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Coastguard Hawke's Bay

Name: Coastguard Hawke's Bay
Address: 704 Meeanee Quay, Napier, 4110, NZ
Telephone: +6468341345
Price range: Not Applicable

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Hawke's Bay Volunteer Coastguard provides marine search and rescue services for the Hawke's Bay regi

25/10/2026

Kia ora folks

Coastguard Hawke’s Bay rescue vessel Celia Knowles was launched in June 2009 and in the intervening seventeen years she proven to be a very capable and successful rescue vessel. She has carried out 509 assists and 185 Police/RCCNZ taskings. Although we have done several electronics upgrades and some engine work, in late 2025 we started to seriously look at what we wanted in a future vessel.
We knew that the basic concept of a 12 metre, twin diesel, twin jet vessel was our benchmark. We were conscious that our engine hours were relatively low for a diesel at 4300 hours, but they were 17 years old and the Cummins QSB 5.9 is no longer available. With vessel replacement cost ranging from $2.8m to $3.5m versus an estimated re-engining option in the region of $500,000 and the state of the economy making local fund raising a real challenge the decision was made to go down the re-engining route.
Bear in mind this was not a case of accepting second best, rather a sensible use community and Unit resources. After all, Celia Knowles is a very good boat and by re-engining we could also take the opportunity to tweak some aspects to make her even better.
We looked at a range of engine options and worked with de Villiers Design, our original boat designer, Musca Marine Design, to model how the water flow around the hull can be made more efficient and HamiltonJet, to design a new jet impeller. After evaluating a number of performance models we settled on new Cummins QSB 6.7 engines, refurbishing our existing gearboxes and retaining our Hamilton 322 jets, albeit with new impellers. We also replaced our ‘fixed trim tabs’ with hull wedges and interceptors.
Although we are still commissioning Celia Knowles we have seen some significant performance improvements – maximum speed has increased from 33 knots to 38 knots, more importantly at our cruise speed of 28 knots we have extended our range, from 335km to 463 km, an effective 38% gain in fuel efficiency, a real positive with today’s fuel prices. And we have come in on budget.
Overall, a successful project, we have improved Celia Knowles’ performance and extended her operational and economic life significantly for less than 20% of the cost of a new vessel. Celia Knowles Rescue will be helping keep boaties safe in Hawke Bay for many years to come.
We would like to acknowledge the support from a number of companies who have helped us achieve this great outcome.
Ahuriri Marine Ltd
Coastguard New Zealand
Cummins NZ Ltd
deVilliers Design Ltd
Direct Earth Ltd
HamiltonJet
HB Crane & Platform Hire Ltd
Musca Marine Design
Protrade Scaffolding Ltd
Pub Charity
Wassco Engineering Ltd
and the wider Coastguard Hawke’s Bay Team and our supporters.

Stay safe.

Henry, Coastguard Hawke's Bay

The attached videos show some of the changes and video of CK at speed before and after the changes. After the changes she rides flatter and better,

24/10/2026

Kia ora folks

Today we were at the Napier Soundshell to help the Napier Fire Brigade celebrate 150 years of service to the Napier community. It was great to see so many families out enjoying the fantastic weather and the various safety displays as well as the Fire Service vehicles from the vintage to present day.

Stay safe.

Henry
Coastguard Hawke's Bay

19/10/2026

Kia ora folks

**A HUGE THANK YOU TO OUR AMAZING LOCAL SUPPORTERS!** 💡

Coastguard Hawke’s Bay has recently had a fantastic electrical lighting upgrade completed at our Westshore base, and we couldn’t have done it without some incredible community support! 🙌

Our original fluorescent lighting, much of it over 20 years old, has been replaced with brand-new LED lighting throughout our two-storey building, including our training rooms, incident management rooms, sheds and exterior areas.

A **massive thank you to Walter and the team at Napier Ideal Electrical Supplies** for reaching out, seeing how they could help, and pulling together a substantial donation of lighting through their suppliers and contacts. Your generosity has made a real difference to our unit!

An equally huge shout-out to : Clinton, Jaco, Bradley, Anthony, Liam, Brad and Jason, who gave up their own time on Saturday to come together as a team and install the new lighting. To have the entire upgrade completed by 2 pm is an incredible effort! 👏⚡

As a volunteer-led charity dedicated to saving lives at sea, support like this means so much to us. The new LED lighting will help reduce our power costs while providing brighter, clearer working and training environments for our volunteers, including when we're responding to search and rescue incidents.

To everyone involved, thank you for your generosity, time and willingness to get behind Coastguard Hawke’s Bay. Your support genuinely makes a difference and helps us continue doing what we do best — **saving lives at sea.**

Henry and Matt
PS check-in in the next couple of days for some great news about our rescue vessel Celia Knowles Rescue

13/10/2026

Kia ora folks

On Monday night just as we were preparing for our monthly Committee meeting, we received a call regarding a small vessel that had engine issues just off Bayview.

