Life Guarding

At Waimairi SLSC our purpose is to lead and support surf lifesaving.

For over 70 years the Waimiari Surf Lifesavers have been patrolling our beach every weekend and public holiday, from mid-November until mid-March.  Our lifeguards are trained volunteers who take on a variety of roles, from aquatic rescues, providing first aid and emergency care, search and rescue operations, and educating the public about the dangers of surf.

Surf lifeguards primary objective is to prevent death by drowning.  Along with saving lives through rescues, our lifeguards undertake many preventative actions to ensure the public are not placed in potential life threatening situations.

Red and Yellow is synonymous with Surf Lifesaving.  After assessing the conditions, each Saturday and Sunday during the summer patrolling months, our volunteer beach patrols set the red and yellow flags in the safest area for swimming.  Lifeguards continue to monitor the conditions throughout their patrol from the patrol deck, at the flags, and often in the water. We train new Surf Lifeguards how to identify potential victims and potential dangers.  We work with the public to prevent people getting in trouble first.  Last summer lifeguards throughout New Zealand performed over 100,000 preventative actions during 155,000 hours of beach patrols.