Henry van Tuel has been with Coastguard Hawke's Bay since November 2007. He had previously spent six years with Coastguard Wellington from 1991 to 1999. He crews on rescue missions as well as working with the incident management team where he helps plan local searches and is currently the vice president of Coastguard New Zealand. He loves the sea, and being personally challenged to improve and is a great believer in doing something to support the local community. "Coastguard helps me to do all that and more while crewing with a great bunch of people in a great part of New Zealand - who could ask for more?" We put five questions to Mr van Tuel about the service.
1 Does the Hawke's Bay coastline have any unique and potentially challenging aspects for boaties?
There are three factors in particular which make Hawke's Bay a potentially challenging area for boaties. The coastline has very few safe havens should the weather turn, a number of popular fishing spots are well off shore and finally the size of the bay means that boaties who are travelling from say Auckland to Wellington are well off shore should they get into difficulties. We would average one or two tows a year from 40 nautical miles offshore.
2 What are the main rules of safety for people taking to the sea?
Coastguard supports five simple safety rules (1) Skipper Responsibility - the skipper is responsible for the safety of everyone on board and the safe operation of the boat so stay within the limits of your boat and your experience (2) Communications - Take two separate waterproof ways of communicating so we can help if you get into difficulties (3) Life jackets - wearing a lifejacket increases your survival time in the water (4) Marine Weather - The marine weather can be highly unpredictable, check the marine forecast before you go. Local marine forecasts are broadcast continually on vhf channel 21 (5) Avoid alcohol - safe boating and alcohol do not mix.
