June 9, 2025 • 29 mins
Coastguard NZ rescues thousands of Kiwis a year and relies on the dedication of its volunteers, who require training and equipment to save lives on the water.
Wellington president of Coastguard NZ (and surf lifesaver) James Groombridge talks about The Big Swim, a month-long fundraiser involving swimmers of all ages and abilities. If you're not swimming, you can sponsor a swimmer!
Shona's Big Swim page is bigswim.org.nz/s-riddell. Please sponsor me if you can – all funds go to Coastguard NZ.
I'm part of The Tridents and together we're swimming 100km – visit our team page: bigswim.org.nz/the-tridents
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:08):
Welcome to Swim Chats, a podcastabout swimming.
I'm Shona Riddell, a writer, former journalist and ocean
swimmer from Wellington, Altero in New Zealand.
For each episode, I talk to a different guest from our swim
community. They're dippers, adventure
swimmers, coaches and conservationists with one thing
in common. They all love being in the sea.
(00:29):
Thanks to everyone who's been listening along so far and
sharing the podcast, and if you know people who you think would
enjoy it, please let them know. I started swim chats a few
months ago and it's definitely growing as people continue to
discover and share it, so thank you.
It's fun to make and I'm enjoying talking to new people
and hearing their ocean stories.Remember, if you have any
(00:49):
questions, thoughts or suggestions, you can e-mail me
at swimchatswithshona@gmail.com or follow me on Instagram at
Swimchats. Please hit the follow or
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help others find the podcast. So thanks for listening.
Enjoy the water. And here's today's episode with
(01:11):
James Groombridge, the Wellington President of Coast
Guard New Zealand, where we talkabout the big swim.
So hi James, today we have JamesGroombridge, the Wellington
President of Coast Guard New Zealand, Tohtiaki Moana.
(01:32):
James, welcome to Swim Chats. Thanks for being here today.
It's an absolute pleasure. So we're recording this at the
beginning of June, which means the Big Swim has just kicked
off. For those listening who don't
know what the Big Swim is, do you want to describe it?
(01:53):
OK, yes, so the big swim, it's agreat fundraising exercise for
Coast Guard NZ, which will ultimately help us save more
lives at sea and assist more boaties in distress.
So it's all about, it's all about having people out there
(02:15):
who love swimming, swimming and getting making money out of the
fundraising by doing their favorite activities, swimming.
That's right. And people can sign up, either
do it by themselves or they can join a team, like make a team of
people and do it as a kind of group fundraiser.
So I've just put in a little plug for my own team here where
(02:36):
the Trident's we've signed up. So all together we're doing 100
kilometres over the month and raising money.
And so we've all got our swim caps.
Mine arrived in the post. Yeah, I've seen a few swim
beanies around as well. Yeah, that's right.
So the I think the idea is the more kilometers you do or the
(02:57):
more sponsorship you get reaching certain targets and
then you get a few extra freebies or rewards along the
way. So I'm definitely looking
forward to my beanie. It's all good, isn't it?
It's great. I think it's a great thing
because, yeah, having people outthere in the water and where we
play in the water all the time, It's it's just it's a great
(03:19):
fundraising exercise. That's right and it's a great
for those of us who like to swimyear round in the pool and or
the sea. My team likes both.
It's a, it's a good way to kind of keep us on track over the
winter. So instead of just hibernating,
you know, we, we have our targets to meet and you know, it
(03:39):
motivates us to keep going, which is good for us as well as
as a good fundraiser. See, I don't believe you are.
And you swimmers in the sea, youswim all year round and you're
nutters, so you love it. You don't need any more
nativation. Oh yeah, that's true.
We do love it. There's something that's very
addictive about getting in cold water.
(04:01):
I know a lot of people swimming listening to this who are
swimmers will relate. And I like how the big swimmers
for all swim abilities as well. So, you know, you can pick your
distance. You don't have to be a marathon
swimmer to participate, which isnice.
And so, yeah, it's the big swim.This is the second year for it.
(04:23):
Is that right? That's how I understand it.
Yep. I haven't been playing at the
president level very for very long, so I'm quite new to the
role and being exposed to a whole lot of stuff.
But this is, as I understand thesecond year.
And yeah, it was a great result from last year and looking
forward to it this year. Do you know how many have signed
(04:43):
up so far this year or is that not?
It's all right. To dig into the details of
overall New Zealand. I bet it's more than last year
though. I just get that feeling it's
more pink color. Aware of them, yeah.
You can see it just as I say, I've been noticing more beanies
around with the pig swim on themand stuff and like it's been
cool. A guy came up to me in the pool.
(05:03):
I swim. I don't, I'm not a distant
swimmer, but I'm a Sprint swimmer.
So I was just at the rack the other day and a guy came up and
said look at my hat, look at my head.
And I was going, hey, good on you mate.
People love their Mitch, don't they?
Yeah, mate, out. Of being in the community.
Yeah, life's about give and takeout, right?
So if you're going to get a little bit of fundraising, it's
(05:25):
great to be able to give something back, not only in what
we do on the water, but as just as a little, hey, you say to say
that we, we appreciate what you're doing.
Yeah, that's right. And I dug out some stats from
last year from an article I read.
So last year was the first year of the big swim and about 1200
people logged more than 8000 swims.
(05:46):
So that was the equivalent of 14,000 kilometers.
And they raised three, $350,000 for Coast Guard, so that's last.
It's amazing because we are a complete volunteer organization
and like we've got 61. I think there's might be a few
more, one more coming on board, but we've got units across all
(06:09):
of New Zealand and so any money to help us is is fantastic.
We in Wellington have 71 memberswho are they're providing 24/7
coverage of Wellington Harbor and the Cook Straight.
So any money that we can get to pay for a little bit of gas, pay
for that next maintenance bill we get, it's all very, very
(06:29):
appreciated. Cool, and how many do you know
how many volunteers you have in Wellington or nationwide?
