About Us

Coastguard Mana is an affiliated member of Coastguard New Zealand and is a Unit of Coastguard Central Region.

We are based at the Mana Cruising Club / Mana Marina on the west coast of the North Island, just up the road from Wellington. Our area of responsibility covers the Mana inshore recreational area and the northern end of Cook Strait across to the top of the Marlborough Sounds.

Rescue Vessels

The Unit operates two rescue vessels. Our principle vessel is a 9.5m Naiad RHIB. The second vessel is a 5.8m Naiad RHIB.

Mana Rescue 1

Our main rescue vessel, MR1 is a 9.5m Naiad RHIB that came to us from Coastguard Howick in 2014.

Mana Rescue 2

Formerly named CRV Pelorus (as it was funded by Pelorus Trust), the 5.8m Naiad RHIB was purchased new from Naiad and entered service in December 2006. It was purchased so the Unit could provide a fast response to vessels in distress or difficulties in the Mana inshore marine area, and to cover the areas of Porirua Harbour that Trust Porirua Rescue can not reach due to her draft. These days it's primary purpose is for training and still is the most viable option for inner harbour work, although we can squeeze MR1 up the channel to Onepoto and under the bridges if required.

Crew / Volunteers

Our 'active crew' members include active boaties, business people, software developers and students. Most of them have families of their own and are often pleasure boaties or fishermen - not that that is a requirement. All are volunteers live locally and are dedicated to saving lives at sea. All understand how easy it is to get into trouble at sea and need outside help. All volunteers have good knowledge of the local area and sea conditions and are fully trained in this aspect.

Education

Coastguard provides liaison and training such as Day Skipper, Boatmaster and VHF courses to enhance people's knowledge of boating and the sea. For more information on the courses available please see the main Coastguard website.

History

Mana Volunteer Coastguard was established in 1998 by members of the Mana Cruising Club who arranged the purchase of a Royal National Lifeboat Institution (R.N.L.I.) Waveney class lifeboat from UK.

The Waveney is an ex RNLI lifeboat that started services as, Life boat 44-017 "The Nelsons of Donghadee" in 1976. Over the next 21 years service around the UK coastline she carried out 230 callouts and saved 74 lives before being retired and sold to restart a new chapter in her life in New Zealand.

For a detailed history see the 'Waveney' page.

Trust Porirua Rescue

Trust Porirua Rescue was on loan to us from Coastguard New Zealand to replace the ageing Waveney in 2010. It was a 12.5m Rayglass Protector that was used during the 2000 Louis Vuitton challenger series in Auckland in it's previous life. It was fully refurbished by Coastguard Central Region before it came to us with new electrics, hypalon tubes, etc and is powered by 2 x 300HP Mercury Verado outboards which are capable of pushing it to a max response speed of approximately 40 knots.