Nearly twenty years ago, Baker Hardin, a retired American Army Radio Operator, sailed into Vava’u aboard S/Y Litenup. Hardin recognized very early on that the visiting yachties needed the support of one another, along with the expatriate and Tongan community. At the time of his arrival, no official Tongan government agency was responsible for Search and Rescue Operations nor maritime safety in Tonga. Baker created a volunteer group that called themselves the Vava’u Emergency Response Association (VERA). This group's primary purpose of this group was to maintain a coastal watch on VHF Channels 16 and 26 to assist vessels in distress. Through years of successful assistance, VERA became well known to the Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand (RCCNZ) and the Tongan Police, as a source of help when it came to Search and Rescue operations. Because Vava’u lacked the assets to conduct on the water Search and Rescue operations, the boating community would provide resources when requested and organized by VERA. In December of 2015, the Australia and New Zealand governments, through the police development programme provided three small Search and Rescue boats (one for each significant island group), as well as initial training, to the Tongan Police. RCCNZ, under a South Pacific Maritime Training program, started meeting with Tongan officials to develop a Search and Rescue Coordination training. Hardin passed away in November 2016, which left VERA without a very knowledgeable and highly experienced radio operator. The first formal training session with the Tongan Police Force from Tongatapu, Ha’apai, and Vava’u for Search and Rescue Training presented by RCCNZ was in Tongatapu in September 2017. VERA was invited to send a representative to the workshop, and we were honored to attend. We had great discussions with the Acting Deputy Police Commissioner, Mr. Atunaisa Taumoepeau, RCCNZ Team Watch Leader Mr. David Wilson, and Senior Search and Rescue Coordinator Mrs. Chris Wilson during the workshop. From those conversations, VERA was encouraged to formalize itself into a Tongan Incorporated Society (Not for Profit) and consider changing its name to remove “emergency response” as the Tongan Police are the official Ministry in Tonga with that designation and legal responsibility. We also formally asked the Tongan Police if they would invite RCCNZ to do the same training in Vava’u with our local Tongan Police force, Marine and Ports, Customs and Immigration, and Disaster Response Office. RCCNZ performed this training in May 2018. On the 8th of August 2018, Vava’u Volunteer Maritime Response Association (VVMRA) was granted its license as an Incorporated Society of Tonga (NGO). The founding members had their first meeting on the 22nd of August with leadership committee elections. We have finalized our by-laws and starting to increase our online presence. We had a public information meeting to re-introduce ourselves to the Vava’u community and those living, traveling through, and visiting the beautiful islands of Vava’u in the Kingdom of Tonga. Month after month, VVMRA Radio Responders receive requests for general information, provide contact numbers for local emergency services, answer questions about how to clear into the country and provide emergency assistance to local and visiting mariners via the marine radio. Our motto is Ready to Respond and our call sign is Vava’u Radio.