71 in Wellington. It varies quite of, you know,
volunteer organizations, it's hard to even put an exact number
on it across New Zealand, but I know for us we're, we're always
around 70. And as I say, we're one of one
of 60 odd units. And so yeah, it's, it's a big
(06:53):
organization and volunteering New Zealand, there's this great
website Volunteering NZ and it actually gives you a whole lot
of stats about not Coast Guard specific, but volunteering in
New Zealand. And within that we contribute.
I think it was like 3 to $6 billion a year and volunteer
(07:15):
hours that goes into the economy.
That's how much Kiwis volunteer.It's just mind boggling.
That's some really positive to hear as well, isn't it?
That so many people willing to give their time.
And it's like, go to the site volunteering nz.org dot NZ.
It's just got an amazing amount of data on who volunteers and
(07:37):
you know, how many hours they overall we put in each year and
so forth. Hey, but I just did think of one
other thing. Yeah, Wellington Regional
Wellington Council, through their pool system there a couple
of years ago, did something similar to the big swim.
It wasn't for fundraising specific, but I was wondering if
you guys were involved. We swam the length of New
Zealand. Yes, that sort of indirectly
(08:00):
like, yeah, we didn't have sponsors for that so much.
It was more just like when you went to the pool, they would ask
how many kilometers you'd swam and add it to their total.
And I think it was more of a competition between the poles.
Is that right? Yeah.
I thought that was quite cool aswell because as you said
earlier, anything to get a little bit of motivation,
(08:20):
especially for us lowering beginner swimmers, is that.
Yeah, that's positive. That's pretty incredible when
you add up everyone's distance, just how far, when everyone's
going indoors, just swimming their laps at the pole.
And then you feel like part of abigger picture as well, which
is, yeah, it's always nice. And so, Chris, Coast Guard New
Zealand, how, how, how old is itas an organization?
(08:45):
Do you know like how long is it?I don't know for every unit, our
unit was formed as the direct result of the Wahini disaster.
Oh, OK. So we've been around 50 odd
years and our first boat was bought about a year after.
And you know, it took a major event and a quite a significant
(09:07):
loss in life for us to actually build that service into
Wellington. So we've been actively
participating in, in rescues andBoger assistance since, since
the early, I think it's late 9, late 60s, early 70s.
Yeah, wow, that's incredible. Yeah, we've just had a member
(09:27):
who was almost one of the originals.
He's been. He retired from Coast Guard
after about 50 years, so it was insane.
It was a lovely old fella. Oh, that's a great story.
So, yeah. But we're we, yeah, we that that
would probably be the last of, of, of the long, long time.
He definitely earned a beanie. I think he had every piece of
(09:49):
Coast Guard merch you could think of one way or the other,
and some old Raiders off some old boats and everything so.
Oh yeah, there'd be some good old technology collected,
albeit. He's quite a, quite a character
and every what, what I've come to appreciate is everybody who
volunteers, no matter what organization, they, they need to
(10:10):
be supported and recognized in one way or the other.
Some don't want to be recognized.
But in actual fact, you know, asas a nation of now what I
understand all volunteers. Yeah, it's it's fantastic.
And having people like use by doing something like this is
it's just another way of recognizing, recognizing our
contributions. It's just fantastic.
(10:32):
It's an important 'cause, isn't it?
I mean, we're, I was going to say we're surrounded by the
water, which is great in terms of recreational opportunities,
but it can also be pretty dangerous.
Yeah, it sure can be. We had to do a rescue off 8
miles east of Palliser a couple of nights ago and we're out on
the water for I think it was 10 hours all up.
(10:53):
So these things are happening. And also, I've been part of
Wellington Coast Guard for five years and a lot of stuff goes on
on this harbour that nobody evenknows of.
Yeah, such as? A lot well in the weekend we we
responded to boat in distress and we got it back to Seaview
(11:13):
safely. Straight afterwards they came
across a massive log in the harbour and dragged that off to
Larry Bate and put it on the shore at the request of the
harbour master. While that was happening, police
contacted Coast Guard Wellingtonand asked them to respond to an
event, but by the time they got there they had been to the
result itself. But that was all within three
(11:34):
hours on a on a Monday. Afternoon.
I guess you never know what the weathers or the ocean is going
to bring. Oh, you never do.
And it relies on everybody beingsensible and, and, you know,
applying good practice to their boating activities.
And that's not always the case. And how many lives to Yeah, be
(11:57):
safe, do you know? To I'll come back to that
question. I'll just bring up some stats
which I do have from a Coast Guard New Zealand level, but it
will just take me a few minutes to dive into that.
So ask another question. Yeah, sure.
That's all right. We can come back to that.
So when did you become the president of the Wellington
Branch? Last year.
(12:21):
And did you have a long involvement with Coast Guard
before that or was that your your introduction?
No, I've been a member for five years.
So you start off on a very gradual process over time.
You start as a Dick and then youbecome qualified.
Then you move up to senior and over time you might become an
(12:42):
ISA, which is a master of a vessel.
And people come in from different backgrounds.
So I've always been on small boats.
There's people come from a commercial background and
there's people who join us with no boating experience.
So it depend on their experienceand their skill levels and their
capability to learn. Going through that process is is
(13:05):
very dependent on, you know, on your skill, your time and so
forth. You can't say that, oh, this all
finishes after five years. You are this.
It might take quite a while to actually learn how to drive a
helm a boat correctly. Right.
And were you a boaty before you joined?
Sort of my my old man's had always had a boat.
(13:27):
But one thing I've realized now after being in Coast Guard is
there's good, there's good ways of doing things, and then
there's the right way of doing things.
Right. And so, yeah, I've learned a
hell of a lot. A lot more about health and
safety and. Oh, just how to do things
(13:48):
properly in the easy way. I mean, just how to use the
spring line correctly to come into a berth.
