Whangamata Volunteer Coastguard, 619 Beach Road, Whangamata (2026)

Whangamata Volunteer Coastguard is one of 71 Coastguard units operating around the coastline of New Zealand and one of the 18 units comprising Coastguard Eastern Region. We have 75 active volunteers including radio operators, rescue crew and committee. Our rescue vessel is an 8.5m Naiad powered by twin Yamaha 225hp fourstroke outboard engines. Top speed is in excess of 40 knots and she has a range of 200 Nautical miles and is on 24 hour callout standby

21/09/2026

LIFEJACKET RULES ARE CHANGING - What you need to know

Overview

The Maritime Transport (Lifejackets on Recreational Craft) Amendment Act was granted Royal Assent on 11 September 2026 – a genuine milestone for water safety in Aotearoa, and a change Coastguard has long advocated for alongside the sector.
From 9 October 2026, everyone on board a recreational craft six metres or under will be required to wear a properly fitted lifejacket while it's underway.

There is no change to recreational craft over 6 metres – they must carry a lifejacket for everyone, and wear during periods of heightened risk (bar crossings, when being towed, etc.).

More details can be found in the following websites about what's changing and who it applies to

maritimenz.govt.nz/lifejacket-changes

coastguard.nz/lifejacket-changes

While it doesn’t apply to vessels over 6 metres, all the current rules still apply. You must carry them and wear them when crossing a bar, if you’re being towed by another boat, and in the dark when there is a heightened risk. Better yet, you should just wear them all the time.

Coastguard New Zealand encourages all boaties to act in a safe manner

31/08/2026

Whangamata Volunteer Coastguard recently held their AGM. As we all know AGMs can be a rather dry event that many stay away from for fear of landing a job they get pressured into. The existing management committee all agreed to a further term, the President presented her Report outlining the year's events, and the Treasurer presented the financial report.

Matters of more personal interest were the presentation of volunteer service awards.

3 year pin:
Bernard Payne
Samuel Savage-Wairepo
Rafael Dias

5 year certificate and chevron pin:
Callum Goodwin
Steve Coatham
David Burbage
John Robinson
Debbie White
Andy Woolfield

10 years certificate and chevron pin:
Dave Kirby

15 years certificate and chevron pin:
Simon Brickwood

20 years certificate and chevron pin:
Pam Johnson
George Williams

18 year certificate:
Bob Ancell.

As an organization we are very blessed to have so many long servicing volunteers be they CRV crew, Radio operators, or Administrators. A special mention to Pam and George for 20 years covering multiple roles like Radio and Administration and Simons 15 year contribution to the CRV crew.

02/07/2026

It's been a quiet few weeks for Whangamata Volunteer Coastguard but today we were able to assist a 5 meter powerboat that had developed an intermittent fuel issue and didn't want to risk an engine cutout when coming back into the harbour on an outgoing tide.

A little reminder about membership benefits of Coastguard and specifically the Whangamata unit which my has an annual membership fee of only $95 Pa.

As Coastguard is a charity, non-members are asked to assist with the cost of non-urgent assistance at $400 per hour, including GST. This helps cover costs such as fuel, equipment, vessel repairs, maintenance and the biggest cost of all being the replacement of the vessel itself at well over $1M.

G J Gardner is a maritime surveyed vessel and has to be maintained to the highest standard. While we do a lot of local tow work the vessel is fitted with the best possible equipment to undertake search requests from either Police or the Maritime Rescue Coordination centre. A good example being the FLIR (infrared camera system) recently upgraded at a cost of $60k

28/05/2026

No exciting news to report, which has to be a good thing as it means all the local boaties aren't have mechanical or fuel issues.

A big thank you to all our supporters who brought tickets in our summer raffle and to all our volunteer ticket sellers. We can report that along with the whakatane unit we were first equal in selling 3000 tickets.

A little CRV news. We have just completed installation of a new FLIR camera unit on the boat replacing the old fitting .
FLIR is an infrared camera system used to identify objects, (people or boats) in otherwise pitch black conditions. Along with all new technology it is controlled by a joystick allowing 360⁰ rotation, up, down, and zoom functions. As with any top shelf state of the art technology it was not a cheap upgrade so thanks again to all our supporters.

Attached pic is a photo of the screen in daylight mode taken during testing. With full zoom you could count the rivets on the canopy of the ute outside the door.

25/04/2026

Something a little different from tasking or training. At our lovely seaside town the Anzac day dawn parade is held on the beach in front of the Whangamata Surf Life Saving Club and our CRV is part of the formalities.
G J Gardner Rescue and two surf club inflatables hide behind Clarke Is untill the first glimpse of the sun and the the CRV carrying a NZ and Australian flag proceed toward the beach in company of the inflatables. The flags are handed over to the surf crew who bring them ashore and then on the beach hand them to the head girl and boy of the Area School to carry them up the beach to the main formalities.
A contingent of crew and exec staff also march in the civic parade later in the morning along with the Veterans. Police, Fire, Ambulance and other service groups

03/04/2026

Something a little different.
Thanks to the Whangamata Volunteer Fire Brigade for hosting Coastguard Crew for a tutorial and hands on training in the use of Fire Extinguishers. Yes point and sq**rt will work but like everything else there is a bit of technique involved.
We carry 3 Dry Powder Extinguishers on the rescue vessel which are a good general purpose fast first strike extinguisher for most fires except cooking oils and fats.
Foam has limitations on gases and electrical fires and as we saw CO² is ineffective on large outdoor fires.
Fires need HEAT OXYGEN and FUEL, so the objective is to remove one of these elements and combustion will stop. Water is used in a house fire to eliminate heat, on a small/medium boat Powder or Foam smothers the fire starving it of oxygen. CO² works in a similar way and best in a enclosed engine room.
Our fires were a mix of diesel and petrol on top of water in a half 44 gallon drum that burnt at 500⁰C.
The correct operation of the extinguisher is
-Pull the pin
-Test sq**rt the extinguisher
-Aim the nozzle at base of the fire
-Squeeze the handles and stay low
-Sweep the nozzle from side to side.
Lastly don't rely on an extinguisher that's been in the boat for 10 years, get them serviced every so often. Commercial vessels including CRVs required an annual inspection and certification of all extinguishers

Address

619 Beach Road
Whangamata
3620

Telephone

+6478658800

Website

http://www.coastguardwhangamata.co.nz/

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