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by Anthony Hill - Coastguard Queenstown

Flying into Queenstown, iconic lake and mountain views, about to land so keenly peering out the window and… what’s that? A Coastguard building. You can’t get much further from the sea than this in New Zealand. Yet scattered around many of our major inland lakes you will find volunteers crewing a rescue vessel on call 24/7. With no tides to predict, no bars to cross (apart from the friendly kind of ‘watering’ hole), what are they doing there? Unfortunately planes and water don’t mix nicely, that’s one reason the unit is in Queenstown, with its international airport and high number of aircraft movements. It’s nice to know there is some water rescue capability around in case we have an NZ Sully incident (aka Miracle on the Hudson). However, Coastguard should really be considered as water safety and rescue as their day-to-day operation is more focused looking down rather than up. Boaties, and other water users in difficulties, and search and rescue operations are the main stay.

It’s a big cold lake. Most of our inland lakes hover around 10oC, and fresh water doesn’t have the buoyancy of salty sea water. Without a life jacket on, the survival time in the lake is very short. Surprisingly, most people think it is hypothermia that kills, but without some floatation you’ll drown well before that… cold water shock, loss of strength, they are the real killers. With a life jacket on you can start to be seriously worried about hypothermia after a couple of hours. Without, well the first five minutes are critical and it’s in the next 15 you’re in serious danger of drowning.

No matter what your waka, Coastguard is there if things really get bad. In an emergency, call 111 as Coastguard is activated by the police. Non-emergency call outs can happen too, and if you’re a Coastguard member you get some free assistance, otherwise there is a call out fee. Volunteers give up their time (leave work or warm beds) freely, but the costs of running a rescue vessel are substantial and as a charitable organisation Coastguard New Zealand has many costs to manage. Like the AA, and St Johns, a membership gives peace of mind for those tricky but noncritical situations.

Coastguard doesn’t have a regulatory role, they don’t ‘police’ the waterways. That is a Harbour-master’s function. They are not military like often seen overseas. They don’t carry guns or catch smugglers. The name is a bit of a misnomer. They are guardians of people on the water, looking after us, protecting us from our own mistakes or misfortune. They are volunteers. Give them a wave the next time you see them out and about.