It it makes common sense once you know it.
But to learn it, you have to be in the in that boaty world,
right? So yeah, it's, it's really
interesting. It's really.
And you mentioned that you're a swimmer yourself.
(14:08):
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, I do a bit of
swimming. I don't think anything to your
level, but I'm also part of surfing Z, so as part of our
ongoing thing, we have to make sure we maintain our swim times.
So we're talking about 400 meterswims.
And yeah, every now and again I'll push it out to OK, but it's
(14:28):
nothing like you guys do. Is that in the pool?
Yeah. It's it's the so I do a lot of
my training in the pool, but when it comes to actually doing
our refreshes every year, it is all about swimming in the sea
and being able to perform a rescue as.
(14:50):
Required. Well, that's awesome.
So you're a volunteer for Surf Life Saving as well?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's, there's more because of my children got
into it when they were young andI just had carried that on and
yeah, now do some instructing for Coast Guard.
Sorry for our surf and patrol atour local beach which is lots of
(15:11):
fun as well. Is that along the South Coast?
We're at with the Bay. We're in a harbour.
Oh, that's very close to me, Yeah.
Yeah, so we're in in a harbour, but we generally patrol at
Scorching Bay. Where's the bay's out up there.
So that's it. Anyway, I've got some stats for
you. Excellent. 63 Coast Guard units,
(15:32):
59 units crewing 100 rescue vessels and rescue craft. 2 Air
Patrol units based in Auckland and Auckland.
We've got a dedicated operation centre in Auckland which is
fantastic actually. It's amazing the difference
we've made in the last year. We have responded to 2800 and
(15:53):
7067 total incidents. We've brought 7196 people home
safely directly in the last year.
People who are alive because Coast Guard was there was 48.
Our total volunteer hours was 300 and 3048 and we took and
(16:17):
looked after 218,000 radio callsresulting in 56,000 trip
reports. Wow, that's incredible.
Big numbers. And so apart from the big swim,
where does your funding come from?
Basically me going around with my cap out, we get we get some
(16:42):
central, the Coast Guard NZ itself gets a little bit of
central funding. The government over the last few
years has been increasing that, which is fantastic because for
both surf and for Coast Guard, the increase and work that we
are doing is, as always on the increase and with some big
events like Gabriel, we are Coast Guard and surf, we're all
(17:05):
playing their part. They have identified that these
guys play an important role in significant events and the areas
that they control in. So we get some of that back, CNZ
get there and they can allocate that out so that CNZ is going to
be allocating some funding to usbecause we need a new boat.
(17:26):
Right. And I'll talk about that in a
little bit if that's OK. But the other funding comes from
our annual lottery or our yeah, we, so we do a big annual
lottery where we sell tickets tothe public with prizes of boats
and and holidays and so forth that contributes a bit.
We do quite a lot of internal fundraising through sponsorship
(17:49):
directly with like one of our main sponsors is straight
shipping are a fantastic organization, really cool to
work with. And I love being on their boats.
The Conomar is awesome. Yeah, whenever I go across the
cook straight, definitely alwaysuse straight shipping are the
best. That's their plug.
(18:15):
So we get up. So we have to just pull it from
every source we can. And when we're talking about the
new vessel that we require our, our current vessels or we've got
2 vessels. Spirit of Wellington is 2029
years old. I believe it's close to 29
maybe. So anyway, it's around 30 years
old, beautiful vessel. But after 30 years, there's,
(18:39):
there's better technology and better vessels out there to, for
us to achieve our jobs to keep our crew safe.
And then if we can keep ourselves safer and bigger
conditions, we can then affect better rescues for, for the
public. So we're, we're looking for,
yeah, about $2,000,000 across the, you know, the Wellington
(19:02):
overall community. So it's any piece of funding to
get to that top type of figure is absolutely appreciated.
Some of the money from the big swim will go towards the new
boat. I imagine what will happen is I
think that all goes into the central bucket and then that
because it is a CNZ run, run thebig swim and then they allocate
(19:25):
that out to different units in need.
And so that's, and that central funding from the government also
plays a part in that. And so they'll, they'll be
contributing quite a chunk to our requirements, but that
doesn't, that's on top of the two million we're after.
So we're talking quite a lot of money to get a vessel to the
(19:47):
quality and the standard that werequire to keep our crew safe
and into effect. Great issues.
Well, I'll put lots of links in the show notes and then
hopefully people will click on them.
And especially for the big swim,because that's going for the
rest of the month. That is fantastic, yeah.
So of the people you're rescuing, I imagine most of them
(20:10):
are boaties in distress. Are you rescuing swimmers as
well or is that more surf life saving?
Quite often our, our, so we generally are about related,
right. We search for swimmers if we're
needed. We're quite, we're a little bit
unique. There's only two harbours that
(20:32):
actually have a Wellington Police.
We have, sorry, a police maritime unit and we have one of
those and Auckland is another one.
So they are quite often out there responding as well as us.
So if you were swimming in like you are off Freiburg Beach or
wherever, the police will get toyou faster.
So we will always respond to anyevent.
(20:55):
I have not personally attended to a swimmer industry, so we do
practice picking up people out of the water all the time.
But you guys keep yourselves pretty safe.
I haven't heard of an incident where you guys haven't got
somebody to show before we couldbe become effective and the use
(21:16):
of the boys and so forth that you do now is is great.
You know, we we can see where you are.
Whereas in in other places whereit's a little bit more chaotic
like Taupo, where people get hitby jet skis in there with people
who aren't to your guys level ofart.
We're in the safety equipment. It's yeah.
(21:37):
Yeah, we really, yeah, we enjoy.We all try and look out for each
other for sure, and we get really good advice from our
coaches and from Grant, the harbor master.
He's really good at staying in touch with everyone and getting
feedback on what's working. Grant's awesome.
Grant is a really brilliant guy.And yeah, we like to think we
(21:58):
work closely with the harbor master.
