

https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK2511/S00423/prevention-the-key-to-safety-on-beaches-this-weekend.htm

Prevention The Key To Safety On Beaches This Weekend

Monday, 17 November 2025, 4:01 pm
Press Release: Surf Life Saving New Zealand

Bethells Beach SLSP rock training Nov25. Photo/Supplied.

Surf lifeguards patrolling this weekend (Saturday 15 and Sunday 16 November) worked 3,930 hours to keep beach-goers safe around the Aotearoa. On patrolled beaches, 284 preventative actions were performed, and the estimated peak-time headcount was 5,799.

Three rescues were performed, all in the northern region of the country, and Search and Rescue (SAR) teams were involved in four searches.

Surf Life Saving’s paid lifeguard service begins patrolling on weekdays starting from today at Piha and Muriwai; then at Raglan from next Monday 23 November. This weekday lifeguard service continues to roll out around the country between now and 15 December. Beachgoers can use Safe Swim to check if a beach is patrolled by lifeguards.

The weekend’s operations included:

Lifeguards in Raglan completed a tube rescue for two swimmers just outside the flags.
Bethells Beach Surf Life Saving completed their in-house rock training module on Saturday which trains lifeguards to navigate on and around rocks. Late Sunday evening Lifeguards from Bethells Beach responded to Lake Wainamu to assist Ambulance with a person who had sustained injuries sand boarding. [photo attached]
The west coast of Auckland had very difficult conditions all weekend, with Piha lifeguards closing the flagged area on Saturday, flying the red “Danger Flag”, and running an observational-only patrol (with proactive lifeguarding and multiple preventative actions). The banks at Piha continue to create challenging conditions, with numerous rip currents and holes across the beach. These challenging conditions continued on Sunday.
In Northland, seven Ruakaka lifeguards (in two IRBs and one RWC) were involved in an extensive ongoing search for one person missing from a fishing boat near Whangarei Heads.
Whanganui’s SAR team were activated in response to a person in distress at Castlecliff, and were stood down upon at the beach as an off-duty lifeguard had successfully rescued the person.

Aggregated patrol statistics:

Stat	National	Northern	Eastern	Central	Southern
No. of rescues performed	3	3	0	0	0
No. of people assisted	9	4	3	0	2
No. of major first aids	0	0	0	0	0
No. of minor first aids	19	9	8	0	2
No. of searches	4	1	0	0	3
No. of preventative actions (PAs)	284	147	60	9	68
No. of people involved in PAs	3341	1201	894	549	697
No. of peak head count	5799	1726	2286	749	1038
No. of hours worked	3930	1641	744	326	1219

Surf Life Saving New Zealand regions:

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