Papamoa’s Kurt Wilson is one of many Bay of Plenty lifeguards saying he had abuse hurled at him as he tried to stop people heading to the beach during Sunday’s tsunami scare.
Kurt and a number of other lifeguards were monitoring the coastline at Papamoa and have described their efforts to stop the public using the beach as a ‘losing battle’.

Papamoa lifeguard Kurt Wilson says many lifeguards found it disheartening being abused by members of the public on Sunday as they tried to stop them heading onto the beach.

Lifeguards from Mount Maunganui, Omanu and Papamoa set up cordons on the beaches all day Sunday and warned people to keep away based on information they received from Civil Defence.
“A lot of the young lifeguards found it quite hard. They were politely approaching people and explaining to them that it was unsafe to go down to the beach and people were turning around and telling them to ‘eff off’,” says Kurt.
“It was disheartening for some guards who had given up their day to help keep the public safe.”
Kurt says lifeguards at Omanu and Mount Maunganui experienced similar abuse from people determined to access the beach.
“Many of them were saying the beach was a public place and we couldn’t stop them.”
But Kurt says lifeguards were simply facilitating the message being issued by Civil Defence.
Regional business manager for Surf Lifesaving New Zealand, Sarah Lucas, says the lifeguards were acting on expert scientific advice issued from Civil Defence.
“There were still swimmers ignoring the advice. But we were there just to give the advice, we can’t police the beach.”
The last day of the U14 Ocean Athletes Championships was also cancelled due to the tsunami warning, resulting in the 800 competitors from all over New Zealand having to head home early.
“The event organisers were down working alongside Civil Defence from about 3am on Sunday, phoning as many people as possible telling them the event was postponed.”
“If was frustrating for everyone because it was the fifth day of the finals and a lot of things could have changed with the rankings but we couldn’t do anything about it.”