Coastguard North Canterbury

19/09/2026

Day 1 of The Ashley Forest Rallysprint done, and it did not disappoint. What an amazing day, with loads of spectators, and incredible action🏎️🏎️.

The team are all prepared for the final day of racing, and the weather is sure to make it a cracker of a day.

We have sausages, bacon sandwiches, eggs, and cold drinks. But this year we have something new on the menu…. Meat patty, bacon, egg, onion, cheese, topped with BBQ sauce. This beast is named THE FULL NOISE BURGER, and they’re delicious. But get in quick, we have limited supply of these left.

Make your way up to the hairpin to get a feed and drink. There’s also a coffee van set up right next to us. You have no reason to leave. We have cash and eftpos available.

So see ya tomorrow🏁🏁🏁

18/09/2026

We are here setup at The Ashley Forest Rallysprint right up at the hairpin.

The food is hot and the drinks are cold.

See you soon.

18/09/2026

The team spent the evening getting all stocked up for The Ashley Forest Rallysprint this weekend.

We have loads of drinks, sausages, bacon, and eggs.

This year, we are also trialling BBQ bacon cheeseburgers on the grill. These are limited in numbers. Once they’re gone, they’re gone.

If you’re coming up to the rally over the weekend, make sure you head up to the hairpin for our fundraiser… you won’t regret it.

As a bonus, the weather is looking stunning, and the racing lineup is amazing.

See you at the forest.

16/09/2026

Training this week was an amazing inter agency opportunity with Hato Hone St John volunteers from Rangiora Station.

We started of with a little presentation about what each other can do during an emergency and getting to know each other a little better.

Then it was out on the boats to practice patient transfer from the vessels up to the stretcher, then into the Ambulance.

After a few practice runs, we took the Ambulance crews for a quick ride up the river to show them our vessel capability.

We arrived back just in time, as the on duty ambulance had to race off to an emergency call.

It was a great night, and a bit of fun had by all, thanks for the St John team for coming to visit.

08/09/2026

We are back again this year for The Ashley Forest Rallysprint feeding the spectators.

Along with seeing our friendly team manning the entry gates, we will also be up at the hairpin turn. Up top we will have a sausage sizzle with bacon butties and refreshing fizzy and water.

There’s always plenty of action at the hairpin and we will have enough food to feed an army.

So if you’re heading up to the rally this year, it’s worth the trip to the top. You’ll also be supporting an awesome team.

See ya there.

03/09/2026

An urgent response for the team tonight. Great result, everyone is safe and well.

A multi agency rescue well done.

A search is under way for two people reported missing at Waikuku Beach this evening. A police spokesman told Chris...

31/08/2026

Well what a whirlwind of a week the team had last week.

We had two of our volunteers jet off to Oklahoma for the Oklahoma Swiftwater Rescue Conference, to learn some new skills with the world leaders in swiftwater rescue. Part of that trip also included us receiving our Higgins and Langley Awards for Program Development. This award was presented for our swiftwater/ flood rescue journey, and how we have not only integrated it into our Coastguard unit, but also bringing it into the wider Coastguard network. We were incredibly humbled to receive this prestigious international accolade.

While there, one of our team entered some of the competitions and brought home a couple bronze medals. It’s awesome to see we can place with the top of the world in the industry.

We welcome the guys back and can’t wait to see all the shiny trophy’s

And then to end the week, our swiftwater team were tasked by police to assist with an urgent job.

It’s been a pretty big week for our team.

We have a couple thank you’s for all that helped get our guys over to America to represent Coastguard on the international stage. Thanks to Coastguard New Zealand, Steve Glassey, IPSQA, and Public Safety Institute of New Zealand for making sure we were able to be there with the best of the best.

26/08/2026

We currently have 2 of our team attending the Oklahoma Swiftwater Rescue Conference in America this week. Part of our volunteers being over there is to receive our Higgins and Langley Awards for Program and team Development Award.

Not only will they be returning to Aotearoa with some new skills to pass on, but will be bringing a very prestigious award with them.

Enjoy your time over there fellas.

07/08/2026

Tuesday night training.

🥶 Wow it was cold 🥶

With on and off snow flurries throughout the day, that got the team excited to get the boats out for some training. ❄️

A strong southerly wind was driving the rain in sideways keeping the crew on their toes.

We took KR up Kairaki Stream as far as we could for some area famil, and being a narrow body of water it meant situational awareness had to be top priority.

Once turned around we headed back out to the Waimakariri to practice keeping the vessel on station around our DanBuoy in the strong wind.

23/07/2026

Wow, how cool is this.

This week one of the team took Mobile 1, along with Blackwell Rescue to Stables Montessori Preschool - The Oaks for a little show and tell.

Hopefully some future volunteers in the making getting skilled up to save lives.