How a tragic search and rescue mission triggered change at Coastguard

A tragic mission has triggered an overhaul at Coastguard Maraetai after their old headsets delayed a rescue attempt.

On July 20, 2020, a father and two children, a boy and girl, were found in the water in the Firth of Thames after capsizing their kayak.

Trent Dixon, of Auckland’s Maraetai Coastguard, was skippering the board involved in the rescue.

Dixon, who has been with Coastguard for nine years, was out on the water with a crew on a training day when they heard an “all stations call” to Kaiaua in the Coromandel, after a kayak capsized.

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“We had the old headsets, and [if you had] any noise you had on board you’d be straining to hear what’s coming through the radio,” he said.

The boat had to stop mid-journey to hear the instructions coming through from the communications team.

A Coastguard plane was assisting, and once they made it to the rescue area, the plane started to do low circles around a patch of water, to signal they’d found the family.

The trio had been in the water for an hour and 45 minutes and had developed hypothermia.

“When someone has been immersed in cold water, the body will shake to keep warm,” Dixon said.

“The problem is when they’re not shaking, they need urgent help.”

The crew beached the boat and a Westpac rescue helicopter took the children to Starship Children’s Hospital.

Unfortunately, the 8-year-old boy died in hospital.

Dixon said the news of the death was “pretty tough”.

“Some crew members took it really hard. They started to doubt their abilities, but we reassured everyone did what they could at the time,” he said.

Dixon said Coastguard looked after volunteers who had been involved in fatal water rescues.

“Kiwis are used to going ‘she’ll be right’, when it’s not,” Dixon said.

“You might see something that reminds you of what happened and it triggers a whole series of emotions. It’s a mandatory to have a counselling session after a major event.”

The tragedy triggered a change, which started when Coastguard Thames bought the family’s kayak back to the beach, and showed Coastguard Maraetai their headsets.

“We had a play with them, and we thought, ‘wow, this could have helped,’” Dixon said.

“You could hear clearly while travelling at 40 knots when the engines are at the loudest. It mitigates a lot of the risk of misunderstanding – in some cases that could be the difference.”

ANZ awarded the team a charity grant which allowed them to upgrade to the radio system.

In light of the number of drownings recently, Dixon shared a couple of “golden rules” for boaties to follow.

“Have two forms of communication, a VHF radio and a cellphone in a dry bag,” he said.

Dixon said to check changing weather and to always wear a lifejacket, no matter how big your boat is.

Finally, Dixon reminded skippers they were responsible for the boat, and the people on it.

“It’s not a good idea to start drinking alcohol at 7.30 in the morning before going fishing,” he said.

Coastguard Boating Education provides courses for Kiwis wanting to learn boating skills.