Rip technology could save lives
THE sister of Warriors rugby league star Sonny Fai, who drowned on a West Auckland beach while trying to save his 14-year-old brother from a rip, is backing new technology to map the deadly currents.
Fai drowned six years ago, when he was just 20, after life guards had finished their patrol at Bethells beach and at a time when rescue crews didn’t know which way a rip was operating.
But Surf Life Saving New Zealand is trialling a system to map rips at high-risk Kiwi beaches and is due to roll it out next month.
The 20 devices called ‘‘drifters’’ are being used to plot GPS data and drones will be used to accurately map the currents and behaviours around the beaches over a six-week period.
The trial would allow for more targeted and efficient rescue operations, said national lifesaving manager Allan Mundy.
‘‘Rescues often have an element of gut feeling,’’ Mundy said.
Fai’s sister, Lalelei Fai Tupulua, now lives in Sydney and says she’s educating her seven-year-old son, also called Sonny, about the risks in the water.
‘‘I’ve explained to my little Sonny who he is named after and what happened to his uncle,’’ she said.
‘‘He understands the importances of safety. I always ask him what he’d do if he fell in the pool or was in a drowning situation.’’
The memory of her brother’s death is still raw.
‘‘After my brother drowned I moved here and put my kids in the swim school. It’s sad when I hear of drownings still happening in New Zealand, every time I hear of one I get chills – I become emotional and tear up because I know exactly what the family is going through.’’
Rips are a major killer in New Zealand waters. Last summer, of the 15 people that drowned, seven were caught in rips, while 85 per cent of the rescues carried involved people caught in rips.
Life saving patrols began this weekend in the Far North, Raglan, Mount Manganui and the Coromandel, and will be rolled out further south throughout November. Up to 4000 volunteers in total will patrol 80 beaches nationwide.