We do respond to what we've noticed over the past few years
is the water uses have changed. There's a lot more swimmers, but
as I said, I think you guys are very self responsible.
So which is great. But the diversity of watercraft
is really ramping up with all the you've got kite surfers,
(22:20):
you've got foilers, you have thesaps out there, you know, you've
got a variety and then you've got the foiling saps.
And the variety of all the vessels that we now actually
will be attending to is greatly increasing.
One of the other stats, I haven't had this Fact Check, but
the other day I did look I got it through a search engine, was
(22:45):
that New Zealand added 44,000 vessels to its recreational
boating fleet over the last year.
That's incredible. I know.
And if that's the case, but you can see it because like if you
look at what's happening down inPecton, how the size of the
marine is doubled over the last,you know, they've put, they've
finished their big project now and almost doubled the size of
(23:06):
the Marina. And if you go to Auckland here,
but there's just boats everywhere.
And it's not so noticeable in Wellington because yeah, we're a
bit more hard. I have to be a bit more Hardy to
be in the recreational boating scene, but the increase in
recreational boating is just, it's happening.
I guess that puts a bit more pressure on you guys and that
(23:26):
you probably need to recruit more volunteers to keep up with
the number of new vessels. Yeah.
Well, we wouldn't. We're actually going to.
We've got 2 vessels at the moment.
We'll probably, I can't really say, but I imagine we'll go down
to 1 when we get the new vessel because we're also trying to be
sustainable too. We really don't want to be out
there absolutely thumping aroundpetrol engines.
(23:49):
So we're going to move to a hopefully what we consider as a
more sustainable vessel and a sustainable approach because our
waterways and so forth really need to be looked after.
So yeah, I think we'll end up, this is not, I can't, I can't
say we're definitely going to dothis, but I'd say in the next
three years, we, once we get this new vessel, we'll end up
(24:09):
down to a single vessel. And so also Coast Guard's been
putting a lot of effort into prevention as opposed to us as
the ambulance and seeing the results of that.
We still have an increase in incidents that we're purporting
to every year. Not a great 1.
So we're going up in like twos or threes.
(24:32):
So like from 35 five years ago to 49 now.
So it's not a massive increase, but it's, I think it's that
diversity, which is the one and more of the interesting things
rather than the increase becausewe're just going to be way more
careful when we're approaching somebody who's actually in the
water as opposed to approaching a vessel, you know, and those
(24:55):
sort of things. And if we're coming up next to a
swimmer, we practice all the time how we do that to make sure
the swimmer feels safe communicating with them, making
sure we don't come flying up to you, that we actually do it very
slow and progressively, and thatwe're actually able to safely
pull a swimmer out without them.And there's a little saying that
(25:15):
they had a, there's a few rules that we follow is don't point
the boat at the person. Yeah, an.
Idea. Yeah, don't hit the person that
advised. Be stopped when we pick you up.
So you know we put that into practice.
We won't come close within 100 meters of you right until we're
until we're we're confident thatyou know that we're here and
(25:38):
that you are safe. Now, obviously if you head down
and unconscious that that sort of changes.
But yeah, but yeah, we really are trying to really think about
the person in the water as as your experience.
The last thing we want them to do is freak out and swim away
from us. Yeah.
And how do you practice those rescues?
(25:58):
Do you have sort of simulations where you get people getting you
in trouble? Or throw the present on
overboard days. No, we, we do it different ways.
If we're just practicing the technical, we just have a little
boy that we throw in the water, a weighted boy that we will use.
If we're going a little bit moreserious about how do we get
somebody onto a boat, we actually have a full size
(26:20):
mannequin and a child size mannequin.
And then, yeah, we actually do. All joking aside, throw people
in the water and and respond. Right.
And as swimmers in the harbour, we're all encouraged to have tow
floats. I imagine that must make a
difference as well in terms. Of hugely visibility and if you
actually we were searching we did a a training exercise a
(26:43):
while it was a wee while ago now, but somebody had a you know
how the divers have a noodle that you can fill up with here
when they actually put that upright we saw the person
straight away when they put it down we could barely see them.
So if you're in distress, eitherput your armor or put your boy
(27:04):
up in the air vertically. We'll be able to see you and
identify that you're in distresstwice as fast, and that goes for
Surf and for Kosko. That is great advice.
I I wouldn't have known that, sothat's good to hear.
I'll tell you. Yeah, just think about those.
Surf is big on if you're in trouble, you put your hand
upright, put your hand up so that people can say, oh shit,
that person's in trouble. And then there's the Rs, which
(27:26):
is relax, ride, don't fight. So we don't want you to swim
against any current or against any RIP.
Relax, raise your hand and wait for rescue.
Excellent. So you just make sure that you
know those sort of basic just ideas because if you start to
swim against the tide or swim against the current or against a
(27:50):
or against a RIP, you just kind of potentially get yourself into
a way worse shape. I imagine you advise people to
check the weather conditions as well.
I imagine that one. Yeah.
That can change so quickly. Especially now Harbor, yeah, you
can see it happen and our harborchops up very much with the
wind. So, and when you're in that
(28:11):
wind, it's very hard to see because you know, you could be
in depths when we're in depths and you just can't see the you
can't, can't see the object you're searching for.
And also they the temperature can change so fast counter,
especially in winter, Yeah. Yeah, yeah, without a doubt.
Yeah, you're, you're just 100% on to it.
(28:33):
Well, this has been fantastic. James, is there anything else
you want to mention that I haven't asked you about yet?
No, no, but I'll just say thank you again for all the big
swimmers, swimmers out there. Every little bit counts for us.
Seriously, it just, it makes a difference.
So just go for it, swim hard, see if you can do an extra 10K's
(28:55):
for Coastgate. Perfect.
All right, well, we'll keep sharing our profile links and
asking asking people to chip in because it's such an important
'cause. Yeah.
