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Lifeguards In the news
Whangarei Heads Guards regularly feature in the news and in Regional and National Sports events. One is now Internationally ranked on the World body boarding circuit, one has been to Nepal as a NZ Youth ambassador and the NZ Womens Hockey Team is also seeing our presence. One is at Med school (3rd Year), One doing a Physiotherapy degree, another a food science degree and another guard is working his way through a Paramedic degree at Auckland Uni. Up there Whangarei Heads!

Whangarei Heads LifeGuard rescues 3 on Wellington Beach.
Some people just can't take a holiday. Whangarei Heads surf lifeguard Dave Waugh - who never goes anywhere without his flippers - was on holiday in Wellington when he rescued a 120kg man and two boys drifting towards Cook Strait.
The rescues were the first this summer at Lyall Bay, a popular surf beach next to Wellington Airport, and happened on a day when no local lifeguards were about.
Mr Waugh said the group had drifted offshore on a windy December 28, when he just happened to be there checking out one of the country's oldest surf clubs.
But with the clubhouse locked and not a lifeguard in sight, Mr Waugh quickly switched from holidaymaker to rescuer.

He sprinted 200m along the sand then swam about 500m to rescue the struggling father and his two sons.
Mr Waugh said there were about 50 swimmers and 200 people on the shore but none had noticed their plight.
The man, who weighed about 120kg and was in his mid-30s, was on a child's small inflatable raft, without paddles. His two sons, aged about 14 and eight, were on boogie boards without flippers.
"They just drifted further and further out from the shore until they were in the grip of the wind and were drifting out to sea."
When he reached the group they were starting to get worried and tired - "the dad was quite embarrassed,'' said Mr Waugh.

With the two boys holding on to the back corners of the raft and kicking and the man trying to paddle, Mr Waugh towed them back to shore.
The family "mumbled a few thanks" then left.
He said the group should not have been using the toy boat in the ocean and should have had flippers.

Dave said he was "quite surprised" that the Lyall Bay club was closed on a public holiday when his own Whangarei Heads club was staffed by volunteers.
"I walked right around (the clubhouse) but the building was completely locked ... If I hadn't been there they would have died of hypothermia in that water ... They would have ended up in the South Island,'' he said.

Nathan Hight, manager of Surf Lifesaving Wellington, said although it would have been "great" to have a surf patrol working every day, Lyall Bay surf club's operations manual had not required a three-man team to be there that day.
He said volunteer lifeguards were in short supply - something he blamed partly on Wellington's notorious weather.
"Because the weather's nicer up there (in Northland) and it's a bit warmer, they get more people wanting to do it," he said.
The rescue had been the first at Lyall Bay this summer.
Kathryn Powley - the Northern Advocate 07/01

Whangarei Heads lifeguard and Northlander, Caroline Stuart's selection in the the 24-strong Black Sticks squad last week continues a fine family tradition in the goalkeepers position.
The former Northland age-group player received a call from Black Sticks coach Ian Rutledge last week saying she had been picked in the national squad for the first time.
"I was standing in the middle of the cafe between (medical school) lectures and Ian rang and said I was in.
"... I was shocked, I nearly had palpitations. It was quite unexpected, not for another year at least,'' she said.
"It meant the next couple of hours of lectures were pointless because I wasn't listening.''
A former Northland age-group goalie and 2004 North Harbour NHL player, Stuart, 20, headed to Auckland three years ago to begin her medical studies.
However she plans to head back to Whangarei when her studies are over in about three years time.
It may then be a case of Stuart vying for a place in the Northland NHL team with her younger sister, also a lifeguard at Whangarei Heads VSLSP, Nicky Howes, who was one of Northland's goalies this season.
"I'm not sure what Nicky will say about that,'' she said.
The pair follow a family tradition of goalies with their older sibling's Justine and Adam playing for Northland under-18 teams from the goalmouth.
With the Champions Trophy tournament in Argentina next month clashing with her medical studies she was unavailable for Black Sticks selection in that tournament. Instead Wellington's Beth Jurgeleit and Manawatu's Anita Wawatai will be the goalies for the tournament.
The retirement of veteran goalkeeper Helen Clark after the Olympics meant Stuart's selection was made with the future in mind.
"Ian basically said he wanted to develop me, he wants me to put pressure on the other two keepers,'' Stuart said.
"He knew when he picked me that I had exams and he didn't expect me to make myself available (for the Champions Trophy) so that was good.''