Celebrating Coastguard's best - our Awards of Excellence 2024 winners!

Aotearoa, 20 October 2024 – Coastguard Tautiaki Moana is thrilled to announce the winners of our 2024 Awards of Excellence. These awards celebrate the passion, commitment, and outstanding efforts of our volunteers, whose contributions over the past year have been instrumental in saving lives and supporting communities. Every day, our volunteers pour their time, energy, and passion into their mahi, going above and beyond to keep people safe on the water. 

Coastguard only exists because of our highly trained and skilled volunteers. Over the past 12 months, more than 2,000 volunteers generously gave 303,048 hours to lifesaving efforts. They responded to 2,867 incidents, bringing 7,196 people to safety and saving 48 lives. 

Coastguard extends heartfelt congratulations to all the winners, finalists, and nominees for this year’s Awards of Excellence. 

Here’s our 2024 winners!

Supreme Award Volunteer of the Year & Outstanding Leadership Award: Jeff Cramp, Coastguard Hokianga
Outstanding Leadership Award Finalists: Arne Pallentin (Coastguard Wellington), John Quinn (Coastguard Queenstown) and Wayne Williams (Coastguard Bluff).

The only reason Hokianga has a Coastguard unit is because Jeff Cramp started it, from scratch. That was 1995 and since then he has made a huge difference to his small Hokianga community, not least of which is saving a few lives – sometimes people he knows well. Once a month he also heads up to the local hospital to speak with trainee doctors and nurses about treating people in real-life medical emergencies. Being recognised for his work matters too. Hokianga is a small unit in a faraway part of the world, so he is pleased to have been nominated because it puts his unit and its close-knit team of hardworking volunteers on the map. They all deserve the credit he reckons.

Read more about Jeff: Supreme Award

Air Patrol Volunteer of the Year: John McDowell, Auckland Coastguard Air Patrol
Finalists: Robert Brown (Auckland Coastguard Air Patrol) and Daniel Soudlenkov (Auckland Coastguard Air Patrol). 

Coastguard Head of People and Capability Matthew Rea-Rankin with ACAP President Jack Out on behalf of John.

Over the past several years, John McDowell has played a crucial role in supporting the Coastguard Auckland Air Patrol’s operational capability. He has held the position of Unit Training Coordinator for a number of years and through his time, has successfully driven several key initiatives.

Read more about John: Air Patrol Volunteer of the Year

Community Engagement Unit of the Year: Coastguard Marlborough
Finalists: Coastguard North Kaipara and Coastguard Ōpōtiki. 

Coastguard Marlborough President Dave St John on behalf of the unit.

Coastguard Marlborough’s well-deserved win highlights their impactful initiatives over the past year, particularly their successful expansion trial into Pelorus Sound. This enabled boaties in Pelorus Sound to call Coastguard for non-urgent assistance, saving a four-hour round trip from Picton.

Read more about Coastguard Marlborough: Community Engagement Unit of the Year

Communications or Incident Management Volunteer of the Year: Ian Gabites, Coastguard Taranaki
Finalists: Jill Robertson (Communications East and Maurice Carter (Coastguard Marlborough). 

Ian Gabites is an active volunteer for Taranaki, a Radio Operator and one of the Duty Officers for the unit. Just quietly, that’s a contribution of over 500 hours a year to the unit in these various roles. Ian has completed CIMS4, Marine SAR Technical, Manage the Marine Response, SAR Manager and Communications Instructor. He is a key trainer for new volunteer radio operators coming into the unit and keeps everyone else in the region on their A-game.

Read more about Ian: Communications or Incident Management Volunteer of the Year

Emerging Young Volunteer of the Year: Jessica Cameron, Coastguard Marlborough
Finalists: Leah Sinton (Coastguard North Shore) and Geoffrey Bunn (Coastguard Taranaki). 

Coastguard Marlborough President Dave St John on behalf of Jessica​

Jessica Cameron joined Coastguard Marlborough at just 17. Since then, she has consistently demonstrated key Coastguard values of teamwork, integrity and excellence, navigated high-pressure situations with poise, and fostered a “let’s get stuff done” attitude within the team.

