Coastguard Hawke's Bay

Coastguard Hawke's Bay Hawke's Bay Volunteer Coastguard provides marine search and rescue services for the Hawke's Bay regi

21/12/2025

Kia ora folks, once again we had a full on weekend. For us it started early with a request for assistance from a vessel about 12 km off the Port of Napier, then we were in action on Saturday when a vessel coming back from Pania Reef had issues.

On Sunday in addition to our usual training session where one of our trainee crew went through good old fashioned ''fixing our position with a hand bearing compass and paper chart, rather than relying on our electronics, he did well getting very close to our actual position, as well as developing a search plan and executing it, again his paper plan and vessel track were closely aligned.

Then in the afternoon we assisted a vessel return safely to Waimarama Beach. A big thanks to the Waimarama Surf Life Saving Team for their support.

Stay safe,

Henry, Coastguard Hawke's Bay

14/12/2025

Kia ora folks, what a magic day on the water this morning for our trainees, we were doing some tow training when a small pod of dolphins decided to visit.

Stay safe

Henry
Coastguard Hawke's Bay

09/12/2025

Kia ora folks, we last night we managed to keep up our new tradition of two assists in one day when received a call just before 10pm from a vessel that had broken down just of North Pania. A quick rum out and we had everyone back just before midnight.

Stay Safe,

Henry, Coastguard Hawke's Bay

09/12/2025

Kia ora folks, today we were back on the water assisting a vessel which had engine issues about 13.6 nautical miles, (25km) east of the Port of Napier. To help locate them we used a 'mobile locate' app, this involves sending the person a text and when they reply to the text, we are able to obtain the position of the phone.

Great to see everyone onboard had lifejackets and two forms of communication as well as Coastguard membership.

Stay safe.

Henry, Coastguard Hawke's Bay

On Sunday we were able to take a well-deserved break and celebrated at our Coastguard Christmas party. It was a fantasti...
09/12/2025

On Sunday we were able to take a well-deserved break and celebrated at our Coastguard Christmas party. It was a fantastic chance to bring our families down to base, share a meal, and thank those who support us behind the scenes so we can keep volunteering out on the water.

A big shout-out to the public who reported a possible fire at sea on Sunday and to the vessels that responded. Thankfully, it turned out to be a false alarm, but it’s always great to see everyone staying alert and ready to help.

Also thanks to Holly Bacon New Zealand for providing us with a Christmas ham. Much appreciated and very much enjoyed!

Hi AllIt's that time of the year again when we launch the summer lottery. This is one of our biggest funding drives to h...
04/12/2025

Hi All

It's that time of the year again when we launch the summer lottery. This is one of our biggest funding drives to help keep our organisation running, and we really appreciate all the support we receive from the community. We'll update you soon on when and where we will be out and about on the street, but if you want to get in early, scan our QR code to purchase a ticket.

01/12/2025

Kia ora folks, well our busy season continued today with two assists.

Our first assist was for a yacht with engine issues requiring assistance to get back into its marina berth. While undertaking the first assist we received a call from another vessel requiring assistance.
Once we had the yacht safe in its berth we left for Tangoio where we located the vessel withing 100m of the shore and very close to numerous rocks. Because of the swell and closeness of rocks rather than undertaking our usual towing practice of attaching to the vessel's towing eye we decided to tow them clear of the rocks before reattaching the tow to the towing eye.

Stay safe

Henry, Coastguard Hawke's Bay

30/11/2025

Kia ora folks, busy and interesting weekend. We had two assists on Saturday and then on Sunday just before training we watched a family of orca chasing stingrays in Pandora Pond, Inner Harbour.

Stay safe

Henry
Coastguard Hawke's Bay

16/11/2025

Kia ora folks, our busy period continues with an assist off Bayview on Friday, on that day during the assist the sea was very flat so it made the whole job quite straight forward.
Then on Sunday just before our regular training session we responded to a call from a vessel about 10 miles north of Napier. We took the opportunity to give one of our trainees an opportunity to attach a tow line in a real-life situation rather than training one. He did well, getting our towing hook in and then managing the letting out of the towline.

Stay safe

Henry, Coastguard Hawke's Bay

12/11/2025

Kia ora folks, today we received a call for assistance from a vessel which had mechanical issues about 15 miles north of Napier. A quick trip out and we soon had them undertow and on our way back to Napier.

For the majority of the tow, we put most of our 150m of towline out as it helps to stabilise the other vessel and then just before entering the channel we shorten it up considerably because of the narrowness of the channel. Our rear facing camera makes it ease for the helm to keep an eye on what is happening on the back deck.

Stay safe out there

Henry, Coastguard Hawke's Bay

09/11/2025

Kia ora folks, it was a fantastic weekend here in Hawke Bay with lots of people out on the water enjoying the weather. We also had quite a busy weekend with two tows on Saturday, training on Sunday and two tows on Sunday, one in particular was very challenging.

We received a call from a vessel which had recovered 4 people out of the water after their small boat had hit the wake of another boat, and had flipped. A huge thanks to Hayden and his mates for that recovery.

We were called to bring the people back to Napier and to recover their boat, if possible. We managed to right the boat, pump out most of the water and bring everyone back to Napier, where the people were checked by Hato Hone, St John officers.

Once again, a big thanks to Hayden and his crew for their quick reaction to the capsize and picking up the people.

Stay Safe

Henry, Coastguard Hawke's Bay

06/11/2025

Kia ora folks

Yesterday our busy start to the boating season continued when we had an assist off Whirinaki, when a small boat had issues and then today something completely different. A team from WildBase Recovery, Palmerston North had rehabilitated a giant petrel, and they needed to release it back into the wild.

As you can see on arrival at our Base the bird was eager to get out and then when we arrived at the release site, about 3 miles offshore it had changed its mind and turned its back to the cage door!

With just a little bit of encourage we got the bird out and into the sea. Once in the sea it took a while to acclimatise to the wide open spaces as it ahd been inside for more than a month and then sitting in a cage for the drive over from Palmerston north.

Stay safe

Henry, Coastguard Hawke's Bay

Address

704 Meeanee Quay
Napier
4110

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 1pm
Wednesday 9am - 1pm
Friday 9am - 1pm

Telephone

+6468341345

Website

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