Thanks so much, James, for your time.
My pleasure. Thanks for listening to this
episode of Swim Chats. Please remember to follow or
subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss an episode and if you
(29:19):
enjoyed it, you can leave a fivestar rating and review.
Which helps other people. Find it too, enjoy the water,
and we'll see you next time.
Welcome to Swim Chats, a podcastabout swimming.
I'm Shona Riddell, a writer, former journalist and ocean
swimmer from Wellington, Altero in New Zealand.
For each episode, I talk to a different guest from our swim
community. They're dippers, adventure
swimmers, coaches and conservationists with one thing
in common. They all love being in the sea.
(00:29):
Thanks to everyone who's been listening along so far and
sharing the podcast, and if you know people who you think would
enjoy it, please let them know. I started swim chats a few
months ago and it's definitely growing as people continue to
discover and share it, so thank you.
It's fun to make and I'm enjoying talking to new people
and hearing their ocean stories.Remember, if you have any
(00:49):
questions, thoughts or suggestions, you can e-mail me
at swimchatswithshona@gmail.com or follow me on Instagram at
Swimchats. Please hit the follow or
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help others find the podcast. So thanks for listening.
Enjoy the water. And here's today's episode with
(01:11):
James Groombridge, the Wellington President of Coast
Guard New Zealand, where we talkabout the big swim.
So hi James, today we have JamesGroombridge, the Wellington
President of Coast Guard New Zealand, Tohtiaki Moana.
(01:32):
James, welcome to Swim Chats. Thanks for being here today.
It's an absolute pleasure. So we're recording this at the
beginning of June, which means the Big Swim has just kicked
off. For those listening who don't
know what the Big Swim is, do you want to describe it?
(01:53):
OK, yes, so the big swim, it's agreat fundraising exercise for
Coast Guard NZ, which will ultimately help us save more
lives at sea and assist more boaties in distress.
So it's all about, it's all about having people out there
(02:15):
who love swimming, swimming and getting making money out of the
fundraising by doing their favorite activities, swimming.
That's right. And people can sign up, either
do it by themselves or they can join a team, like make a team of
people and do it as a kind of group fundraiser.
So I've just put in a little plug for my own team here where
(02:36):
the Trident's we've signed up. So all together we're doing 100
kilometres over the month and raising money.
And so we've all got our swim caps.
Mine arrived in the post. Yeah, I've seen a few swim
beanies around as well. Yeah, that's right.
So the I think the idea is the more kilometers you do or the
(02:57):
more sponsorship you get reaching certain targets and
then you get a few extra freebies or rewards along the
way. So I'm definitely looking
forward to my beanie. It's all good, isn't it?
It's great. I think it's a great thing
because, yeah, having people outthere in the water and where we
play in the water all the time, It's it's just it's a great
(03:19):
fundraising exercise. That's right and it's a great
for those of us who like to swimyear round in the pool and or
the sea. My team likes both.
It's a, it's a good way to kind of keep us on track over the
winter. So instead of just hibernating,
you know, we, we have our targets to meet and you know, it
(03:39):
motivates us to keep going, which is good for us as well as
as a good fundraiser. See, I don't believe you are.
And you swimmers in the sea, youswim all year round and you're
nutters, so you love it. You don't need any more
nativation. Oh yeah, that's true.
We do love it. There's something that's very
addictive about getting in cold water.
(04:01):
I know a lot of people swimming listening to this who are
swimmers will relate. And I like how the big swimmers
for all swim abilities as well. So, you know, you can pick your
distance. You don't have to be a marathon
swimmer to participate, which isnice.
And so, yeah, it's the big swim.This is the second year for it.
(04:23):
Is that right? That's how I understand it.
Yep. I haven't been playing at the
president level very for very long, so I'm quite new to the
role and being exposed to a whole lot of stuff.
But this is, as I understand thesecond year.
And yeah, it was a great result from last year and looking
forward to it this year. Do you know how many have signed
(04:43):
up so far this year or is that not?
It's all right. To dig into the details of
overall New Zealand. I bet it's more than last year
though. I just get that feeling it's
more pink color. Aware of them, yeah.
You can see it just as I say, I've been noticing more beanies
around with the pig swim on themand stuff and like it's been
cool. A guy came up to me in the pool.
(05:03):
I swim. I don't, I'm not a distant
swimmer, but I'm a Sprint swimmer.
So I was just at the rack the other day and a guy came up and
said look at my hat, look at my head.
And I was going, hey, good on you mate.
People love their Mitch, don't they?
Yeah, mate, out. Of being in the community.
Yeah, life's about give and takeout, right?
So if you're going to get a little bit of fundraising, it's
(05:25):
great to be able to give something back, not only in what
we do on the water, but as just as a little, hey, you say to say
that we, we appreciate what you're doing.
Yeah, that's right. And I dug out some stats from
last year from an article I read.
So last year was the first year of the big swim and about 1200
people logged more than 8000 swims.
(05:46):
So that was the equivalent of 14,000 kilometers.
And they raised three, $350,000 for Coast Guard, so that's last.
It's amazing because we are a complete volunteer organization
and like we've got 61. I think there's might be a few
more, one more coming on board, but we've got units across all
(06:09):
of New Zealand and so any money to help us is is fantastic.
We in Wellington have 71 memberswho are they're providing 24/7
coverage of Wellington Harbor and the Cook Straight.
So any money that we can get to pay for a little bit of gas, pay
for that next maintenance bill we get, it's all very, very
(06:29):
appreciated. Cool, and how many do you know
how many volunteers you have in Wellington or nationwide?
71 in Wellington. It varies quite of, you know,
volunteer organizations, it's hard to even put an exact number
on it across New Zealand, but I know for us we're, we're always
around 70. And as I say, we're one of one
of 60 odd units. And so yeah, it's, it's a big
(06:53):
organization and volunteering New Zealand, there's this great
website Volunteering NZ and it actually gives you a whole lot
of stats about not Coast Guard specific, but volunteering in
New Zealand. And within that we contribute.
