditions, drivenear the low tide mark.
You don't want to be up in thatsoft sand causing a nuisance
where the people are stoppingand having picnics and the likes
, obeying the road rules.
(10:35):
It's people going out therespeeding and they're going to
get these places shut down so wecan't utilize them.
It's a generational resource.
It's been there since beforetime and we've had the privilege
to utilize it with vehicleaccess and get us to some of
these awesome fishing spots.
And it's just taking the timeand getting the gear right goes
(10:56):
back to when you're rock fishing, to any form of fishing or any
expedition or trip.
You're going on.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
It's the planning, it's the forethought craig r
Ross talks to us about readingthe sand, the tides and the
swell before towing his boatanywhere near the water.
Speaker 5 (11:11):
So predict how.
I mean quite often if wehaven't been out for a little
while, we'll go run out thereand see how soft the sand is,
see what we're in for before weeven get out there, you know.
But during the season or gameseason, we're out there every
second or third day, so we're infor it.
But I normally let my tyresdown before I even have to worry
about getting stuck.
I've got a compressor on myhoax so I just dump my tyres.
(11:33):
So 10 PSI is a good number.
A lot of guys don't like goingthat low, but at 10 PSI you can
tow your boat pretty muchanywhere.
And I suppose, checking atWilson's Road in particular, if
it's been windy, there's quiteoften trees across it or
something across it.
You know in your way andElliot's coming the opposite way
that can jam up the track aswell, because it's only a.
I don't know if you've been outthere or not it's quite a
(11:53):
narrow track.
But no, just making sure youdon't get stuck, because it's
hard with a boat on if We'llalways have another vehicle and
let him go first.
So if we do need a tow he'salready in front, because you
can't get around when you'restuck on that track and quite
often we'll just take twovehicles anyway, just to make it
easier.
And then, I suppose, getting tothe beach, I always sit and
watch.
If it's a big day, I'll alwayssit and watch the surf for an
(12:16):
hour half an hour depending onhow I just get a bit of a
pattern going.
See, good, the lulls are thatare coming through, and quite
often not this sort of going onwhat I have taught my son-in-law
and my son how to read it aswell as quite often I'll try and
find a hole in the beach, likea hole, where there's a rip
(12:37):
going out and quite a calm patchbeside the rip.
I'll launch into the hole.
So you got, yeah, but a deepwater to sit and do.
But then I always try and go forthe roughest bit you've been
looking at, try and get thatcalm there, and then, if you do
get in the shit, you've alwaysgot the calmer area to run into
as a backup.
So I always try and get outwhere you know it's going to be
bad Not bad, but the worst bit.
If it's good enough to gothrough there, you can go, but
(13:05):
you've always got a hole or achannel to swerve into to get,
if a big one does come in, youknow, rather than if you're
trying to launch into thechannel and it closes in, you've
got nowhere to go.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Back to Mark.
He reckons your best defence isplanning, knowing the surf,
knowing your set-up and don'tcut corners.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
When it comes to the weather forecasting, there's a
lot of apps and websitesavailable to us.
It's working through what youfind useful.
There's a lot of informationout there that's not very good
and quite pointless in myopinion.
I more or less stick to Windy.
I'm quite a firm believer inthat site.
I've used it for a long timeand it's quite reliable in my
(13:35):
opinion.
Also, using surf websites andforecasts with their swell
energies very, very helpful onthe West Coast, and it's very
important to always check thesize of the tide.
It's more or less wind, swell,tide size.
They're the three mostimportant facts and then the
wave energy that you get fromthe surf Forecasting is the most
accurate at that, and then youcan make a formed report for
(14:00):
what you want to go out and doand if you can achieve it.
So once we get to Little Hewer,where the Manukau Club members
predominantly launch, we've gotbeach access there onto the
harbour, so it's quite a safebeach.
Still, it's got a few lessonsthere.
We're not on a concrete ramp,we're on sand or shingle and a
lot of guys do come unstuckthere even, but we don't have
any swell as such Moving aroundonto the coast.
(14:27):
The piha is quite a unique spotlaunching down the south end.
There you have to be a clubmember to launch there.
To get the key access they'venow got a tractor tractor.
The piha club's got a tractornow for their club members to
use as well.
