Honda PWC machines helping to patrol NSW beaches
The Tweed Support Service (TSS) patrols 37 kilometres of New South Wales coast from the popular surfing break of Duranbah beach to the sparsely populated beach at Wooyung, and operate seven days a week during daylight hours.
Due to their speed in responding to emergencies the local Police and other rescue services often call upon the TSS to provide rapid response to aquatic emergencies.
The TSS was started three years ago by a group of lifesavers from three (and later four) Surf Life Saving Clubs – Cabarita, Cudgen Headland and Fingal Rovers – to patrol the huge coastline that was too spread out for any one club to service on their own.
Before the TSS was formed, six people had drowned in the Tweed Shire within an eight month period.
Since its inception, the TSS has grown in size and early this year realised they needed a new rescue craft to strengthen their service.
“After much investigation the standout choice was the Aquatrax F-12 Honda, as Honda’s advancements in four-stroke technology and hull design meant this craft was by far the best.”
The Aquatrax F-12 gets a lot of use, patrolling a 10 kilometre area from the Queensland border to Cudgen including the Tweed River mouth, and has been an asset to the club according to Tweed Support Service Captain Peter Baird.
“The F-12 is on the water every weekend from September to April and can be tasked by the police during the week. It was involved in the recovery of a board rider 1km out to sea on its very first day and has become the craft that all the operators want to be on,” said Mr Baird.
“We named our F-12 ‘Rob Eady’, in honour of a life member at the Fingal Rovers Surf Life Saving Club who put a lot of time into life saving. He used to say that the jetski was one of the best pieces of rescue equipment ever introduced to life saving, and sadly passed away before he could see the new Honda PWC.”
“When it’s time for the next craft to be purchased Honda will be the first to be approached. The service that the Jetskishop.com gave was great. There was never a problem and the service has continued well after the sale.”
