Cameron Carpenter: Here's to the volunteers who see off tragedy

Cameron Carpenter says Piha Surf Life Saving Club members and St John volunteers saved his life. Picture / Nick Reed

The thought of something bad happening rarely crosses your mind when you're out enjoying something you love. But when you're out in the elements, a great day can be transformed into something from a horror movie in a heartbeat.

I have surfed at Piha for four years and never had any major scares in the water. But late last month, everything went horribly wrong.

After just over an hour in the water, my body suddenly cooled down. I tried to fight my way back to shore, but my strength was running low, and a rip was dragging me in circles.

The wetsuit I was wearing didn't keep me warm because it was more suited for summer temperatures, and I was forced to stay in the water much longer than I intended.

Hypothermia was setting in, and I couldn't even paddle properly because of the loss of co-ordination.

My mate noticed that I was in trouble and paddled over to help. He took off his legrope attached to the board and threw it to me so he could help drag me to an isolated bay. He swam back to the main beach to call for help.

It was getting dark and my body was in an intense state of shock. My speech was slurred and my thoughts were delayed. I was shivering badly, and whenever I tried to stand up, I lost my balance. I desperately needed help.

I escaped the wind by finding a small cave and buried myself in the sand to keep warm. Within the hour, my mate had walked around from the main beach and scaled the cliff to the bay where I was sitting. He couldn't believe the state I was in and gave me all his clothes to warm me up.

More help was on its way. We could see the lights from the Piha Surf Life Saving Club's IRB approaching.

Once they arrived at the bay, the volunteers from the club responded quickly to get us on the boat and back to the shore.

As soon as we arrived at Piha, St John volunteers were waiting with blankets. They measured my heartbeat which showed an irregular rhythm - a symptom of hypothermia. They slowly warmed me up in the ambulance to ensure my body went back to a normal temperature.

All of these rescue teams operated outside of regular club hours to save my life.

This piece goes out to them, and the hundreds of Kiwis who volunteer their time to assist with rescues across the country.

Most of them have a day job to put food on the plate for their families. But that doesn't stop them from giving their time, energy and experience to help with a rescue, and they don't ask for anything in return.

If it weren't for their response things could have been a lot worse for me.