2011_SLSNZ_SurfRescueMag
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3<br />
from the editor’s desk<br />
Somewhere between it snowing in downtown Auckland and<br />
Stephen Donald helping the All Blacks win the Rugby World Cup, I<br />
decided to add another highly unlikely scenario. My resolution? To<br />
get fit, get motivated and join a surf club.<br />
I’m sure you’ll all agree that one out of three ain’t bad, especially<br />
if it’s the latter and I’m proud to say I’m now a qualified surf<br />
lifeguard. A few of you, however, made thinly veiled comments like<br />
“took your bloody time, didn’t you?” – to which the only response<br />
was, yep, guilty as charged.<br />
It’s been five years since I first started covering sports events for<br />
Surf Life Saving New Zealand, half a decade hanging out at the<br />
beach watching inspirational athletes. Heck, I’ve even watched<br />
the boaties too (just kidding, you lot). My one regret is that I didn’t<br />
find the movement earlier, growing up on a farm in land-locked<br />
Matamata.<br />
The ocean has always held a deep resonance for me but I never<br />
made the mental leap and realised just how much surf lifesaving<br />
could offer. Well, you’ve got me now. When I passed my surf<br />
award, along with a couple of dozen super keen fellow clubbies<br />
one cold afternoon at Papamoa, a sense of belonging settled over<br />
me. In it for Life, indeed.<br />
There will be tough times. The next day at Papamoa, for example,<br />
a tide of putrid tar washed up on the pristine shore (see Rena<br />
feature on page 8) but surf lifesaving in this country has 100 years<br />
of resilience and resolve to call on.<br />
Above all, the movement is brimming with intelligent, warmhearted<br />
folk with a strong sense of public service, everywhere from<br />
the keenest young nippers, right up to our interim chief executive<br />
(see page 7) and to our octogenarian patrollers (see page 39).<br />
The good folk of Sumner know better than anyone there’s more to<br />
a surf lifesaving club than mere bricks and mortar, as you’ll see in<br />
our story on page 30. The devastating earthquake in the Garden<br />
City in February, five months after the initial 7.1-magnitude tremor,<br />
left their clubhouse in the lurch, in every way you can think of.<br />
Did Sumner clubbies buckle with their building? Not on your<br />
life – with a little help from some Gizzy cuzzies, members are<br />
determined to come back stronger and celebrate their own<br />
centenary this season. And speaking of Gizzy cuzzies, we’ve<br />
found some awesome Maori leaders spreading the surf lifesaving<br />
gospel up in Tolaga Bay – read about their innovative tactics on<br />
page 24.<br />
This edition of Surf Rescue is about the people with surf lifesaving<br />
tattooed on their soul, who live and breathe and love in yellow<br />
and red shades every day. Forget brands or buildings or boats or<br />
beaches – those members are our most important resource.<br />
I hope you enjoy their stories.<br />
PHOTO: JOHN ROY<br />
JAMIE TROUGHTON<br />
EDITOR SURF RESCUE MAGAZINE