That beach is quite hard tolaunch at because the sands can
be quite soft at times and it'syou need to have local knowledge
because of the sandbars outfrom Piha and that they're
always forever changing.
(14:47):
You always hear the old guystalk about it didn't used to be
like that and you always have toremember everything changes
everywhere.
So launching out at Piha isquite unique and you have to be
a club member, so that kind ofdistills any random guy from
ripping down there, you know.
And then out at Mirawai is thesame thing.
There They've got the down thesouth end, they've got the key
(15:10):
access there and the gate andyou have to be a club member at
Mirawai and attend a safetybriefing.
That's only for down the southend.
Any Mirawai, anyone else onMirawai, anyone else can launch.
Launching into the surf is quitecomplicated.
You need to have priorexperience or you need to have
someone there with the knowledgethat's done it before, because
(15:31):
it is a dangerous launch, that'sfor sure.
Spinning a boat around withwaves coming through, it's not
easy.
Having to hold the boat whileyour driver goes and dumps the
truck up the top of the beachabove the high tide mark,
running down and jumping theboat, you've got to push it out,
nose out to the surf, it's noteasy.
And once you're on the boat,you've got to wait for the time
(15:54):
to get out.
Once you make that call, you'vegot to make the right call
because otherwise you'll go upand over, and there's a lot of
guys over the years up Mirawaiand up Ahipara.
They've gone right over Same.
Retrieving the boats coming inon the beach is dangerous as
well.
A lot of guys have accidentsgetting on and off the boats.
At surf beaches.
You need to have experiencedguys around you and that's why
(16:16):
it's essential to be joiningclubs.
If you want a beach launch, youneed to be joining clubs like
ahipara, mirawai.
Piha can't speak highly enoughof the mirawai ahipara boys, of
how they they handle their beachlaunches.
There are second to none on thewest coast surf beaches joining
us again at chris and duncan islifesavers.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
they've seen what happens when fishers gamble with
the ocean, and here's howDuncan puts it.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
I worked with a Dutch guy when I was young, an
apprentice, and he saidsomething very pertinent was
luck is for the unlucky.
So if you're going to rely onluck to get you out on the West
Coast, prepare for it to run out, because Murphy's always there.
He's always got a little handin the background that will make
everything you can line up canturn to shit in the heartbeat,
and you've just got to beprepared for that really.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
That's the whole reason I'm doing this, boys, is
to just try.
And you know like it feels likea perfect storm at the moment,
where fisheries on the EastCoast have been depleted, places
are being locked up, it'sharder to secure a feed.
Social media is showing greatfish being caught out west and
people are going hey, I want togo at this, but half of the
reason the fishery is so goodout west is people can't get out
(17:25):
in a lot of weather patternsbecause you want to play it safe
and you're not going to pushthose risks right yeah, exactly,
and I mean it was about 15years ago.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
Forest and bird were pushing to put the west coast as
a marine park, which meant youcould recreational fish.
It was notifiable.
We went into the meeting to tryand get that abolished.
And there's this panel ofpeople there and they were
arguing the point and I said, ohlook, I can take three of you
up tomorrow in my 14-foottinny-off piha.
And the guy's like, well, whatare the conditions?
Like I said, oh, it's fourmetres and there's a 30-knot
(17:55):
sou'wester.
And he goes, you're goingfishing in that.
I said, well, no, that'd bestupid.
But I said that's.
My point is that the coast isself-governing.
You know, some summers, as Isay, you can do 150 hours on the
water on your outboard, andother summers you're lucky if
you do 10 hours in the wholeseason.
So it is good, you know, go outin the morning and catch a feed
and be home in a couple ofhours.
(18:16):
Or you know, go out in themorning and it blows up and
you've got to come home how doyou battle the planning?
Speaker 1 (18:23):
look, we've got a weekend, all right, boys, we'll
go out, you know, in two weeksand you take time off, work,
maybe for a thursday, friday orsomething like that, and then
the weather isn't playing ball,but maybe it is.
How do you make that call like,what's the reality for you guys
is, is safety first?
Or you know, do you see guyspush those weather windows?
How's that play out?
Speaker 4 (18:44):
Not in the club.
Normally Most guys are prettyconservative, you know, Like
everyone in the PR club ispretty willing to just go.
No, not going.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
Is that a club kind of?
It's been passed down from someof the older boys and the
younger ones are embracing that.
