Calmer waters on the horizon
Coastguard volunteer eyes rest and recreation, ‘in that order’. reports.
Dick Chapman doesn’t like to give up. When a critic told him Coastguard Marlborough would never raise the $1 million it needed for a new rescue boat, it made him more determined.
He’s the same when it comes to rescue, and retirement.
Chapman has been a hand on the helm for the coastguard in Picton since 1997, serving with Kapiti’s coastguard before that – 31 years in total.
He’s had 15 years in coastguard management. He became a skipper, and has been president twice ‘‘and for far too long’’.
‘‘It was in danger of falling apart when I joined. We had a unit that was functioning but always struggling for funds, for people, so we started nibbling away at the challenges. It’s taken a long time,’’ Chapman said.
Raising $1.3 million for new headquarters, opened in 2010, and the same again for a new ambulance rescue boat launched last year, it’s been a long hard beat into the weather. But Chapman won’t move on until he’s satisfied everything is shipshape.
‘‘I don’t want to go until we have enough skippers on board to replace the crusty old guys like me. We’ve got to make sure we have it covered so we can go to sea whenever it’s needed, with an experienced crew that can do the job and bring everyone home safely.’’
Chapman came to Picton after running Furneaux Lodge in Queen Charlotte Sound for several years from 1993. He and his partner at the time left just before the Olivia Hope-Ben Smart murders.
‘‘It was a good business, pretty lively. Portage was the pub of Kenepuru and Furneaux was the pub of Queen Charlotte. We catered to the boating fraternity rather than the track. We’d have around 15 staff through the summer, four or five in winter,’’ he said.
The rescue team was known as Sounds Emergency Services until 1995, with police, Department of Conservation and volunteers. It was to hard to fund and run, and was reformed as Coastguard Marlborough. Chapman joined in 1997.
‘‘Some of the same people are still here. Dave Baker was with Sounds Emergency Services, and Gary Askew, Peter Garnett, Joe Heberley has been a member forever.
‘‘Everything has changed. There’s more work for the coastguard with more people coming here. When I joined we had a shed on Port Marlborough land for no rent, and a boatshed, water, power. They’ve been a fantastic sponsor for decades now,’’ Chapman said.
Knowing where and how to get money is one of Chapman’s crucial contributions. Pub Charity, Rata Foundation and ‘‘various trusts around the country’’ are all a source of funds. And the local community, which provides the volunteers.
‘‘It’s a small town so you only have a small number to draw from. A lot of people here are either working in the marine community or associated with it, so we have a great pool of people. All of our skippers are commercial skippers. That makes a huge difference,’’ Chapman said.
‘‘Like any group around the country we need more young people. The boat safety course David [St John] runs is a good source of volunteers. We also have a close association with St John Ambulance and some people joining that will also join coastguard.’’
‘‘It’s a successful unit. We were going to get kicked out of our building, so we worked with the St John people and got the new headquarters in place, that took seven years. It took another five to get the new boat,’’ he said.
‘‘We bought our second boat, we’ve got a truck and tractor, a big genset [generator] in case the power goes out at the base, we can run that whole building for St John and us off that. We’ve future-proofed as much as we can. There’s a lot of philanthropic people here.’’
He describes one benefactor as ‘‘a very generous man’’ who had pledged funds and was injured out in the Sounds. Coastguard got the call, and Chapman was helping stretcher the man aboard the rescue boat. The injured man asked what the rescue would cost him.
‘‘I said it would be about $150,000. He reckoned it was his most expensive boat ride ever.’’
The coastguard volunteers are the safety net for an increasing number of boating people, yachties, fishers and divers in the Sounds with almost 1600 kilometres of coastline on their watch.
‘‘About 70 per cent of what we do is in conjunction with St John, that’s medivacs from tracks, houses, lodges, boats. We have a network of people we call on out there in the Sounds, locals with boats we can commandeer, fourwheel bikes to get up to a track,’’ Chapman said.
‘‘It’s not just about what coastguard does, it’s the people who can help us achieve the goal.’’
‘‘Take a mountain biker – they’re crazy at the best of times – he hits a stump and breaks a collar
Geoff
bone. St John will get the call and they’ll decide to send the helicopter or the boat, or both.’’
‘‘They set our pagers off, the skipper and crew will be selected from whoever arrives at the base, we get the ambos on board and take off. Then we get the ambulance staff from where the boat is to where the patient is. Sometimes they can walk, sometimes it’s by road or up a track by quad bike,’’ he said.
‘‘They’ll assess if they need the helicopter or if they can be stretchered out. We’ll get them down to the boat and sorted out for a comfortable trip home and they’ll be transferred to the ambulance once we’re back at Picton.
‘‘The coastguard is a secondary emergency service. We don’t call the shots for the use of the helicopter. That will be St John or the police, fire service or Department of Conservation. We’re an ancillary arm they can use for what they need to achieve.’’
Chapman said compliance was making it hard to recruit and hold volunteers. ‘‘If we take someone green off the street with no boating experience, and they want to get to the lofty heights of a coastguard skipper, that could take three years and a lot of study with practical and written exams.
‘‘People join because they want to help, want to make a difference. We have the same health and safety rules as any business, even though we are volunteers. We have to be responsible for all the people who work with us. They’re going out when others won’t, to help people who have got themselves in trouble,’’ Chapman said.
‘‘You must build confidence in the crew around you. They have to be confident you’re running the unit and thinking about them with training and getting equipment, so we chip away at that..’’
Chapman and wife Debbie have been living aboard the 15m Bakewell White motorsailer Calm Harbour at Picton marina for the past four years.
He’ll stay with coastguard as a rescue skipper for a couple more years and serve out his time on the board of the national body, Coastguard New Zealand until October, but he’s enjoying winding down. ‘‘It’s time for some rest and recreation,’’ he said. ‘‘And in that order.’’
‘‘Like any group around the country we need more young people.’’