I think it was like 3 to $6 billion a year and volunteer
(07:15):
hours that goes into the economy.
That's how much Kiwis volunteer.It's just mind boggling.
That's some really positive to hear as well, isn't it?
That so many people willing to give their time.
And it's like, go to the site volunteering nz.org dot NZ.
It's just got an amazing amount of data on who volunteers and
(07:37):
you know, how many hours they overall we put in each year and
so forth. Hey, but I just did think of one
other thing. Yeah, Wellington Regional
Wellington Council, through their pool system there a couple
of years ago, did something similar to the big swim.
It wasn't for fundraising specific, but I was wondering if
you guys were involved. We swam the length of New
Zealand. Yes, that sort of indirectly
(08:00):
like, yeah, we didn't have sponsors for that so much.
It was more just like when you went to the pool, they would ask
how many kilometers you'd swam and add it to their total.
And I think it was more of a competition between the poles.
Is that right? Yeah.
I thought that was quite cool aswell because as you said
earlier, anything to get a little bit of motivation,
(08:20):
especially for us lowering beginner swimmers, is that.
Yeah, that's positive. That's pretty incredible when
you add up everyone's distance, just how far, when everyone's
going indoors, just swimming their laps at the pole.
And then you feel like part of abigger picture as well, which
is, yeah, it's always nice. And so, Chris, Coast Guard New
Zealand, how, how, how old is itas an organization?
(08:45):
Do you know like how long is it?I don't know for every unit, our
unit was formed as the direct result of the Wahini disaster.
Oh, OK. So we've been around 50 odd
years and our first boat was bought about a year after.
And you know, it took a major event and a quite a significant
(09:07):
loss in life for us to actually build that service into
Wellington. So we've been actively
participating in, in rescues andBoger assistance since, since
the early, I think it's late 9, late 60s, early 70s.
Yeah, wow, that's incredible. Yeah, we've just had a member
(09:27):
who was almost one of the originals.
He's been. He retired from Coast Guard
after about 50 years, so it was insane.
It was a lovely old fella. Oh, that's a great story.
So, yeah. But we're we, yeah, we that that
would probably be the last of, of, of the long, long time.
He definitely earned a beanie. I think he had every piece of
(09:49):
Coast Guard merch you could think of one way or the other,
and some old Raiders off some old boats and everything so.
Oh yeah, there'd be some good old technology collected,
albeit. He's quite a, quite a character
and every what, what I've come to appreciate is everybody who
volunteers, no matter what organization, they, they need to
(10:10):
be supported and recognized in one way or the other.
Some don't want to be recognized.
But in actual fact, you know, asas a nation of now what I
understand all volunteers. Yeah, it's it's fantastic.
And having people like use by doing something like this is
it's just another way of recognizing, recognizing our
contributions. It's just fantastic.
(10:32):
It's an important 'cause, isn't it?
I mean, we're, I was going to say we're surrounded by the
water, which is great in terms of recreational opportunities,
but it can also be pretty dangerous.
Yeah, it sure can be. We had to do a rescue off 8
miles east of Palliser a couple of nights ago and we're out on
the water for I think it was 10 hours all up.
(10:53):
So these things are happening. And also, I've been part of
Wellington Coast Guard for five years and a lot of stuff goes on
on this harbour that nobody evenknows of.
Yeah, such as? A lot well in the weekend we we
responded to boat in distress and we got it back to Seaview
(11:13):
safely. Straight afterwards they came
across a massive log in the harbour and dragged that off to
Larry Bate and put it on the shore at the request of the
harbour master. While that was happening, police
contacted Coast Guard Wellingtonand asked them to respond to an
event, but by the time they got there they had been to the
result itself. But that was all within three
(11:34):
hours on a on a Monday. Afternoon.
I guess you never know what the weathers or the ocean is going
to bring. Oh, you never do.
And it relies on everybody beingsensible and, and, you know,
applying good practice to their boating activities.
And that's not always the case. And how many lives to Yeah, be
(11:57):
safe, do you know? To I'll come back to that
question. I'll just bring up some stats
which I do have from a Coast Guard New Zealand level, but it
will just take me a few minutes to dive into that.
So ask another question. Yeah, sure.
That's all right. We can come back to that.
So when did you become the president of the Wellington
Branch? Last year.
(12:21):
And did you have a long involvement with Coast Guard
before that or was that your your introduction?
No, I've been a member for five years.
So you start off on a very gradual process over time.
You start as a Dick and then youbecome qualified.
Then you move up to senior and over time you might become an
(12:42):
ISA, which is a master of a vessel.
And people come in from different backgrounds.
So I've always been on small boats.
There's people come from a commercial background and
there's people who join us with no boating experience.
So it depend on their experienceand their skill levels and their
capability to learn. Going through that process is is
(13:05):
very dependent on, you know, on your skill, your time and so
forth. You can't say that, oh, this all
finishes after five years. You are this.
It might take quite a while to actually learn how to drive a
helm a boat correctly. Right.
And were you a boaty before you joined?
Sort of my my old man's had always had a boat.
(13:27):
But one thing I've realized now after being in Coast Guard is
there's good, there's good ways of doing things, and then
there's the right way of doing things.
Right. And so, yeah, I've learned a
hell of a lot. A lot more about health and
safety and. Oh, just how to do things
(13:48):
properly in the easy way. I mean, just how to use the
spring line correctly to come into a berth.
It it makes common sense once you know it.
But to learn it, you have to be in the in that boaty world,
right? So yeah, it's, it's really
interesting. It's really.
And you mentioned that you're a swimmer yourself.
(14:08):
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, I do a bit of
swimming. I don't think anything to your
level, but I'm also part of surfing Z, so as part of our
ongoing thing, we have to make sure we maintain our swim times.