Like you know, one's there tobe a hero kind of thing probably
.
Speaker 4 (19:03):
It's probably just not worth it.
You know you have you have thepucker factor a couple of times
and just you know it's just justisn't worth it.
It's it kind of ruins your dayas well.
If it's real stressful gettingoff the beach, you know best
days fishing is when you chuckthe boat in, cruise out, stay
dry.
Everything's easy.
When you've got to negotiatesome surf before you've even got
(19:23):
off the beach.
It kind of ruins the day.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
And for you guys, it's not just negotiating the
surf, it's also negotiating thesurfers and other people in the
water, because you're prettymuch going through a lineup
where guys like to catch thosewaves.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
And quite often than not, they're using the same rip
and the same holes that we'reusing to get out there, you know
, and so this is especially whenwe come in during summer and
the game season sale.
I'll get a guy up either sidelooking forward, you know,
spotting surfers, and they'rejust talking to me the whole
time.
I've got my eyes on a swivel,your head on a swivel, but yeah,
I mean swivel, but yeah, I mean.
The only only incident I canever think of is we were
(19:58):
launching the boat.
We're standing chest deep andthis guy on a longboard just
surfed straight into the side ofmy boat.
Now it's a six meter surtees,pretty hard to miss, but he just
came planning along the waveand buffed straight into it and
called me everything under thesun, so I didn't know what else
to do.
Speaker 4 (20:11):
Really, I was a bit gobsmacked on that one so once
you launch your options to turnaround and run away from a set
or something and non-existentmost of the time you know, once
you, once you pointed the noseat the horizon, you're going
that way.
There's no turning because youjust you'll mow down half a
dozen surfers.
If you try and do that, yeahyou're committed.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
You are committed and and you need to power through
at times as well when you'regoing out.
I guess it's probably easiergoing out than coming back in
when you're behind the troughand you can't see what's in
front of it.
Is there a difference for youguys, you know, leaving the
beach or returning?
Speaker 3 (20:44):
On the busy days we'll actually sit out the back
and make a plan.
And it may be we cut inside thesurfers and then parallel run
along the beach.
And that comes from ourexperience, you know, in the
surf club being able to pickyour way along the back track
along the beach and maybe take awave broadside.
But it is, it's just don't goin guns blazing.
You sit back, make a plan,execute the plan and then
(21:06):
prepare for a fucker.
Speaker 4 (21:08):
The other thing is when you're landing on a beach
it's not like crossing a bar,where you sort of sit in the
trough halfway between the waves.
Coming onto the beach is bestto sit on top of a wave so
you're as close to the peak aspossible without tipping over
the front of it, and then you'reperched up high and you can see
everything.
Yeah, you know, the waves onlycome in from behind you, so that
gives you the maximum workingroom.
(21:29):
It's sort of counterintuitive,but it's best to sit on top of a
wave.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
The thing about being a crew on a boat on the West
Coast too is you know your crewis as much part of what's going
on as the skipper.
They can see stuff that skippermay have his head down trying
to find the fish and next thingyou know there's something going
on he wasn't prepared for.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
So there are a few guys doing the solo missions,
but it's pretty rare or it's inthe smaller boats really that
those guys or jet skis or thatkind of thing, that guys are
going solo, otherwise you're ina crew.
Speaker 3 (21:58):
Preferably In the bigger boats.
It's easy Well, you'relaunching on a beach, you've got
to have someone to hold theboat.
Chris has got a nice littlestady that he can go out by
himself quite happily.
But again, it's having theknowledge and the skill set to
be able to do that.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
What's the reality for those guys listening of when
it does go wrong in close?
Uh, a boat getting flipped nearthe bar.
So you've been through that,chris.
Did I flip that?
Speaker 4 (22:23):
you did.
Yeah, I flip a lot of boatsnormally try not to make it my
one.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
But the orange ones we don't own, so we don't care
about those too much yeah, sothe surf, surf boats are made
for it.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
But for a guy going fishing, you've got tackle,
you've got all sorts in the boatanchors.
Speaker 4 (22:37):
If I saw it coming, like if my engine stalled in the
surf or something like that I'dtake to the sea mate, I'd get
as far away from the bloody boatas possible.
And you're swimming home, youknow, the thing that scares me
is to go over, you know, getflipped over backwards or
something and have the boat comedown on top of you and then
you've got.
