KEY POINTS:
While many in the marine industry, and the hundreds of people to whom he has sold boats, will know Adam Wickes as the easy-going sales manager of Rayglass Boats, there is another, far more serious and exciting side to this dedicated boater.
For the past 25 years, the
affable 40-year-old has been a committed member of Coastguard, regularly spending around 35 hours a month either out on the water or on shore in a supervisory role.
Adam first became interested in the Coastguard when he was just 14. Sitting on his father's launch in Islington Bay, he was listening to a discussion between his father, Roger, and a nearby Coastguard cutter when the cutter received a call: a boat was in trouble and needing help.
As his father's Pelin launch was faster than the Coastguard boat, they decided to use it to respond to the incident. Roger and the Coastguard team raced away to the rescue, leaving a disappointed young Adam behind.
"I still remember that to this day," he says. It proved to be a defining moment for father and son. Roger Wickes joined the Coastguard cutter group shortly after (and is still an active member) and Adam became a regular member of his crew. The two have just been honoured by the Coastguard for their combined 57 years of service.
Not long after that first incident, Adam sat and passed his Boatmaster certificate and was soon in demand as crew on his father's boat and several others in the search and rescue fleet.
Until the 1990s, the Coastguard search and rescue was entirely made up of members who supplied and skippered their own boats. However, pressure of work was making it harder and harder for many of those owners to dedicate the time needed and so a change was introduced allowing qualified members, other than the owner, to skipper some of the boats.
Adam was skippering all sorts of boats and he continued doing so until the Coastguard decided to buy their own dedicated rescue vessels. Once again, Adam was prominent in the setting the crew standards for these boats and overseeing their fit-outs.
Now a senior master, Adam says he still gets a thrill out of heading out on a rescue mission in conditions that would have most boaters shaking in their sea boots.
The fact that he has successfully completed rescues for so many years is recognised in the long list of awards he has received including, in 2001, Coastguard's coveted Skipper of the Year Trophy. He has just been made a life member of Coastguard.
His love of excitement saw Adam join the late Ginger Gibbs on last year's record-breaking run from Sydney Harbour Bridge to Auckland Harbour Bridge in a 12m Protector. Adam was also instrumental in helping organise and crewing on the successful Round New Zealand record-breaking run, on the same boat. Ginger had being planning the trip before his untimely death earlier this year.
The Protector used for these record-breaking runs is an RIB manufactured by Adam's employer, Rayglass Boats, a company that also has a strong relationship with Coastguard and safe boating.
"While most of my time with Coastguard is on weekends or after work, occasionally an emergency call will come through while I am at work.
"Tony (Hembrow, Rayglass managing director) is unbelievably supportive. There is never any problem with me having to race away to help with a rescue, but it goes much deeper than that: three other Rayglass staff members are also on the Coastguard search and rescue team and Rayglass is also a strong sponsor and supporter of the Coastguard."
While the Coastguard has been keen to honour Adam for his past work, he is focused on the future.
Most of us are happy to be safely shoreside but Adam is ready to answer the phone, signalling the need for another rescue and burst of excitement for Coastguard's "Mr Adrenalin".