So we're talking about 400 meterswims.
And yeah, every now and again I'll push it out to OK, but it's
(14:28):
nothing like you guys do. Is that in the pool?
Yeah. It's it's the so I do a lot of
my training in the pool, but when it comes to actually doing
our refreshes every year, it is all about swimming in the sea
and being able to perform a rescue as.
(14:50):
Required. Well, that's awesome.
So you're a volunteer for Surf Life Saving as well?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's, there's more because of my children got
into it when they were young andI just had carried that on and
yeah, now do some instructing for Coast Guard.
Sorry for our surf and patrol atour local beach which is lots of
(15:11):
fun as well. Is that along the South Coast?
We're at with the Bay. We're in a harbour.
Oh, that's very close to me, Yeah.
Yeah, so we're in in a harbour, but we generally patrol at
Scorching Bay. Where's the bay's out up there.
So that's it. Anyway, I've got some stats for
you. Excellent. 63 Coast Guard units,
(15:32):
59 units crewing 100 rescue vessels and rescue craft. 2 Air
Patrol units based in Auckland and Auckland.
We've got a dedicated operation centre in Auckland which is
fantastic actually. It's amazing the difference
we've made in the last year. We have responded to 2800 and
(15:53):
7067 total incidents. We've brought 7196 people home
safely directly in the last year.
People who are alive because Coast Guard was there was 48.
Our total volunteer hours was 300 and 3048 and we took and
(16:17):
looked after 218,000 radio callsresulting in 56,000 trip
reports. Wow, that's incredible.
Big numbers. And so apart from the big swim,
where does your funding come from?
Basically me going around with my cap out, we get we get some
(16:42):
central, the Coast Guard NZ itself gets a little bit of
central funding. The government over the last few
years has been increasing that, which is fantastic because for
both surf and for Coast Guard, the increase and work that we
are doing is, as always on the increase and with some big
events like Gabriel, we are Coast Guard and surf, we're all
(17:05):
playing their part. They have identified that these
guys play an important role in significant events and the areas
that they control in. So we get some of that back, CNZ
get there and they can allocate that out so that CNZ is going to
be allocating some funding to usbecause we need a new boat.
(17:26):
Right. And I'll talk about that in a
little bit if that's OK. But the other funding comes from
our annual lottery or our yeah, we, so we do a big annual
lottery where we sell tickets tothe public with prizes of boats
and and holidays and so forth that contributes a bit.
We do quite a lot of internal fundraising through sponsorship
(17:49):
directly with like one of our main sponsors is straight
shipping are a fantastic organization, really cool to
work with. And I love being on their boats.
The Conomar is awesome. Yeah, whenever I go across the
cook straight, definitely alwaysuse straight shipping are the
best. That's their plug.
(18:15):
So we get up. So we have to just pull it from
every source we can. And when we're talking about the
new vessel that we require our, our current vessels or we've got
2 vessels. Spirit of Wellington is 2029
years old. I believe it's close to 29
maybe. So anyway, it's around 30 years
old, beautiful vessel. But after 30 years, there's,
(18:39):
there's better technology and better vessels out there to, for
us to achieve our jobs to keep our crew safe.
And then if we can keep ourselves safer and bigger
conditions, we can then affect better rescues for, for the
public. So we're, we're looking for,
yeah, about $2,000,000 across the, you know, the Wellington
(19:02):
overall community. So it's any piece of funding to
get to that top type of figure is absolutely appreciated.
Some of the money from the big swim will go towards the new
boat. I imagine what will happen is I
think that all goes into the central bucket and then that
because it is a CNZ run, run thebig swim and then they allocate
(19:25):
that out to different units in need.
And so that's, and that central funding from the government also
plays a part in that. And so they'll, they'll be
contributing quite a chunk to our requirements, but that
doesn't, that's on top of the two million we're after.
So we're talking quite a lot of money to get a vessel to the
(19:47):
quality and the standard that werequire to keep our crew safe
and into effect. Great issues.
Well, I'll put lots of links in the show notes and then
hopefully people will click on them.
And especially for the big swim,because that's going for the
rest of the month. That is fantastic, yeah.
So of the people you're rescuing, I imagine most of them
(20:10):
are boaties in distress. Are you rescuing swimmers as
well or is that more surf life saving?
Quite often our, our, so we generally are about related,
right. We search for swimmers if we're
needed. We're quite, we're a little bit
unique. There's only two harbours that
(20:32):
actually have a Wellington Police.
We have, sorry, a police maritime unit and we have one of
those and Auckland is another one.
So they are quite often out there responding as well as us.
So if you were swimming in like you are off Freiburg Beach or
wherever, the police will get toyou faster.
So we will always respond to anyevent.
(20:55):
I have not personally attended to a swimmer industry, so we do
practice picking up people out of the water all the time.
But you guys keep yourselves pretty safe.
I haven't heard of an incident where you guys haven't got
somebody to show before we couldbe become effective and the use
(21:16):
of the boys and so forth that you do now is is great.
You know, we we can see where you are.
Whereas in in other places whereit's a little bit more chaotic
like Taupo, where people get hitby jet skis in there with people
who aren't to your guys level ofart.
We're in the safety equipment. It's yeah.
(21:37):
Yeah, we really, yeah, we enjoy.We all try and look out for each
other for sure, and we get really good advice from our
coaches and from Grant, the harbor master.
He's really good at staying in touch with everyone and getting
feedback on what's working. Grant's awesome.
Grant is a really brilliant guy.And yeah, we like to think we
(21:58):
work closely with the harbor master.
We do respond to what we've noticed over the past few years
is the water uses have changed. There's a lot more swimmers, but
as I said, I think you guys are very self responsible.
So which is great. But the diversity of watercraft
is really ramping up with all the you've got kite surfers,
(22:20):
you've got foilers, you have thesaps out there, you know, you've
got a variety and then you've got the foiling saps.