You've got anchor warp, you gotan anchor flying through the
air, you got nylon, just allsorts of crap in there that you
(22:58):
just don't want to deal with.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
So if I saw it coming , I'd pull the pin early and get
away from the boat, you knowlife jacket on because you're
launching, you got a flotationdevice and you're away from
anything hard that can hurt you.
At the end of the day, um,insurance will cover it.
You know it's only a boat,whereas insurance doesn't cover
life that well.
Once you're dead, it's prettypermanent.
The obvious one is enginefailure, which can be fuel, it
(23:21):
can be maintenance, it can bebattery, it can be a combination
of everything.
And if your engine's dead andyou're broadside to a wave and
it's solid, you don't reallywant to be there.
Speaker 4 (23:32):
I mean, there's a good chance your boat might be
okay but if it's not and you'reflipped over with, then you know
it's a bad place to be.
I've seen that on the raglanbar a few times.
You know where guys go over.
I think there's been maybe fouror five drownings where they've
found them inside the boatafter it's gone over, you know.
So yeah, I just I just wouldn'twant to deal with it.
You know that boats are prettybloody hard and the other thing
(23:55):
is once, once it starts to go,you know, if a wave's caught you
and you're about to get poopedor you're broaching or something
, there's not much you can do.
You know, because you can'tmove around, you've got to hold
on to the boat and the name ofthe game would be just don't get
to that situation.
You know, abandon ship prettyearly is what I'd do.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
Because I mean, at the end of the day, if you've
got a six, seven metre boat,it's got a hard top and you've
got your life jacket on thathard top upside down and you're
under the hull, that lifejacket's going to help you float
inside the hull, which may notbe no air in there, and it makes
it really hard to get out.
You know, get out outside theboat again.
So you know sort, you know sortof the worst-case scenario
(24:36):
would be heading out to sea.
I've been, we've been out andcoming home and I've just said
to everyone make sure your lifejackets are done up.
You know the conditions werethat bad that I was just like if
we need to get out.
You know today's the day, a lotof my mates sort of scoffed at
it once we hit the beach.
But that's the reality of whatwe do and you know, prior
(25:01):
preparation prevents piss.
Poor performance is a classicum and if everyone's ready to,
you know, get out of kansas ifyou have to.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
If the skippers go, they go our final guest is dr
mckinney from drowningprevention aotearoa.
Don't let the title fool you.
Mick's no ivory tower typeacademic.
He's a straight shooter who'sbeen waist deep in this stuff
since the 80s.
He started as a lifeguard atunited north piha surf
life-saving club.
(25:25):
He's seen it all and he doesn'tsugarcoat it oh, it's all
planning.
Speaker 6 (25:29):
Hey, what's that one?
The four p's?
Poor performance.
Oh, planning prevents piss.
Poor performance, five, youknow it couldn't count, you know
.
Yeah, mate, it's all, it's allplanning.
If you're going to go for a fishout west, you you got to know
the conditions and what'shappening.
You rock up there and ifthere's a very big groundy swell
coming through, it can throw acurveball at you.
(25:50):
You know, if you don't know theconditions and all of that,
you're in a hiding to nothing.
It's the simple things you know.
Like you're waiting out,youading out, you think you're
sweet as you're at waist depthand all of a sudden you step
into a hole.
You know it might be low tideand then all of a sudden you're
up to your pretty chest or neckand you're not a good swimmer
and oh, how can it break?
Loose Waves come in, they washup the beach and then that
(26:15):
water's got to head out Now andthat's when you'll see the water
running into holes, into thedeeper part, and then that just
cracks those rip currents.
So literally on the west coastyou could be standing knee-depth
and then five meters away, it'sover your head.
It doesn't even have to be astrong current feeding in there.
If you're not swimming you'renot getting out.
(26:38):
I've rescued numerous bods uminshore close and it's um, not
even that big a surf, it's justdeep water, and there there's
enough current for them whichthey can't swim against.
You know, they're not strongenough.
If they're on the west coastand this is a broad
generalization mid to high tideis generally the safest time and
then when that tide, becausethere's a lot of water on the
(26:58):
beach and it's getting pushed up.
But when that tide swings andit's outgoing, then a lot of
additional water wants to leavethat area and around low tide
it's just generally really nasty.
