Lifesavers save more this year, despite bad summer start

The tally of lives saved on New Zealand beaches this summer is now higher than the previous summer despite a slow start to the season.

Surf Lifesaving New Zealand said in a statement today 1738 lives have been saved since Labour Weekend in October with nearly a month of volunteer patrols still to go.

Last summer a total of 1709 people were saved.

Surf lifeguards have provided nearly 130,000 hours of beach patrols since the beginning of summer.

Surf Lifesaving New Zealand chief executive Geoff Barry said the organisation estimates that for every hour of patrol, there is another hour spent behind the scenes in training and administering the service.

This weekend 1600 lifesavers will travel to Mt Maunganui to take part in the New Zealand Community Trust Surf Life Saving Championships, held over four days.

- NZPA