MEDIA RELEASE 19 JANUARY 2015
New Piha Rescue Boat Launches on Saturday
AUCKLAND, NZ. Piha Surf Life Saving Club (PSLSC) welcomes its latest IRB fleet addition with the launch of a new vessel gifted by the
Western District Freemasons.
Piha SLSC logged over 165 major incidents with 57 people rescued along with over 12,000 preventative incidents in last
summer’s season according to Piha Patrol statistics. IRB’s are essential to carry out this work and the donation of the
latest vessel will greatly enhance the ability for the Club to save lives.
The Patrol Stats make interesting reading at Piha for last summer where over 75% of the incidents involve people from
the greater Auckland region and nearly 20% are tourists from overseas.
Although Piha SLSC has been made famous worldwide with the reality TV series “Piha Rescue”, the club relies on donations
from organisations and individuals so it can continue to save lives at this wild beach.
“Our IRB fleet is heavily used and needs refreshing often. We can’t save lives with unreliable old equipment so this
donation of a new IRB from the Freemasons is gratefully received”, says Peter Brown, President of the Piha SLSC, “this
new IRB will save many lives over its expected 5 year lifetime and it’s a great new association we have with the
Freemasons of Auckland”.
Piha has pedigree in Auckland as one of the first Surf Lifesaving Clubs in the district and is the best known in the
northern region and New Zealand. Founded in 1934, the club holds many Rescue and Bravery awards and has a strong
membership of volunteers.
“We recognised that the amazing work of Piha SLSC is aligned with many of our values in Freemasonry”, says Freemasons
Western District Grand Master Gary Salmon, “It was a simple decision to support and gift a new IRB to Piha. Freemasons
in the Western District quickly rallied round and raised the money to make this happen”.
A short handover ceremony is planned on the beach near Piha Surf Club at 2pm this Saturday 24th January over the busy
anniversary weekend.
ENDS