Um, out on that west coast,those guys really know what
they're doing and they'll bechatting about it and like but
my mates, they cancel so manytrips, the keen airs, you know,
oh yeah.
And then it's like oh, bugger,it's just a little bit rough.
(27:20):
Just like the PRTC Fishing Club, you know they cancel or
postpone their fishing comptwice because of conditions,
rightly so.
It's that local knowledge, butit's an interesting one, like
launching off a beach.
Now I've rescued a few bods andboats out there.
Actually, one time guys were injust like a little Renko Ranger
(27:40):
, I think a 15 on the back andthey had like three bods in it
and started off in the morning,you know, and it was probably
only two, three foot and then itsort of peaked to sort of four
or five, you know, and they justdidn't have enough oomph in the
engine to get in.
It's that local thing launchingoff the beach, but there's a
hell of a lot of skill in there.
It's like even just gettingyour boat down there, you know,
(28:03):
and little tricks of the trade,you know, obviously, with your
tyres and stuff, knowing wherethe sand's hard and soft and
where you're going to launch.
But you've also got to bereally careful, like Pia's quite
a popular beach.
So if you're going fanging downthe beach so you're not getting
stuck, you've got to be awareof kids and other people around
there.
And you'd feel bloody terribleif you come screaming around the
(28:24):
corner and you bowl a kidbecause, oh, I've got to go flat
out to get across that softsand.
And it's the same thing as whenyou're going out through the
surf, particularly at Paya,around the Nun and Key Isle, and
that A lot of guys are surfingthere.
You've got that rip there andthey just hang up the point
crack some waves, and that'swhere you go out in the boat.
It's a lot easier when you'reheading out because you can go
(28:45):
slow and you can see and you canpick your way out.
You can always see sort of infront of you.
But if you're coming in afterevening fishing, if you had a
few beers not a good idea.
You're probably not thinkingstraight.
Not a good idea.
You're probably not thinkingstraight.
Probably a bit tired.
Swell might have picked up,could be full up with bod
surfing and it's quite seedy andyou get it wrong.
So all of a sudden you'recommitted and you're cruising
through a pack of surfers.
(29:06):
So it's really important whenyou're launching in those places
, look after not only yourselfbut other people, and that's it.
You always want guys spottingand giving you info when you're
in the boats, like where thesurf is yep, you know, and then
just keeping an eye on it.
Yeah, a lot of it's got to dowith the tide as well.
It's sort of it could be like aconsistent swell, all good,
(29:28):
same direction, same swellperiod, and then the sweaters
and the tide changes and thenthe whole dynamic of you know
the ways of breaking off therocks or bars changes.
So all of a sudden, generallywhen you're in, going out, geez,
I might have shifted five orten metres.
So it's just that understandingof geez, where am I coming in
and out?
You know, and you've got tolook after not only yourself but
(29:48):
other people, you know.
You know guys surfing got justas much right as anyone in the
water, so you've got to lookafter them as well.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
Duncan, you've got to look after them as well.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
Duncan from Pihar sees it like this.
Yeah well, death is permanent,you know, and you can be as
confident as you like and be asmuch of a smartass as you like,
but Murphy's always there tolevel out the playing field.
And even for the mostexperienced, like one of our
most experienced fishers out ofPihar.
He's got two boats, he'sflipped a small boat three times
now and he's out more thananyone I know and again wears
(30:20):
his life jacket.
But he, you know, he just thingis I fish more than anyone, so
it's bound to happen.
Well, yeah, I don't agree withthat either.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
Chris explains how quickly it can escalate.
Speaker 4 (30:33):
On the sea.
You know like problems compound, small problems turn into real
big problems real quick.
So you want to insulateyourself against that sort of
stuff as much as possible.
You know it's one of thosethings where you might learn the
hard way but you might not getto learn it.
You know, if you don't make itthrough the first fuck-up, you
don't get another go.
So things like if I go on myown, I have my EPIRB things like
(30:55):
that really worry me.
You know, like if you, if youfell out of your boat or
something, that's kind of amajor concern.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
Yeah, and obviously always wearing a life jacket and
I normally have like myflippers are in my boat as well,
just just in case you know youmight have to get around the
outboard or something like thatare there been situations where
you guys or older members havepulled some of the youngest
aside and said, said mate, don'tdo that, or you know, maybe we
saw you out there pull your headin kind of thing, or guys going
(31:23):
fishing.
