A total of 50 hours has been invested in rescuing five vessels which broke down in waters around Tauranga.

In a weekend of good weather with lots of boats on the water, Tauranga Coastguard volunteers invested 50 hours in rescues. Three of the rescues involved the TECT Rescue vessel and two with Sealegs Rescue.

Coastguard were called to five breakdowns over the weekend.

Rescues started Friday afternoon with the crew responding in Sealegs Rescue to a fibreglass runabout stranded on Matakana Island.

'After checking for any signs of damage, they were able to tow the vessel off the beach, and return it and its four extremely grateful occupants safely to shore,” says Coastguard president Chris Phillips.

On Saturday, TECT rescue was called to assist a Yacht making passage past Tauranga into a Marina after it sustained a rudder issue, meaning those on board couldn't use sails or engine effectively.

Later that day, Sealegs Rescue was required to return an inflatable with three people on board safely to shore.

'Just as our volunteers finished selling raffle tickets and promoting Coastguard membership at the Baypark Jet Sprints, they were informed of a yacht with two people on board that lost engine power off the Matakana Banks. The yacht required a tow back to the marina,” says Chris.

Two hours later, the yacht was safely tucked up back in her berth and TECT Rescue was tied up just before 1am.

Another yacht suffered engine failure on Tuesday morning.

'Our team had to have a late start to their working day after going to assist a yacht with four occupants through the harbour entrance and to the marina for repairs,” says Chris.

'Unfortunately, not all the vessels we attended were members of a Coastguard unit, and the ones that weren't may incur associated costs for their recovery.

'Tauranga Coastguard will always respond as necessary to both urgent and non-urgent calls for assistance, but our members are not charged.”

Membership is cheap insurance, and means Tauranga Volunteer Coastguard can provide well trained volunteers, and ensure vessels are fuelled, maintained and ready to respond to whatever may arise, says Chris.

'Tauranga Volunteer Coastguard receives no direct government funding, and relies heavily on membership and donation income to survive, so please, support your local Coastguard unit and join today,” says Chris.