Big numbers took to the big cool seas without incident to escape the heat, although some swimmers were helped in after drifting away from the flags. Photo / Warren Buckland
The Waimarama Beach Day was another sizzling success yesterday.
Police said up to 5000 people were in and around the beach and events.
Waimarama Surf Life Saving Club lifeguards were kept busy assisting people to dry land, thanks to a channel parallel to shore that deepened as the tide came in.
People swimming back from the 1m surf were assisted by an IRB if they drifted too far south.
"It is nothing too major," club chairman and day-patrol captain Kim Nilsson said.
Lifeguards were being proactive for the club's biggest day of the year.
"We have flooded the area with lifeguards to try and prevent anything major from happening. It is good practice for us."
Patrols were regularly switched "otherwise they get bored" despite the 1m surf.
The busiest time for patrols was after the Miss Waimarama competition when "a mass exodus of cooked people" went for a swim.
The annual event kicked off in the morning with the HB Nissan Beach Dig competition for coloured prize tokens, closely followed by the Beds R Us Sandcastle Competition.
Tragedy was averted at the 7-and-under competition thanks to early judging, after a creation was trodden on. Delta Pedler of Christchurch won the senior competition with a shell-toothed crocodile.
The 13-and-over Dash for Cash drew the greatest number of competition entrants, easily won by 18-year-old Mason Emerson.
The race started with competitors prone and facing the opposite direction, surf life-saving-competition style.
"It was pretty busy," Mr Emerson said.
The 18-year-old winger has a contract with the Hawke's Bay Rugby Union and hopes to make the Magpies squad.
He spent his $100 prize on fish and chips for friends.
Police Sergeant Nigel Hurley said people's behaviour was fantastic for the "superbly organised" family event.
The only disappointment was people in residential areas of Waimarama not wearing helmets on quad bikes "after the scare of a couple of years ago".
In 2013, a drunken man seriously injured a 6-year-old girl when he crashed his overloaded quad bike at Waimarama.
"Hawke's Bay is one of the more aware regions on the issue but there is still room for improvement," Mr Hurley said.
