Coastguard – Contactless Coastguard

At Coastguard Hibiscus’s AGM back in June, the baton of crew chief was handed over from Dave Tilley to me.  

I want to thank Dave for more than four years of dedicated contributions to our unit as crew chief – he now takes on the new role of safety officer.  

I have been with Coastguard Hibiscus for just over three years and am working towards my senior operational certification.  

I joined because I love the water and have been helped by Coastguard on a few occasions – I felt it was time to give back.

Winter has been relatively quiet for our crew with the wind not playing ball on most weekends. Lockdown exacerbated the situation by stopping all recreational boating which then meant implementing “crew bubbles” to take us through Level 4 restrictions.  

The Government’s decision to relax the rules on boating meant we had to pivot quickly into having crews available during the day as well as evening to ensure we were prepared for every eventuality.  

It certainly went from 0 to 100 quite quickly as boaties took advantage of the more relaxed restrictions under Level 3 Step 1!  The pager started going off and has not stopped since.

Safety is paramount of course, and Covid certainly has changed the way we do things. A recent job comes to mind – we were tasked to a small runabout that needed either a jumpstart or a tow from Rangitoto lighthouse back to Caster Bay. Simple enough, so you would think!  However, this was our first tasking under the Level 3 Covid Safety Operating Procedures.  

What should have been a very simple task was made incredibly difficult by having to put on masks and gloves, try and communicate from a distance with masks on, and ultimately perform our first contactless jump start.  

We did not tie up to the vessel but rather a quick touch and go, as we passed the small jump pack to the vessel.  Two of the three people onboard did not have masks so we had to ask them to go to the other side of the 4m runabout while we transferred the jump pack. 

Coming into the summer months is a really good time to check your batteries, get your engine serviced and ensure all your safety gear is up to date. 

Two forms of communications is key, along with suitable clothing as weather can change in an instant. 

Another reminder is to always take a mask with you when you go out – this will make our job much easier and safer if we ever have to assist you.