Are these conversations had onthe ground?
Speaker 3 (31:26):
Yeah, absolutely yeah , we're band members, and with
the band comes a revoke of usingaccess to the beach through our
dedicated ramp, and then, yeah,we just take it pretty
seriously and you know's, it'snot necessarily the skipper that
can be in danger.
It could be, it's the peoplethey take with them, and if the
attitude of the skipper is oneof not really giving a shit,
(31:46):
then the people around them takethat on as well and it just it
can lead to major issues wedon't have a lot of that, though
I most of the guy, because allthe kids are in the fishing club
as well.
Speaker 4 (31:56):
so most, most of them grow up here and they kind of,
you know, they learn the gig byosmosis anyway.
So it hasn't happened.
A couple of guys have beenbooted out of the club for being
idiots, and yeah, that's.
Speaker 3 (32:07):
Yeah, it's an exception and generally, yeah, a
couple of situations.
The apple didn't fall very farfrom the tree, so unfortunately
they didn't stand much of achance of an evolution's not
really on their side.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
I guess the main point I'm getting at here is the
club has embraced this kind ofsafety culture that is becoming
generational through the clubwith the young kids.
They're getting this from ayoung age where someone who's
not in this environment andthey're coming from another part
of Auckland or somewhere elseto give it a go they're missing
(32:38):
all of this culture that youguys have around.
A club that keeps you guys safe, respects the ocean yeah pretty
much.
Speaker 4 (32:46):
I mean, there's a lot of lessons you kind of get from
the clubs that you just thingsyou just wouldn't even think of,
you know, if you didn't havethe other guys around you.
Because you hear, you know,every time some you know a
little fuck up happens tosomeone you make sure everyone
knows about it.
Speaker 3 (33:03):
You know well, the classic was this summer.
You know I'm pretty fanaticalwith maintenance on my boat and
for whatever reason, my bilgekept filling.
I went back to tighten the bungand rip the whole bung and and
uh, mounting plate clean out ofthe out of the um, out of the
bilge.
And uh, chris was on the wheeland I turned around and just
went oh, we're fucked.
But again had the wherewithalon the boat.
To, you know, wrap someplumbers, sparky tape around it
here's a big sinker and bash itback into place and just keep it
(33:26):
on it for the rest of the day.
And then I came back to theclub and said to everyone look,
check your bones.
It's not ever something I everthought I'd need to do and,
being a surtees, it had twobones.
The first one, I replaced thatstraight away.
Second one checked that, boom,that came out too.
And then did my homework andgot the appropriate sealants and
fixings and made sure that wasdone.
And then I posted that on aforum a bit and it wasn't naming
(33:46):
and shaming the boat, nothingwrong with the boat, it was
something I'd never considered.
And that was seven miles out atsea.
We had a fountain of watercoming into the boat.
So it's just, and you know,went back to the club, sat with
everyone, told them of mymistake, owned it and shared
that knowledge which thelaunching and retrieving of
boats at the beach, you know,for one day could be one end of
(34:07):
the beach and a week later isthe absolute other end of the
beach.
And just being fluid and ableto do that Again, knowledge
shared with guys that are goingout.
I've got, I wouldn't say, anextensive toolkit spare change
of plugs in case something goeswrong there.
You've got to start yourbastard or CRC and just, yeah,
ropes and tapes, and just youknow.
Now I've got even more sparebungs and rubber stoppers and it
(34:30):
could be the bill of a.
You know marlin goes throughthe side of your boat and puts a
hole in your boat.
I've heard guys using carrotsto bung those up.
But just you know, if you had asingle battery boat, have a
jump starter or a backup batterysystem that you can, you know,
get yourself going.
I've got a dual system.
So always make sure thebatteries are topped up before I
go.
Um, it's just, one of thosethings is um, if you're not sure
(34:51):
don't go.
I mean, we had a, a um, a guythe other day borrowed a boat
off a mate that hadn't been usedin four years, took it out
pretty marginal conditions, I'llsay.
No one else went and I went tothe beach just to watch, make
sure he launched, okay.
And uh, just I was a bitworried why he didn't sort of
exceed five knots when he'scrossing the outside bar.
