Coastguard – Ship shape for summer

It has been a mild winter, and we are now seeing some of those gorgeous days where the wind and sun plays ball, and the boaties are certainly making the most of it. We missed out on a significant portion of summer last year with Hibiscus Rescue One being out of service until April this year, so we were very reliant on bailment boats from Coastguard New Zealand.  It’s not the same as having your own vessel so we are extremely happy to have her back for the summer period servicing the Hauraki Gulf and beyond.

Our Coastguard Hibiscus crew has used the winter period getting refamiliarised with the vessel and preparing ourselves for the busy season.  Significant hours are spent by our volunteers in making sure that they are up to the task no matter what the weather is as normally those jobs come in the weather that we would rather be tucked up at home. So if you see us out there in the heavy weather, we are ensuring that we are fit for purpose and can assist in any weather (well almost any weather).

It always blows my mind how dedicated and loyal our volunteers are.  

When I was writing this, I thought to myself it would be interesting to add up the tenure of our whole current crew.  We currently have 32 active crew from Deckhand through to Skipper and have a total of 250 years of service with Coastguard Hibiscus, which is amazing and shows the dedication and the passion to the cause.  We do it because we love it.

It’s time to get ready for summer and a lot of boats have sat in driveways over the last nine months and it is imperative to make sure it is in ship shape. For petrol-powered craft, one of the things to consider if you are not using your boat for a while is the condition of the fuel. Petrol deteriorates quickly, becoming ‘stale’ after just a few weeks. Petrol is a complex mixture of different components, each with specific properties that contribute to its performance. These components evaporate at different rates, adversely affecting the way the fuel performs over time. Problems with stale fuel are especially common at the beginning of a new boating season, when the boat is used for the first time in months. If the fuel in the tank is old, you can expect trouble. In most cases, the effects are minor: the engine refuses to start or run properly and the voyage is aborted before any damage is done. Sometimes, though, degraded fuel can cause more serious problems requiring costly engine and fuel system repairs, or else result in breakdowns at sea. 

Batteries also, if not maintained, can cause issues. Whilst a quick jumpstart can resolve the issue, it is extremely important to maintain your batteries over times of non use. There are some great products out there that maintain your batteries while not in use. This extends the lifecycle of a battery as well as keeping costly replacements to a minimum.

Stay safe, ensure your boat is prepared and enjoy what I hope will be a very long summer.

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Our volunteers

Coastguard Hibiscus has just celebrated four volunteers this year who have a total tenure of 55 years of service between them. 

Reg Werner – 20 years service. He is the head of Maintenance team, one of our dedicated skippers and oversaw the rebuild and refit of our rescue vessel last year.  

Ian Robertson – 15 years service.Ian is also a dedicated skipper who is hugely knowledgeable and passes this knowledge on to our crew, especially night time training using our systems and lights to navigate at night. 

Dan McGowan – 10 years service. Another dedicated skipper, Dan was previously president of our unit so has added his skillset on and off the water. 

Dave Tilley – 10 years service. The newest dedicated skipper in our unit. Dave was also previously the Crew Chief for our unit and currently holds the Safety Officer role so adds huge value on and off the water.