Fresh clubrooms big drawcard for Foxton Beach
A small-town Horowhenua beach has been pumping with punters, partly thanks to newly renovated clubrooms.
The 2021/22 summer is the first since the Foxton Surf Life Saving Club had its clubrooms renovated.
Little work was done on the building since it was built in the 1970s and seismic strengthening was needed.
An injection from the Government’s annual $9.4 million fund for surf life saving operations, established as part of Budget 2020, meant the work could be done 18 years ahead of schedule.
Club committee member Adam Radich, who was at a busy Foxton Beach on Saturday, said the old facilities were more like rugby changing rooms.
Now the club had an up-to-date medical room, improved commercial kitchen and better spaces to store equipment used for patrols and sport.
A fresh coat of paint on the exterior was the last big job left.
The beach itself had been extremely busy during the summer, with as many as 400 people in the water and people parked up next to each other along the coast between Foxton Beach and Himatangi, he said.
‘‘People say it is what it used to be like back in the 1970s.’’
Scores were already in the water before lifeguards set up for patrols.
‘‘Quite often we are putting flags out with 100 people already in the water.’’
He also often saw people in the water when he was going for a walk along the beach at sunset.
Covid traffic light levels being lowered just before the holiday season likely helped with popularity, but the new clubrooms were also a hit, he said.
‘‘People don’t want to go somewhere scungy and old. It is really easy to entice people to a new facility.’’
Foxton Beach was a relatively safe beach, with no features like large rocks or landforms creating odd tides or rips and the surf mostly being sedate.
‘‘Water comes in and water goes out.’’ Putting up cones and signs on the beach to stop people driving in the main swimming area also helped create a safe environment.
Foxton Beach, like all Horowhenua beaches, is a road with a 30kmh posted speed limit.
Radich said the cones and signs, first put up two years ago, were now popular with beachgoers, to the point where the public ensured drivers complied.
Lifeguards had mostly been busy assisting people rather than rescues, which Radich said was good news.
It was far better to educate people and keep them safe than performing rescues.
‘‘If you have good preventative actions, you shouldn’t have to rescue people.’’
People would likely be extremely safe if they stayed between the flags and did not go out too far, he said.
The club had about 30 lifeguards and 70 children in the Nippers programme, but could always do with more.