When he came back in later thatday waiting for the tide, and
(35:11):
came in on the high and he justsaid that wouldn't go any faster
.
It was in sort of limp mode.
And when I talked to him priorto going I said well, you know,
you've changed the field, doneall that and all that.
And when I spoke to himafterwards he goes oh, I didn't
really change the fuel, I justadded some fresh.
Now this boat hadn't been usedfor four years, it should never
have gone out on the west coast.
And what I said you know, didyou get service?
Did you do all these thingsthat any normal person possibly
(35:34):
would have done?
And he was just like, no, no,but you know, it's been on the
West Coast before, it should befine.
And I was like, well, that'sexactly the wrong attitude.
Speaker 4 (35:41):
So I keep quite a few spares in mind because, look,
I'm either fishing off PR or Igo on the Kuiper quite often and
you know that's pretty big andthere's also a bloody great big
hairy bar out there.
If something comes, you know,your ground tackle comes adrift
or something.
And so I have like spare fuellines, fuel connectors, like
things that, like you know, ifyour fuel line, your connector
(36:04):
broke or something like that,you're pretty stuffed.
So I have all those spares.
I've only got a 40 horse so Ican pull start it.
So I have all the tools inthere to get the top off the
motor, so I can get a ropearound.
I've got a little bit of ropethat I can pull, start it with A
jump starter, one of thosejumper packs, bit of rope that I
can pull, start it with a jumpstarter, one of those jumper
packs.
They're only like 200 bucks andit's because that that'd be a
(36:24):
major, you know, for me if, ifI'm on my own and the motor dies
or something, that'd be quiteserious and loads of CRC as well
, just because you know, bit ofwater in the wrong place and you
and your stuff just to um givean idea of how you're.
Speaker 1 (36:37):
When you said you're fishing the Kuiper, are you
going up to Wilson's and goingoff the beach, or how are you
fishing?
Speaker 4 (36:43):
Yeah, I fish off Wilson's sometimes, yeah, so
that's pretty remote on your own, but also just out near the
graveyard and that.
Speaker 1 (36:51):
So those spots you know pretty well-known spots,
but if your engine didn't startand you didn't have the tools to
fix it because you guys are,what you're saying is you're
pretty self-sufficient to sortshit out yourselves.
But if someone wasn't andthey're trying to call Coast
Guard, how long would that inreality take to some of these
spots, even off PR or the likes?
(37:12):
For someone who goes on theCoast Guard channel and says,
hey, I can't start the engine,like are we talking hours before
a boat would even get there.
Speaker 4 (37:21):
Probably to the graveyard.
You'd be going an hour.
The Coast Guard's inHellensville, so that's a bloody
long way away.
And you know what concerns me.
Out there is in a small boat.
You get your anchor working itsway down under the sand and
then, if you get the tide comingin, sometimes your anchor's
buried so much that you can'tpull it up and your anchor ends
(37:43):
up pulling your boat down underthe water.
So there's that.
And if you combine that with,say, you drop your pick because
your engine wouldn't start, youcould be in serious trouble.
You know you've got no.
You either set yourself adriftand cut your anchor rope and
you're floating around the mouthof the Kuiper on your own with
no options, or you're looking atmaybe potentially getting
pulled under by a swell orsomething.
So yeah, that's why I'm prettycautious up there.
(38:05):
And if you were launching offWilson's Road, you're on your
own, you're not getting anything, you know.
Speaker 3 (38:10):
But again, maintenance.
You know what your gear's like.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
Mark thinks this is the best way to prepare for the
wild west coast.
Speaker 2 (38:17):
Yeah.
So the best way to get if youwant to start fishing out
anywhere on the west coast is tojoin a club.
Local knowledge is important.
Come along to a club meeting.
There's multiple clubs, doesn'tmatter where you are from
Raglan to the Hoki to Ahiparajoin a club.
Local knowledge is theknowledge you need.
When you join a club, you meetother like-minded people and you
(38:38):
can buddy up with other peoplefor your first crossings.
Quite often there's um groupgroup chats or messenger and the
likes about the conditions,who's going out.
It's always better to go outwith other like-minded
individuals at the same time.
You've got other soundingboards to bounce your ideas off
about conditions.
You're not on your own,obviously.
