CLUB HISTORY

The Surf Life Saving Club has been a long-standing feature here in Nelson, since the 1930’s in fact, however The Nelson Surf Life Saving Club as it is now, has been in existence since 1989. We are currently based in The Sealord Marine Rescue Centre on Wakefield Quay on the Nelson waterfront.

Nelson has always had a busy water sport lifestyle, and the club has a long history of responding to the water safety needs of the region. The club provides patrols at Tahunanui beach over the summer holiday period and public holidays. We also operate a 24 hour, 7 day a week, search and rescue squad for fast response to emergencies at sea in the inshore areas of Tasman bay, where we utilise our two inflatable rescue boats (IRB), a six metre rigid inflatable boat (RIB), a quad bike for roaming beach patrols and a mobile surf rescue patrol tower.

Recently we have increased our membership dramatically and now have a growing youth membership. Over 70% of the membership are under 20 years old. We are always interested in expanding our membership further and are proud to provide such a valuable service to the Nelson community.

"We are always interested in expanding our membership, if you are interested please click here."

NELSON SURF LIFE SAVING CLUB

RESPONSIBILITIES AND ACTIVITIES

Nelson Surf Life Saving Club provides regular beach patrols at Tahunanui Beach. Our life guards are on duty during the summer season to provide a safe patrolled swimming area and first aid for beach users from major trauma through to minor injuries. Club members carry out many rescues in the Tahunanui beach area, including kite surfers, kayakers and other aquatic users. We provide assistance to police with security at the beach and in finding lost children etc. We also liaise with NCC to provide a safer beach environment.

MARINE SEARCH & RESCUE SERVICES

Nelson Suf Life Saving Club operates three rescue vessels and performs over 70% of all the marine search & rescue callouts in the region. Emergencies may involve people lost at sea, personal water craft, kite surfers, sea kayakers in distress, river rescues such as missing trampers, and cars in rivers.
In environmental emergencies we assist and provide craft and crews for incidents such as whale strandings, oil spill response, fires on haulashore island and the boulder bank and civil defence events such as flooding.
We provide 24 hour on call emergency assistance in collaboration with other emergency providers such as Police, Fire, Ambulance and The Department of Conservation. The club also provides 24 hour, on call rescue swimmers for the Summit Rescue Helicopter.