Coastguard Northern Region Units have received awards at the organisation’s annual awards held at the Auckland Marine Rescue Centre last week. Raglan Coastguard won Coastguard Northern Region Unit of the Year Award. Wally Hawken and Kevin Dreaver received individual awards.
The award categories are:
- Wally Hawken from Raglan Coastguard won the Dr. John Taylor Memorial Award for Volunteer of the Year.
- Kevin Dreaver from Raglan Coastguard won the Giltrap VW Award for Rescue Vessel Volunteer of the Year.
- Raglan Coastguard won Coastguard Northern Region Unit of the Year Award.
“All this year’s award winners and every one of our volunteers uphold the Coastguard Northern Region vision to keep everybody safe on the water. We save lives through rescue, education, communication and example. We honour our award winners for going above and beyond to provide vital assistance”.
Coastguard Northern Region is made up of 32 vessels. It has over 1,030 dedicated volunteers who risk their lives to save others on our waterways. This year Coastguard Northern Region’s volunteers dedicated 131,052 hours to saving lives. They brought 4,865 people home to safety, answered 124,516 radio calls seeing a response to 2,334 calls for assistance and providing thousands more with safety information to enjoy their boating safely.
Coastguard volunteer crews from Coastguard Auckland, Coastguard Waiheke, Coastguard Maraetai, Coastguard Howick and Coastguard North Shore Units were all recipients of the rescue award, presented to acknowledge their professionalism, team work, quality of response and observation and search techniques during a significant incident where without their dedication the outcome could have been very different.
They were involved in a high-stakes rescue operation in July 2012, in which a fisherman became stranded in a 14 foot alloy open dinghy in increasingly treacherous conditions. Over 40 volunteers played a role in the rescue which also resulted in Coastguard’s Communications team being commended for the vital role they played.
As the volunteer crews were preparing to return to their respective bases following a long day on the water they received the call from Coastguard’s Operations Centre to commence a search for the missing person. The weather conditions were treacherous and meant air support wasn’t available to them with poor visibility in the dark, pouring rain hindered further by the extreme cold.
Shortly after 7pm Maraetai Rescue were called to pick up a green chilly bin found South East of Motuihe Island on the Hauraki Gulf. Quick thinking Coastguard volunteers put two and two together and the missing man’s family identified the chilly bin as being his. “This became a vital piece of the puzzle and a “life-saving initiative”, says Ray Burge, Operations Manager.
David Tommas Coastguard Northern Region CEO says, “This rescue is an example of our exceptional and highly-skilled crews working cohesively together with other rescue personnel to bring someone in trouble home to their loved ones.
“The team work, professionalism and dedication shown in this rescue is outstanding. The lessons to learn from this near-fatal accident are always take reliable communications that work when wet, and always wear a life jacket. Don’t go out in bad weather and always give your intended whereabouts to loved ones on land.