Saved from the swells
One of New Plymouth’s top lifeguards is recommending people avoid the beach this week after big swells saw 16 after-hours rescues on Sunday.
The rescues were carried out by off-duty lifeguards at the city’s popular Fitzroy Beach between 5pm and 7pm. Life guards officially stop patrolling at 5pm.
‘‘Usually lifeguards are still at the beaches either training, surfing, or swimming and that’s usually how an after hours rescue happens,’’ senior lifeguard at Fitzroy Beach Todd Velvin said. ‘‘It’s young lifeguards doing an outstanding job as usual.’’
Velvin also commended those that were rescued.
‘‘The public that were rescued were really good, they didn’t panic, they stuck their hand up which is what we encourage people to do.’’
The majority of Taranaki beaches had seen an increase in swell size on Sunday evening, Velvin said
‘‘With the large surf and incoming swell surges we were seeing a lot of people getting out of their depth and the life guards having to work hard to keep people between the flags and out of trouble.
‘‘The surf at Fitzroy was about two and a half metres.’’
Large swells were expected to continue and Velvin recommended people stay away from beaches.
‘‘If you’re coming for a swim in the evenings definitely stay within your limits, don’t go out too deep as the surf’s still reasonably large at the moment and meant to get larger.
‘‘It’s probably best to maybe go to the aquatic centre or swimming pool.’’
Velvin said due to the swells, the weekend had been the beach’s busiest of the summer, which had experienced relatively safe conditions for the majority of the season.
‘‘We were seeing a lot of people getting out of their depth and the life guards having to work hard to keep people between the flags and out of trouble.
Just down the beach, East End Beach lifeguard Billie Alty said their club had experienced a spike in summer rescues.
Alty said they hadn’t had any rescues on Saturday or Sunday, but a surf competition that was due to be held at East End was cancelled due to the swells.
Opunake Surf Life Saving club captain Brooke Smith said he’d lost count of the number of rescues they had performed over the season.
‘‘It’s been busy as with summer starting early and a lot more tourists.’’
Smith said the majority of their rescues had been tourists, however there was the occasional local getting caught out as well.
Opunake only had one rescue on Sunday, which was also after hours and occurred after a swimmer knocked themselves out.
The club’s largest rescue over summer was a group of nine swimmers who got caught out during lifeguard hours.
‘‘We’ve also had a countless number of assist and minor first aids,’’ Smith said.
Oakura Surf Life Saving club could not be contacted. Water Safety NZ reported 88 preventable drowning deaths in 2017, two of these were in the Taranaki region.