AVOCO is taking its longstanding community commitments on to the water by becoming a proud new partner of the Waihi Beach Volunteer Coastguard – just in time for summer.

AVOCO has teamed up with the Western Bay of Plenty Coastguard unit, agreeing to an ongoing partnership and pledging an annual sponsorship contribution of $20,000 for three years.

This will go towards coastguard's yearly operational costs of $110,000 as well as the running costs of a new rescue vessel to be named ‘AVOCO Rescue', to hit the water in November.

AVOCO Rescue will replace ‘Search Two'. Launched in 2003, 5.5m long Search Two has since clocked up more than 1000 hours on the water.

The new $197,000 vessel is a 5.8m Naiad designed Rigid Hull Inflatable Boat powered by twin 115hp Yamaha outboards.

Keen boaties

AVOCO director Alistair Young says teaming up with the coastguard is a natural fit for AVOCO, given its unwavering commitment to the community and a number of its members being keen boaties.

'We are proud to be backing Waihi Beach Volunteer Coastguard and the amazing efforts they contribute year-round to keep the community safe, usually through countless hours of voluntary service, on and off the water.

'Volunteers are the lifeblood of this community and every dollar counts when it comes to helping support these fantastic efforts.”

Waihi Beach Volunteer Coastguard spokesperson Jim Pooley says the new rescue boat will enhance coastguard's overall capabilities in keeping a community – which swells from 2700 permanent residents to an estimated 25,000 to 30,000 during summer – safe on the water.

Rescue mission

'It is very exciting for us. The addition of AVOCO Rescue means we have the capability to cover two completely different areas with Gallagher Rescue overseeing the Bowentown Bar, one of the most notorious in New Zealand, and AVOCO Rescue the channels and shallow areas of the northern Tauranga Harbour.”

In the last three years coastguard responded to 83 calls for assistance and returned 201 people to land. While in 2015 alone, they provided 7800 volunteer hours and logged 10,792 radio calls with boaties.

Here they assisted Police on search and rescue missions, worked with the volunteer fire brigade on shoreline scrub fires and assisted the Tauranga harbour master in locating and towing floating trees and other significant hazards back to shore.

Jim believes with these figures increasing annually this partnership will usher in a new era for the volunteer organisation, with AVOCO Rescue providing essential resources previously unattainable with Search Two.

'In comparison to Search Two, this vessel is a walk-through design enabling two extra crew on-board and can accommodate the transportation of medical and search and rescue equipment and a stretchered patient.

'It will also have radar capabilities, which will aid in safety at night and limited visibility and performing search and rescue missions for a missing person or vessel.”

AVOCO Rescue is expected to be operational by the end of the year.