In February, beaches and waterways across the country began to receive rescue buoys, intended for beach-goers to be able to use if they spot someone in trouble in the water and no lifeguards are around.
Surf Life Saving Otago Southland club support leader Felix Cook said the buoy installed at St Kilda Beach had successfully been used in March.
‘‘A couple of people were in the water, one got in trouble, and then someone who just happened to be on land ... he yelled for someone else to ring 111 and he ran down, got into the water and got the person to float using the buoy.
‘‘Once [lifeguards] got here, someone was able to go out on a paddleboard, rescue both of them and bring them back in.’’
Mr Cook said the rescue was a textbook way to use the buoy.
Mr Cook said that if you spotted someone in trouble and you were up for it, either call police or get someone else to do so, get in the water with the buoy’s strap over your shoulder, swim out, hand it to the person to use as a flotation device and wait for help.
‘‘The real important thing is calling police beforehand ... if you swim out and nobody’s coming to help you, that’s a problem.’’
Swimming in the cold was hard; trying to swim with another person with you was even harder, he said.
While it would be great if people used them, it would be ideal if they never had to be used this winter.
Waters in the South were particularly frigid over winter, but the beaches still attracted quite a fair few cold-plungers and surfers.
His first suggestion for winter swimming was ‘‘don’t’’, but if you really wanted to head to the beach in winter ‘‘wear a well-insulated wetsuit, educate yourself on how to spot rip currents, pick a good spot and if it is blisteringly cold, reconsider getting in’’.
In Dunedin, there are public rescue buoys at Warrington, St Clair, St Kilda and Brighton Beaches.
They are bright yellow, and hang on poles with instructions attached.
