Then Mr Buell spies a jetskier travelling too close to a boat and a boatie going more than five knots near a kayaker. Both men are given friendly reminders.
This summer most people have worn lifejackets and most boaties have headed out with the appropriate safety gear on board, Mr Buell says: "Although it would be much better if everyone wore their lifejacket rather than sitting on them.
"Some people happily tell me their lifejacket is stored in the bow of their boat. But if anything untoward happened, they wouldn't get to it in time."
Most people out on the harbour have been "quite compliant".
"But our biggest issue is jetskiers going way too fast, exceeding the five-knot speed limit within 200 metres of shore or driving too close to other people in the water. Unfortunately we have been getting several complaints about this a week ... "
Some people are issued Harbour Master warning notices, others receive $200 infringements depending on the severity of the breach.
On Monday, a Mount Maunganui man riding a jetski with his daughter on the back is stopped for going 10-15 knots as he heads away from Pilot Bay boat ramp.
Mr Clark takes his details, and tells him he will receive a warning notice. If caught again it will become "expensive".
Another jetskier near Matakana Island receives a warning for riding outside the designated ski access lane and not going in an anti-clockwise direction.
It is quite easy to tell if people are exceeding the speed limit, Mr Clark says: "People should be going about [9km/h] or a fast walking pace."
Several water-safety incidents in the Bay this summer have involved vessels flipping, but with no serious injuries suffered, Mr Buell says.
"We have had six or seven incidents ... no one died because everybody was wearing lifejackets. Overwhelmingly that is the key message we want to get out there and urge people to do the right thing.
"If we can just tighten up compliance that last little bit we might have a summer where we don't lose anybody."
Mr Clark has been doing this job for five years, and 98 per cent of people seem to be getting the message, but he says the rest need to ditch the "she'll be right" attitude.
"In that time, I have been involved in three body recoveries. If two of those people had been wearing lifejackets they would be alive today."
Mr Buell's mission is to make lifejacket use as commonplace as wearing seatbelts in cars. He will recommend that the wearing of lifejackets is made compulsory in boats under six metres, as in Auckland.
