Gary Butt and Mary Watkins (the Tokerau Beachboys) have managed to obtain a floating wheelchair for the Far North, which they say will be especially valuable at Have a Go and school surf days for the disabled and handicapped.
"We are taking the dis out of disable and making it possible for anyone to be able to do water sports with the aid of volunteers and good, safe equipment," Mary said.
"We worked with these types of chairs in Hawaii, with a group called KORE, and saw how easy it was to manoeuvre heavier adults and children from the beach to the water without hurting your back or straining too much. We were able to get quadriplegics, tetraplegics and other severely handicapped people into the water with ease.
"We were the first to introduce this particular chair into New Zealand with the help of funding from the Halberg Sport Disability Foundation. We now have more than six chairs scattered throughout New Zealand, from the Far North to Dunedin."
The chair had proved very useful at last month's Kaitaia College surf day at Te Kohanga, she added, the idea being to make it available to all who might use it and for water sports days.
