They have saved 22,000 lives in the last 40 years, making New Zealand a world leader in a specialised form of preserving human life.
"They" are the humble IRBs (inflatable rescue boats) seen on beaches everywhere.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of one of New Zealand's strongest and most lasting partnerships, BP and Surf Life Saving New Zealand, and SLSNZ Rescue Assets Manager Dave Hickey has been there for almost all the IRBs' emergence in New Zealand as, literally, a life saver.
"It's been a game changer," says Hickey who has been involved with surf lifesaving for most of the BP partnership since 1968 and who became integrally involved when the first IRBs arrived at his Opunake Surf Club in 1979. "They have saved a lot of lives; I wouldn't like to think about the people who wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the IRBs and the people who man them."
In total, New Zealand's surf lifeguards have saved 55,000 people in those 50 years – and Hickey says IRBs are responsible for at least 50 per cent of all rescues these days.
"They are magnificent things. The beauty of them is that they are fully inflatable and fantastically manoeuvrable – so if you do bump into something, you are bumping into rubber, which is a better outcome than a jet ski or solid hull boat may provide.
"I love them – you could even say it has been an obsession."
If so, it has been a powerfully good obsession for New Zealand. Its usefulness was immediately shown when the first IRB was launched at Piha in 1978 – no sooner had it hit the water than it was rescuing a swimmer washed onto the rocks there.
Since those first days driving an IRB at Opunake, Hickey has become a New Zealand and world authority on the IRB, responsible for all 250 IRBs at work with surf lifesaving clubs round the country. For many of those 40 years, he sourced boats and engines for clubs, though these days most clubs do their own sourcing of IRBs and the 30hp Mercury outboards which power them.
Hickey, described by his workmates, as "Mr IRB", modestly rejects such a title: "I wouldn't say that; there were a couple of real pioneers before me."
He still teaches club members how to service the engines, repair hulls and a whole host of maintenance techniques which help preserve the life of the boats. He holds engine workshops all over New Zealand; he has lost count of the numbers he has trained how to service and maintain the engines – but agrees it must be in the thousands.
"When we started at Opunake, we were originally fundraising for a jet boat," says Hickey. "But after the trials at Piha, we realised that the money we had already raised was almost enough to buy an IRB – whereas the jet boat was way more expensive.
"I loved it from the beginning; they are a lot of fun and I got right into the sporting side of things, travelling to events in the Bay of Plenty and Auckland."
Surf lifesaving sports events are designed not just to tap into the New Zealand sporting psyche but to polish the skills of those using such essential lifesaving equipment.
A popular event is the IRB single rescue – where a club member sprints from the beach to the boat, launches it, races out through the waves to a marker offshore, "rescues" a patient there, races back to shore and sprints up the beach to the finish line.
Time taken – 45 seconds.
That, says Hickey, shows you just how adept Kiwi lifeguards have become at using this spectacularly efficient tool – and why so many other countries follow New Zealand's lead in their use.
If you needed any further persuasion, look no further than the BP Rescue Of The Month from July last year when, about midnight during a storm and flooding, seven St Kilda Surf Club members responded to 111 calls from nine people trapped on the roof of an SUV near the swollen Taieri river.
Even with two IRBs, the lifeguards could get no closer than 500m from the stranded people in the dangerously swirling waters. A normally small creek had become a raging torrent – and an alternative launching point for the rescue had to be found.
However, because the rain and waters had washed out sections of road, the rescuers had to make a 40-minute round trip. At the new launch site, communications were impaired, making the rescue even harder – and the vehicle had been swept down the river and dangerously into a large stand of poplar trees and a fence.
One IRB took the plunge, plucking two passengers at a time off the roof of the stranded SUV. One person was swept away but was intercepted and towed against the current by a rescue swimmer who reached the IRB with his patient intact.
The official SLSNZ description of the rescue is made even more sobering by the unemotional language used: "Every single victim was successfully rescued and returned to a place of safety but, without the direct intervention of the Otago IRB callout squad, surf lifesavers and other emergency services, it is highly likely that these people would have drowned."
Media coverage made the danger even clearer when police said those rescued had been drinking and were suffering from hypothermia after ignoring calls to stay off the roads.
The nimbleness of the IRBs meant a multi-tragedy was averted. As Dave Hickey says: "They are a fantastic tool; the IRBs – and lifeguards' rescue tubes – have totally changed lifesaving."
BP NZ Managing Director Debi Boffa says: "Surf Life Saving New Zealand is an amazing organisation which educates people to stay safe on our beaches as well as help save the lives of thousands of people every year. We are incredibly proud to have partnered with this amazing organisation for 50 years – that's a pretty unique thing to be able to say."