Canterbury & Kaikoura Volunteers win Coastguard National Volunteer Awards
All winners L-R Alan Murgatroyd, Peter Garnett, Alex Moore, Rachel Mckenzie, Murray Paul, Cliff Hodgman, Richard Craig, Neroli Gold, John McPhail
Rachel McKenzie from Coastguard Canterbury has received the Volunteer of the Year Award, Murray Paul of Coastguard Kaikoura was awarded the Rescue Vessel Volunteer of the Year, and the exceptional performance of Coastguard Kaikoura earned the unit the Rescue of the Year Award.
Six awards in total were awarded to individuals and Coastguard units whose contributions to the organisaiton were recognised, as the New Zealand Coastguard community came togeather to honour the year’s achievements.
Rachel has been involved in Coastguard for more than 17 years. During this time, she has held a number of positions within her unit including Safety Officer, Training Officer, Senior Skipper and Police Marine SAR Advisor. She is also an active board member for Coastguard Canterbury.
Murray has been involved in Coastguard for more than five years. According to his team, Murrayis a willing and enthusiastic participant in all Coastguard activities. In the past yea this has involved a number of difficult rescues, including the rescue awarded ‘Rescue of the Year’, and also included overseeing the rebuild of the Coastguard Kaikoura premises.
The Coastguard Kaikoura team was presented with their award for their response and contribution to an incident of the Kaikoura coast. They played a pivotal role in saving the lives of the crew on a 10m yacht Marguerite which was sailing from the Marlborough Sounds en route to Lyttelton when it hit what is thought to have been a whale. Injuring two of the crew and seriously damaging the rudder, the boat was immobilised and heavey seas swaming the yacht disables the electronics. The crew spent an uncomfortable night out in open seas before Coastguard Kaioura were tasked with one of their toughest rescues to date, battling breaking swells up to five metres and high winds. Located 30km off shore, the frightening conditions mad the transfer of the yachties to the rescue vessel difficult but all were safely brought to shore.
Coastguard New Zealand CEO Bruce Reid says, “Coastguard survives and thrives thanks to the dedicaiton of volunteers like Rache, Murray and the Coastguard Kaikoura team. We are pleased to be able to honour those outstanding individuals who make it all possible with these awards.”
Coastguard is New Zealand’s primary marine search and rescue services. It is made up of highly-trained volunteers who put themselves in harms way on a regular basis to ensure the safety of people at sea. Earlier this year, Coastguard celebrated its highest ever number of annual volunteer hours, with more than 330,000 hours donated by 2,100 professional volunteers across New Zealand.
“This year’s award winners have all shown outstanding service to Coastguard and their local communities, and our sincere thanks goes out to those volunteers for their commitment to saving lieves at sea,” says Reid.