Read more about Jessica: Emerging Young Volunteer of the Year

Rescue of the Year (Sponsored by Advanced Optics): Coastguard South Taranaki
Finalists: Coastguard Wellington, Coastguard Hawke’s Bay and Coastguard Dunedin.

Coastguard Head of People and Capability Matthew Rea-Rankin with Coastguard South Taranaki volunteer Warren Pickles on behalf of the unit.

On March 10, off the South Taranaki coast, a 7-metre aluminium boat reported a diver missing. Coastguard South Taranaki Skipper Scott Williams arrived at Patea boat ramp as the team assembled, then made their way at speed towards the site, approximately 5 nautical miles offshore from the Patea bar. For the next 5 days and approximately 900 hours, with bad weather hampering their rescue efforts, the crew remained focussed on the search and hopeful rescue of the diver.

Read more about Coastguard South Taranaki: Rescue of the Year

Rescue Vessel Volunteer of the Year: Graham Weakley, Coastguard Wellington
Finalists: Edward (ed) Bezett (Coastguard Marlborough) and Andrew (Andy) Thornton (Coastguard North Canterbury).

Coastguard Wellington President James Groombridge on behalf of Graham.

Graham Weakley is an immensely positive figure around Coastguard Wellington, respected as a ‘font of all knowledge’ and a ‘legend’. He continually strives to improve the unit - its processes, equipment and people, especially training other volunteers. He created the Qualified and Senior Crew training cohorts to uplift the unit’s skill and experience level, managing and running multiple weekly trainings (2-3 per week, and 1-2 additional weekend trainings). He goes above and beyond what is expected of a volunteer, using his 20+ years of boating and Coastguard experience, as well as his skills as a former commercial skipper to raise the bar.

Read more about Graham: Rescue Vessel Volunteer of the Year

Unit of the Year (Sponsored by Hutchwilco): Coastguard Queenstown
Finalists: Coastguard Marlborough and Coastguard Kaipara. 

Coastguard Queenstown President John Quinn (left) and skipper Stephen Jarvis on behalf of the unit.

Coastguard Queenstown has had an extremely busy and productive year. Notable achievements included recruiting more volunteers and training them with the latest maritime safety protocols and techniques – leading to more engaged and better prepared volunteers, with quicker response times and more effective rescue operations. The unit has also invested in fit-for purpose-equipment, significantly improving their capability to perform in challenging conditions, as well as successfully negotiated increased funding from a major sponsor.

Read more about Coastguard Queenstown: Unit of the Year

Unit Support Volunteer of the Year (Sponsored by Century): Lisa Delaveau, Coastguard Marlborough 
Finalists: Linda Pattinson (Coastguard Hokianga) and Michael Langford (Coastguard Taranaki). 

In her role as Unit Secretary, Lisa is a model of efficiency and dedication. She manages meeting minutes, correspondence and administrative duties – all the stuff that needs to be done - ensuring the smooth operation of the unit. She also has knack for swiftly disseminating information post-meetings, so everyone knows what’s what. This includes producing a monthly newsletter ‘Crew News’ which has been instrumental in maintaining high spirits and a sense of unity.

Read more about Lisa: Unit Support Volunteer of the Year

ENDS

Want to speak with one of our inspiring winners or feature their stories?

For interviews and high-resolution images, contact: 
Ben Parsons
Senior Communications Advisor 
[email protected] 

About Coastguard Tautiaki Moana

Coastguard is a charity powered by over 2,000 volunteers in communities around Aotearoa New Zealand. We’re here for all water enthusiasts, from boaties and kayakers to paddleboarders – whatever your waka. Our volunteers who crew rescue vessels, fly in the sky in our search aircraft, and are the ears and voice at the end of the radio, have been dedicated to saving lives for over 150 years. 

Last year, our highly trained and skilled volunteers gave 303,048 hours to help Kiwis make the most out of their time on the water, safely and with confidence. We assisted more than 7,196 people home safely and saved 49 lives. We're the crew you can turn to for help - big or small – whether for a simple tow back to shore, sharing knowledge and advice through educational courses, or jumping into action on an urgent search and rescue mission.

We're a charity with 66% of our operating income coming from donations, membership, sponsorship, and grants. The remaining 34% comes from central government funding.