Hello fellow Wellington Volunteer Coastguard members,
This is quick newsletter to let you know what’s happening with the Coastguard.
Welcome to…
Elaine Chambers who has taken over from Chris Reid as the Unit Training Officer. If you have any suggestions, comments or offers to help, please leave Elaine an appropriate note at the base.
There is more about the training further in the newsletter but I want to thank Chris for all the training that he arranged during the year. Putting your hand up to help is vitally important to the success of the organisation and Chris’ help has been great.
Building
We’ve installed some plywood paneling under the mezzanine landing, with the steps to be done next. After that, there is some painting and refurbishment of the lower walls. Thanks to Brent Sarten and his crew for the woodwork and the design work.
We discovered a leak in the hot water cylinder (installed in 1971 and it was old then) and we needed to replace it. Huge thanks go to Vicki Rowland who called in a lot of favours and arranged for a new one. A big job but now we have hot water for the showers and the kitchen – all pretty necessary.
The police have been keeping an eye on the base as far as taggers go, and so far we’ve been spared their attention. However, please keep an eye out for these people and call the police if you see any suspicious activity around the base.
Fuel
The fuel committee (John Schuyt, Jim Baltaxe and Alan Hartfield) have worked incredibly hard ensuring we manage our fuel, liaising with the supplier and the maintenance people to keep us on the water. Keeping up with the variations in demand is tough and their work is gratefully acknowledged. We still have to raise every cent for every litre of fuel we use and that’s getting to be more expensive all the time.
I’d also like to acknowledge Lion Foundation who generously made a grant to help cover training fuel costs, which enables us to focus on what is important – training to help those in need and learning how to do it right.
Spirit of Wellington
Spirit is expecting brand new motors. With the help of the Lotteries Grants Board (see, buying those tickets is worthwhile), we are about to become the proud owners of two Suzuki 300 hp motors, to replace the current Yamahas. Our policy is to replace our motors as they come out of warranty and it is time to do so. We expect this to happen early in April and are looking forward to the improvement in power and handling that this will give us.
Spirit is nearly eleven years old now and she is due for a facelift. Pat Collins and Garry Blue are working hard on putting together a refurbishment program for Spirit and once that is finalized, we will be looking at finances to get her repainted and 'spruced up' so that she can continue to serve the Coastguard and the community as she has done up to now.
Coastguard Rescue 2
CR2 is on the water and is better than new. She has new outers and the motors are tuned and she handles better than ever. CR2 is an important part of what we do, enabling us to get close in to shore if necessary and helps us cover the harbour so that we can get to those in need whenever it is necessary.
Many thanks to the people who worked hard to ensure that she is as good as she is. This is never a small job and it is due to their skill and perseverance that this is done. The list is long but Dave Collins worked especially hard to make her right.
Training March 2008
Welcome to the 2008 training newsletter.
First up – we have a new Unit Training Officer; Elaine Chambers replaces Chris Reid and before that Graham Weakley. Her responsibility is to ensure training happens, arranges sessions, times, tutors etc and also to ensure the records are up to date. She is the first contact for all training matters and reports to the Ops controller.
The current training diary runs through to June 2008 and we intend to be issuing the next version in early May.
One thing that has happened in the region is that units in the Wellington cluster (us, Mana and Kapiti) have banded together to synchronize the training so if you miss a session here it will be run shortly after in one of the other units. Elaine will publish their schedules. Remember it’s only the SAR session you can do this for as the CRV or local sessions are for only the unit.
Senior Modules – We note a lot of crew have been attending senior modules before they have completed their Operational CRV Cert. We're keen to encourage those of you who want to learn, however we'd ask you to bear in mind that you cannot start any of the senior practicals until you have fully completed the Operational CRV Cert.
Which brings us to Practicals – we notice that a good number of crew have completed the theory for a lot of modules but not the practicals. It should happen that you complete them with your Skippers on a duty day, though in practice this has not worked. As a result of this we are calling 2008 the year of the practical. We are planning to utilize the Thursday night sessions that David Stuart has been running for Operational Crew Cert Practicals.
Looking at the list we have:
Observation Techniques; Victim Recovery; CRV Handling; Man Overboard; Towing – Picking up tows; Towing – Barging
Note: Towing has been split into two sessions as it is a big topic and is of course our core business.
Elaine will advertise when we are running these, but places will be limited as most sessions will be at sea in one or both of our boats.
Things to remember - You cannot sign up for a practical without having done the theory for the session. You will need to refresh yourself with the notes as each session will start with a quick quiz.
At this stage we will be focusing on the Op Crew Cert Practicals. The Senior Op Crew Cert Practicals will start a little later in the year to allow you time to put the theory into practice on crew days before you are formally assessed.
For any further information, contact Elaine on 021 592 921 or via the Contact Page (Select 'Crew Training' as the category).
Items of interest
A special thanks goes to Interislander who help us with generous sponsorship. We are working with the ferry crews and management with their training and we are grateful for their support.
Also for the efforts made by Janet Foster in managing the membership and communications. Hugely appreciated.
As I mentioned last time, Lew Robinson was in Sweden presenting his discussion papers to the International Marine Rescue Federation congress. He was successful in gaining a lot of interest in them holding their congress in Wellington in 2015 and we are looking forward to this happening. It will be a big thing for both the Coastguard and the city.
Another thing that was organised by Lew was the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Italian Coastguard and the New Zealand Coastguard. This promotes understanding and cooperation between the two countries in the area of maritime search and rescue and is a great thing to be part of. It was signed at the Italian Embassy in Wellington by the presidents of the two organisations, and was witnessed by the Italian Ambassador and the Deputy Mayor of Wellington, among others.
Other items were the arrival of the new tugboat and the Queen Victoria. We were involved in both these events and the community has seen the value that we provide.
A special mention should be made of ACME Engineering who helped us out so well over the New Year period when we had trouble with the winch. Their ideas and skill got it repaired and running when most of the city had shut down for the holidays. Thanks also to Liam Sampson who helped out with the very dirty job.
Reminders
Two reminders – the first is that 10 April 2008 will mark the 40th anniversary of the sinking of the "Wahine", which means that the Wellington Volunteer Coastguard (formerly Wellington Sea Rescue Service, Inc) will also be 40. The second is that Coastguard New Zealand will be holding the national conference and AGM in Wellington in September and we will be using that opportunity to promote our services through open days and displays, and we’ll be looking at a street day then to help raise some money. All offers of help and ideas will be gratefully accepted.
As said last time - thanks to all the people who have contributed by putting constructive ideas onto paper like we asked. It is great to get these ideas on paper so that we can track them and, where necessary, cost them (both money and resources). Now we need a few more people to put their hands up to get some of this work done. Remember, you can make things happen too. Just run it by the committee members first.
The Management Committee
President
Terry Sampson
Past President
Dave Collins
Vice President
John Schuyt
Treasurer
Lisa Vining / Eileen Taber
Secretary
Lynne Edmonson
Membership
Janet Foster
Fuel
John Schuyt
Ops Controller
Pat Collins / Garry Blue
Funding
Vicki Rowland
Vessels
Ian Burns
Coastguard Central Region Rep
John J. Weiss Jr.
Keep in contact and I look forward to seeing you at the base.
Terry Sampson
Wellington Volunteer Coastguard