When we want to go fishing, wewant to fishing and your mind
(39:00):
can captivate you and trick youinto going when you shouldn't be
going, and we're all guilty ofthat to a degree.
Having the club there andsounding those ideas out, if
you're barking up the wrong tree, they'll tell you pretty quick
Pull your head in.
You know you're going to havean accident, and that's really
essential, especially for usyounger guys.
We like to take the bull by thehorns, so to speak, and it's
(39:20):
always good to have an olderclub member tell us nah, mate,
you don't want to be doing that,and those are those lessons
that we need.
And having that advice there, Ican't speak enough of it.
It's kept me out of themischief, I can tell you that
much.
Speaker 5 (39:35):
Craig says the same from the Muriwai Club.
We're always, if anyone wantsto know any tips or whatever.
We always talk about it andwe're always forthcoming,
whether it be off the beach orthrough.
The bar is a big one as well,because we do a lot.
If the beach is too big, we cannormally get out the bar, maybe
another half a metre highertype thing, so a metre and
there's always we sort of sticktogether as a group going
through there.
If there's any newbies, we dragthem through behind us and then
(39:57):
tell them where to put marks infor the bar as well.
There are a lot of guys thatwon't listen and they think they
know it all and go out thereand go full bore into a wave and
wonder why they hurt their crew.
Club members.
You can apply for a key, gothrough a locked gate to get
there and then tone through thecutout.
You've got to have a decentsort of car to get through the
soft sand anyway.
(40:18):
The worst I've seen is guysthat just launch in a rush, jump
in and just go straight out andhit a big set and hit the waves
full wall.
Speaker 1 (40:25):
Here's the kicker.
Despite how dangerous beachlaunching is, Chris and Duncan
surprised me.
They'd rather launch off thebeach than take the Manukau Bar
on.
And that says it all.
Speaker 3 (40:36):
You get the old common wind against water which
you end up with standing wavesas well as the swell coming in.
You know, the North Channel atthe Manukau is a classic and
that's taken a lot of boats overthe years and some very
experienced skippers with it.
You know Some big boats withall the power in the world and
they just get caught and thenthat cycle of wind against water
, standing waves, they can'tpush through it and a wave comes
(40:58):
from behind them, just mowsover the top.
So you know, you've really gotto know.
I mean again the Manukau.
I've been the southern entrancea few times, done the northern
a couple and I'd rather take onthe bar at Piha any day than
that body of water.
Speaker 4 (41:12):
Yeah, I'd prefer launching off the surf beach as
well, because once you hatch aplan and there's a lull, it's
all over in two minutes.
Speaker 3 (41:20):
you know, coming into the manukau, sometimes it's
like 15, 20 minutes of it withyour head on a swivel and shit
coming from bloody everywhereyeah, we went out one day when
the mates um, 6.7 certies hereto 200 on the back, so all the
power in the world and we shotout of the manukau at the
northern channel and it was deadflat.
And he cut across the bar atthe head of the manukau and
(41:43):
fished all day Again.
Full cast was for it to pick upand it did.
And I said to him heading homeand he's a really experienced
skipper I said, look, whateveryou do, don't follow your track.
We're going to have to find thebar and go around it.
Anyway, he's sort of off in adaze, not really thinking, and I
looked I was down the backsorting out the bilge and
sorting out some other things,and I poked my head up and there
was just a set of four meterplus waves marching towards us
(42:04):
and the one two back wasbreaking and I just said, mate,
could you just go hammer timeand don't look back.
And uh, he pushed the, push thethrottle right down and then
turned around.
He goes what the fuck?
And I was like, yeah, mate.
And then I said then I lookedat the sounder and he had
followed his track back and weluckily outran that one.
But I just said to him.
This is the whole thing.
All the conditions in fivehours have changed from a day on
(42:26):
the lake to you know.
Could have been bad news for us.
Speaker 1 (42:30):
Thankfully this one didn't end in disaster, but next
time we talk about when it does.
Same crew, same coast, but of adifferent tone.
From boat flips to near misses,rescues to hard lessons.
Our next episode dives into thebad news, the stories we don't
like telling but we need to hear.
If you fish the rocks or runthe Manukau Bar, don't miss out.
(42:52):
Catch you then.
The NZSFC Pod and Reel podcastis brought to you by funding
from Maritime New Zealand.
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