Lifeguarding
If you’re keen to become a volunteer Surf Lifeguard, you need to be at least 14 years of age and be able to swim 400m free-style in under 9 minutes.
After you achieve your Surf Lifeguard Award you’ll join a patrol team and will be rostered for duty. There’s also a number of additional training and development opportunities that you can access and specialise in. This includes advanced surf lifeguarding, search and rescue, first aid and inflatable rescue boats (IRB's), leadership development, and so much more. Surf Life Saving provides a great pathway into many emergency service careers.
Volunteering as a Surf Lifeguard is fun and rewarding - you’ll make a real difference in people’s lives and have a great time along the way. Get in touch and join the team! We look forward to seeing you on the beach! To learn more about becoming a volunteer Lifeguard, check out the Surf Life Saving New Zealand website.
Patrol Season
The Westshore Patrol Season runs from Saturday 28 October 2023 and finishes on 10 March 2024.
Patrol Hours
- Saturdays 12pm - 5pm
- Sundays 10am - 5pm
- Public Holidays 10am - 5pm
Patrol Responsibilities
- All Westshore Lifeguards have been issued SLSNZ Standard uniform and are expected to turn up to patrols properly dressed in clean, neat uniform. Alteration or cutting down of the SLSNZ Standard Uniform in any way is forbidden by the Board of Directors. The uniform remains the property of the Westshore Surf Lifesaving Club and if you leave/stop patrolling you are expected to return it to the Club.
- If unable to attend a Rostered Patrol, it is each individual Lifeguard’s responsibility to organise a suitably “Qualified” Substitute ie IRB Driver needs to get a replacement IRB Driver. A Patrol Substitutions Logbook is kept in the top left-hand drawer of the cabinet inside the main doors in the upstairs hall. You must log your substitute on the patrol date page in the logbook and the patrol date you are going to repay the substitute on and both of you must sign the book. Also, you must always advise your patrol Captain and the substitute’s patrol Captain when you are making substitutions. Remember our ‘Primary’ DUTY is to lifeguard our beach and this can only be achieved when you or an appointed substitute do your Patrols as rostered.
- As new members qualify, they will be added to the Patrol Roster into existing patrols.
- Other members, who are not rostered on the patrol on a particular day, are able to assist the Club by doing “voluntary” patrol on that day. This is not a “substitute” situation, nor does it exempt the member from any of their normal “rostered” patrols in future. Any Lifeguard wishing to do a “voluntary” patrol on any day must report to the Patrol Captain, in full uniform, and be signed in by the Patrol Captain who will then allocate them duties on that patrol. NO member will sign themselves in on any patrol.
