“No one has ever drowned between the flags,” Ed Steenbergen simply says, just two weeks before he and 34 others will start patrolling Tahunanui Beach for summer.
Ed, who was named Lifeguard of the Year at the 2013 South Island regional Surf Life Saving Awards of Excellence earlier this year, is proud to say his club is in a good place right now. Volunteer numbers are at an all-time high and they’ve just acquired a new site at the beach which will include a first aid room, lunch room and space to put rescue equipment.
The Nelson Surf Life Saving Club recently moved into the new premises across the Tahunanui Beach car park. The building was previously vacated by the police. “Ideally we’d like to be on that side of the car park,” he says, pointing at the beach. “But this is the closest to it.”
Currently there are 35 volunteer lifeguards with another six in training. The ages range from 14 to 45 and the reason for the strong numbers can be put down to the new nipper programme for children up to 13 years old. There are 60 kids involved in that programme.
“We only had ten members four years ago.”
Ten lifeguards have pagers that are linked to the police and can be on call at any time of the week.
Ed says Tahunanui Beach “looks nice and safe” but there are still dangers, including water currents and wind. “Most of our rescues are of kite surfers who get blown or sucked out into Tasman Bay. It’s a reasonably safe place but you only need an inch of water to drown in so it doesn’t take much to create an emergency.”
Injuries needing first aid, such as cut feet, is also a common occurrence, along with the odd-tsunami warning.
