Andy Kent: Surf Lifesaving New Zealand General Manager on the troubling Kiwi water safety statistics, what to look out for when swimming and keeping safe this summer

January is the most dangerous month in the water and on its first day Surf Lifesaving New Zealand rescued 16 people. 

That is the same number as in January 1st last year and double what it was in 2022.

The surf lifeguard crew notched up over 5100 hours of work over the course of New Year's Eve and New Year's Day and are now calling on the public to do their part. 

Surf Lifesaving New Zealand General Manager Andy Kent talks to Tim Beveridge about what you can do to stay safe in the water. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
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Speaker 2 (00:17):
Now.

Speaker 3 (00:18):
January is the most dangerous month in the water, and
on its first day, Surf Life Saving New Zealand rescued
sixteen people. That's the same number as in January first
last year and double what it was in twenty twenty two.
The surf Lifeguard crew notched up over fifty one hundred
hours of work over the course of New Year's Eve
and New Year's Day, and they're calling on the thousands

(00:40):
of us heading to the beach to respect the water
and Surf Life Saving General manager Andy Kent's with me. Now,
good morning, mornington, How are you good? Thanks? Our key
we water safety standards, I mean us the public. Are
our standards slipping a bit slacking?

Speaker 2 (00:59):
Well, we're pretty consistently.

Speaker 3 (01:00):
Bad, can't get any worse.

Speaker 2 (01:04):
Yeah, it's they're not improving in the general water safety
statistics from water Safe New Zealand show that as in
New Zealand with our face is obviously on the coast
and yeah, and it's it's not getting any better, but
it's and so it's hard to it's hard to really

(01:29):
see what's happening on the beaches without sort of being
a bit well, it seems like the same.

Speaker 3 (01:33):
Old, same old, But it's the most frustrating message that
you have to hammer home.

Speaker 2 (01:39):
I think it's people. I think it's restakers going beyond
their capabilities, pushing, pushing the boundaries, and unfortunately that's where
we see the tragic fatalities where people are swimming it
on patroled beaches. You know, we're pretty proud of the
fact that no one drowns between the flags and yeah,

(02:01):
but we realize that we want We realize that New
Zealand coastlines are amazing. We realize that the beaches in
New Zealand are some of the best in the world.
We want everyone to enjoy their time the summer. We
want everyone to enjoy the beaches, but we just want
to do it safely.

Speaker 3 (02:15):
What is the most dangerous activity, apart from getting in
the water itself, what's the biggest threat?

Speaker 2 (02:19):
Biggest threats in rips and currents On every single beach
in New Zealand, even beaches with small wave activity, there
will still be rips and currents and that's just on
the Boordab But that's just nature. That's that's water coming
in and water going out. And that's the statistics and
the evidence of trying to teach people how to spot

(02:40):
rips actually will sort of changed, or International Health Saving
had sort of changed. It's its messaging around it because
they're so they are actually quite hard to spot, so
we more sort of push the the messages now around
know how to float doubts. They are if you can't swim,

(03:01):
don't into the water, even if your kids can't swim,
and you can't swim, certainly don't go in the water
unless you want to go to a light guarded beach
and some between the flags.

Speaker 3 (03:11):
Yeah, because even if you're up to your waist, a
rip can be pretty powerful, can't it.

Speaker 2 (03:17):
Yeah, And it's just that especially on different beaches, like
we know that the West coast of New Zealand are
sitting a whole lot different from the East coast. The
East coast obviously is you know with the high way
wave of activity around the crime and deal baffling Tea
Gisbone Hawk's Bay has also been quite a large wave
of activity. So even intor holes, even up to your

(03:39):
waste standing off the sand being going into the rips
form at the at the start. They don't form off sure,
they form right close to sure. So yeah, those real
basic things. And and again I just want to overiterate,
we want people to really enjoy the sum in New Zealand,
so hopefully we will get along summery ahead of us.

(04:00):
And we want everyone to just just to be sensible,
be safe, and the best way to do that is
to the swim of the lifeguarded beach.

Speaker 3 (04:08):
Excellent. Well, hey, good luck with everything, Andy, and you
guys do a great job. I really appreciate your time
this morning. That's Andy Kent. He's the Surf Life Saving
General Manager.

Speaker 1 (04:24):
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