Community-funded water safety programme teaches families to respect the ocean.
With miles of beautiful coastline in our backyard, it’s easy to forget how dangerous the ocean can be.
But a group of Arataki locals have come together to teach children how to enjoy their backyards safely.
“We’ve had a lot of drownings this summer,” Arataki resident Diane Bennett said.
“We’ve got the surf at our back door and kids need to know and respect the surf, how to be safe in it. Especially for our Māori kids, it’s just in their blood to get out in that moana.”
Getting kids to hang out on beaches is better than letting them roam the streets.
“The first year was funded by the Sport Bay of Plenty and Keep Arataki Safe funds and this year we’ve been lucky enough to receive funding from the New Zealand Community Trust,” Marie said.
“We subsidise the fees and make it a really reduced price so our whānau can attend the programme.”
The Arataki Boardriders programme gets kids water-smart.
The Arataki Junior Boardriders programme is taught by local surf coach Joe Swaine.
“We could see Arataki was growing. There were a lot of families that were trying to go to the beach but there were stories coming out of people getting into difficulty. It snowballed through that,” he said.
“Normally on a surf lesson you’d learn in one spot but what we’ve always tried to do is let the kids learn in different areas, learn visual markers and clues if they’re in a rip or a dangerous zone.
“The stories that come back from these kids, that they’ve stopped another family going in because they can feel the pull… brilliant.”
Parents say their children come out of the programme better equipped to deal with the ocean’s ever-changing conditions.
“With Mount Maunganui being a peninsula with the harbour on one side and the beach on the other, I think it’s really important to know water safety,” Matapihi resident Brooke Williams said.
“Be aware of the rips and what to do if you are ever caught in that situation.”
Pāpāmoa resident Arna Taani said surfing lessons were “a little bit out of our budget” but the fact that son Blake gets this opportunity “has been amazing and now he wants to be a pro surfer”.
Arna’s 8-year-old son Blake has already become a stronger swimmer.
“I’m not that scared of big waves anymore,” he said. “Because I know I can just ride over them when I have the board but I’m still a little bit scared of crabs though.”
Diane’s daughter, Summer Bennett, said it’s not just the children that benefit from these lessons.
“These types of programmes are really important because there are a lot of parents out there who don’t know how to swim. There are kids out there that love the water, love bombing off the wharf and stuff like that but they only really doggy-paddle back.
“When we have incidents that happen all the time out here, we need to make sure that our kids understand water safety and how to swim from a really young age. "
