SAVING LIVES ON THE WATER
HERE TO HELP WHATEVER YOUR WAKA
From boaties to boarders, Coastguard Sumner volunteers respond to anyone in trouble on the water — across Pegasus Bay and to south of Banks Peninsula.
We’re a charity powered by donations. Support us to stay on call, day and night.
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We Make a Difference
Every year Coastguard Sumner assists, rescues and saves whanau, friends and tamariki who get into trouble in Aotearoa waters. Here’s our stats for the last year.
People assisted home to safety
LIVES SAVED
People Rescued from danger
THE COASTGUARD SUMNER STORY
2025 unit of year & rescue of year
Coastguard Sumner was privileged to receive the Unit of the Year and Rescue of the Year Awards at the national Coastguard Volunteer of Excellence Awards 2025. These are the two most prestigious team awards and reflect the outstanding commitment and capability of our volunteers.
About coastguard sumner
At Coastguard Sumner, we’re proud to be a volunteer-powered rescue service that’s always ready — day or night — to help people and vessels in distress across Banks Peninsula and Pegasus Bay.
Volunteer Maritime Search and Rescue
on-call, all volunteers
Our People
Coastguard Sumner runs entirely on volunteer power — locals who give their time, skill, and heart to keep others safe on the water. From students to retirees, our 40-strong operations crew includes everyone from new trainees to veteran skippers. They are backed by a 10 person volunteer Board providing vital governance skills.
Callouts
A callout could be anything from assisting a sinking yacht, to searching for a missing surfer, to evacuating a sick person by sea from a remote coastal location.
Our Vessels
Our fleet of vessels is equipped to handle rescues close to shore in big surf through to night-time missions going miles offshore.
A wide area of operations
Hurunui River to south of Banks Peninsula
Our operations cover a vast coastal area – from Point Gibson just north of the Hurunui River down to just south of the Banks Peninsula. We also go 12 nautical miles (about 22km) out to sea.
Incidents can be anything from a surfer caught in the rip at Scarborough to a kayaker missing off Godley Head to a yacht in trouble out at sea.
We operate day and night. We are equipped and train for incidents at night-time and have infrared cameras and night vision binoculars to aid searching.
Latest News item
2026 Awards – Celebrating Our Volunteers
On 17th Oct Coastguard Sumner gathered for the AGM and Awards event. It was an opportunity to reflect on our achievements and say thank you to our volunteers who give up their time to save lives on the water. We are proud to share this year’s service and special award recipients: Coastguard Service Awards • 3 Years: Doug Walsh, Emily Quane, Lewis Elliott • 10 Years: Bjorn Stankowitz • 15 Years: Dave Passmore • 35 Years: Heather McDonald • 15 Years (Board Member): Nick Carter Coastguard Sumner...
100% Volunteer crew
MORE News
Our Stats – Making a Difference
Coastguard has released our official callout statistics for the last reporting year (1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026). We really do make difference. Responding to 34 callouts, we saved 2 lives, rescued 16 people and assisted another 26 persons. Once again we are one of...
Peter Marshall has passed
We are much saddened by the passing of Peter Marshall in August. Peter was a long-time member of Sumner Lifeboat (now known as Coastguard Sumner) and a true legend in our local boating community. He was an amazing mentor and teacher to many of our crew. His experience...
April / May News – a busy time
It was a busy period for our volunteers. A few highlights: Paraglider rescue training: we worked with the local paraglider club to develop rescue techniques for pilots ditched at sea – invaluable learning for both pilots and Coastguard on handling these...
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For Boaties
Safety on the Water
Coastguard has a wealth of material to help boaties stay safe on the water, from tips and tools to education courses.
Whether you are skipper or crew, take a look at Coastguard’s safety on the water information – from key essentials for new boaties to tips on maintenance to boating on a budget.
Want to acquire more boating knowledge? Check out Coastguard’s education courses.
Useful links
Visit our Resources page for links to weather, tides, webcams, harbour info and local organisations that we work with.