And the variety of all the vessels that we now actually
will be attending to is greatly increasing.
One of the other stats, I haven't had this Fact Check, but
the other day I did look I got it through a search engine, was
(22:45):
that New Zealand added 44,000 vessels to its recreational
boating fleet over the last year.
That's incredible. I know.
And if that's the case, but you can see it because like if you
look at what's happening down inPecton, how the size of the
marine is doubled over the last,you know, they've put, they've
finished their big project now and almost doubled the size of
(23:06):
the Marina. And if you go to Auckland here,
but there's just boats everywhere.
And it's not so noticeable in Wellington because yeah, we're a
bit more hard. I have to be a bit more Hardy to
be in the recreational boating scene, but the increase in
recreational boating is just, it's happening.
I guess that puts a bit more pressure on you guys and that
(23:26):
you probably need to recruit more volunteers to keep up with
the number of new vessels. Yeah.
Well, we wouldn't. We're actually going to.
We've got 2 vessels at the moment.
We'll probably, I can't really say, but I imagine we'll go down
to 1 when we get the new vessel because we're also trying to be
sustainable too. We really don't want to be out
there absolutely thumping aroundpetrol engines.
(23:49):
So we're going to move to a hopefully what we consider as a
more sustainable vessel and a sustainable approach because our
waterways and so forth really need to be looked after.
So yeah, I think we'll end up, this is not, I can't, I can't
say we're definitely going to dothis, but I'd say in the next
three years, we, once we get this new vessel, we'll end up
(24:09):
down to a single vessel. And so also Coast Guard's been
putting a lot of effort into prevention as opposed to us as
the ambulance and seeing the results of that.
We still have an increase in incidents that we're purporting
to every year. Not a great 1.
So we're going up in like twos or threes.
(24:32):
So like from 35 five years ago to 49 now.
So it's not a massive increase, but it's, I think it's that
diversity, which is the one and more of the interesting things
rather than the increase becausewe're just going to be way more
careful when we're approaching somebody who's actually in the
water as opposed to approaching a vessel, you know, and those
(24:55):
sort of things. And if we're coming up next to a
swimmer, we practice all the time how we do that to make sure
the swimmer feels safe communicating with them, making
sure we don't come flying up to you, that we actually do it very
slow and progressively, and thatwe're actually able to safely
pull a swimmer out without them.And there's a little saying that
(25:15):
they had a, there's a few rules that we follow is don't point
the boat at the person. Yeah, an.
Idea. Yeah, don't hit the person that
advised. Be stopped when we pick you up.
So you know we put that into practice.
We won't come close within 100 meters of you right until we're
until we're we're confident thatyou know that we're here and
(25:38):
that you are safe. Now, obviously if you head down
and unconscious that that sort of changes.
But yeah, but yeah, we really are trying to really think about
the person in the water as as your experience.
The last thing we want them to do is freak out and swim away
from us. Yeah.
And how do you practice those rescues?
(25:58):
Do you have sort of simulations where you get people getting you
in trouble? Or throw the present on
overboard days. No, we, we do it different ways.
If we're just practicing the technical, we just have a little
boy that we throw in the water, a weighted boy that we will use.
If we're going a little bit moreserious about how do we get
somebody onto a boat, we actually have a full size
(26:20):
mannequin and a child size mannequin.
And then, yeah, we actually do. All joking aside, throw people
in the water and and respond. Right.
And as swimmers in the harbour, we're all encouraged to have tow
floats. I imagine that must make a
difference as well in terms. Of hugely visibility and if you
actually we were searching we did a a training exercise a
(26:43):
while it was a wee while ago now, but somebody had a you know
how the divers have a noodle that you can fill up with here
when they actually put that upright we saw the person
straight away when they put it down we could barely see them.
So if you're in distress, eitherput your armor or put your boy
(27:04):
up in the air vertically. We'll be able to see you and
identify that you're in distresstwice as fast, and that goes for
Surf and for Kosko. That is great advice.
I I wouldn't have known that, sothat's good to hear.
I'll tell you. Yeah, just think about those.
Surf is big on if you're in trouble, you put your hand
upright, put your hand up so that people can say, oh shit,
that person's in trouble. And then there's the Rs, which
(27:26):
is relax, ride, don't fight. So we don't want you to swim
against any current or against any RIP.
Relax, raise your hand and wait for rescue.
Excellent. So you just make sure that you
know those sort of basic just ideas because if you start to
swim against the tide or swim against the current or against a
(27:50):
or against a RIP, you just kind of potentially get yourself into
a way worse shape. I imagine you advise people to
check the weather conditions as well.
I imagine that one. Yeah.
That can change so quickly. Especially now Harbor, yeah, you
can see it happen and our harborchops up very much with the
wind. So, and when you're in that
(28:11):
wind, it's very hard to see because you know, you could be
in depths when we're in depths and you just can't see the you
can't, can't see the object you're searching for.
And also they the temperature can change so fast counter,
especially in winter, Yeah. Yeah, yeah, without a doubt.
Yeah, you're, you're just 100% on to it.
(28:33):
Well, this has been fantastic. James, is there anything else
you want to mention that I haven't asked you about yet?
No, no, but I'll just say thank you again for all the big
swimmers, swimmers out there. Every little bit counts for us.
Seriously, it just, it makes a difference.
So just go for it, swim hard, see if you can do an extra 10K's
(28:55):
for Coastgate. Perfect.
All right, well, we'll keep sharing our profile links and
asking asking people to chip in because it's such an important
'cause. Yeah.
Thanks so much, James, for your time.
My pleasure. Thanks for listening to this
episode of Swim Chats. Please remember to follow or
subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss an episode and if you
(29:19):
enjoyed it, you can leave a fivestar rating and review.
Which helps other people. Find it too, enjoy the water,
and we'll see you next time.
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