We took a quick trip out to Bayview and we soon had them back safe and sound into Napier. And then it was back to our exciting meeting.

Stay safe.

Henry
Coastguard Hawke's Bay

06/10/2026

A Special Visit to Coastguard Hawke’s Bay

Yesterday, Coastguard Hawke’s Bay had the pleasure of welcoming Minister James Meager and Katie Nimon from the National Pary to our unit.

The visit provided a great opportunity to sit down face-to-face and share an insight into how our unit operates, the area we cover, the types of Search and Rescue operations we undertake, and how we work alongside our fellow SAR partners to support the Hawke’s Bay community.

We were also able to discuss the realities of operating a volunteer Coastguard unit, including where our funding comes from, how that funding is used, and some of the areas where continued investment and support are important to maintaining and developing our capability.

As part of the visit, we showed James and Katie through our Coastguard building and aboard our rescue vessel, Celia Knowles (CK Rescue). This gave us the opportunity to demonstrate the capabilities both our facility and vessel provide to the wider Search and Rescue sector in Hawke’s Bay, and the important role they play in supporting our volunteers and our community.

Most importantly, it was an opportunity to share what Coastguard Hawke’s Bay has achieved over the years, the commitment of the volunteers who make it possible, and what we are continuing to work towards for the future.

On behalf of Coastguard Hawke’s Bay, we would like to thank Minister James Meager and Katie Nimon for taking the time to visit us, listen to our experiences, and learn more about who we are, what we do, and the capability we provide to the Hawke’s Bay community.

We greatly appreciated the opportunity to host you both and share the work of our unit.
Thanks
Matt Harvey ( President )

05/10/2026

Kia ora folks
Yesterday we had our annual sarex, (search and rescue exercise0 with our sar partners Surf and Police. We were fortunate enough to have one of New Zealand Surf Lifesaving's rescue manikins. With the addition of weights and floats the manikin is able to replicate various body sizes and so added a more realistic tone to our search.

A key part of the exercise is how our incident management team is able to bring together the different agencies into a cohesive team. The exercise took part off Westhore and our Base was used at the main planning base. The highly changeable weather bought its own challenges.

A valuable exercise with the summer season almost upon us.

Stay safe.

Henry
Coastguard Hawke's Bay

18/09/2026

Kia ora folks

A quick update from our Harbourmaster regarding the arrival of the barge Coronus tomorrow, Saturday.

Barge arriving in the Inner Harbour this Saturday ⚓

If you’re heading out on the water this Saturday, there are some temporary restrictions you need to know about.

The 𝐶𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑢𝑠 barge is arriving in Napier’s Inner Harbour to begin work removing the Nelson Quay Wave Wall and Discharge Wharf – the next major step in our work to make the Inner Harbour safer.

The Harbourmaster has issued a direction to keep everyone safe while the tug and barge make their way into the Iron Pot.

On Saturday 19 September:

⛵The Inner Harbour channel will be closed to all other vessel traffic from 11am to 11.45am while the tug and barge are manoeuvring.

⛵All vessels must stay at least 100 metres clear of the tug and barge and must not impede their passage.

⛵No vessel can use the channel without permission from the Pilot on VHF Channel 12.

⛵Once the 𝐶𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑢𝑠 is in position, a 5-metre exclusion zone will be in place around the barge while it is working.

The barge’s movements are dependent on tides and weather, so timings may change. If you’re using the Inner Harbour this weekend, please plan ahead, follow the Harbourmaster’s directions and take extra care around the work area.

🙏Thank you to our harbour users for your patience and support while we get this important work underway.

For full harbour master directions, see herehttp://www.hbrc.govt.nz/.../Harbourmaster.../HMD-04-2026.pdf

Stay safe.

Henry, Coastguard Hawke's Bay

15/09/2026

Kia ora boaties, we have a few important safety messages from the Harbourmaster.

Napier Port
From the 12th of September the Port of Napier Limited will be conducting dredging operations in the main commercial channel. This will be conducted by the dredge New Era, and supported by the Survey vessel Mātai Awa. Both vessels will be Restricted in Ability to Manoeuvre (RAM) all vessels must not impede their passage. Both vessels will have equipment in the water hampering their ability to manoeuvre.
There is a moving prohibited zone around New Era 100m either side and 500m ahead, there is a 50m prohibited zone around the Mātai Awa. Both vessels will be listening on VHF12.

Inner Harbour
Tomorrow, Wednesday 16 Sept), there will be divers operating in the Iron Pot, please keep an eye out for their support vessel, she will be flying a dive (Alpha) flag. The dive supervisor can be contacted on vhf channel 16.

Wave Wall Removal
We are expecting, Cronus, a large (20m x 70m) barge on Sunday 20 Sept, this is very much weather dependant, so that date may change. Due to her size Cronus will enter the channel around the high tide, on Sunday this is 1222. The channel is closed while the barge is manoeuvring in the channel. This maybe as short as 40 minutes or as long as 2 hours.
Cronus will then will be moored in the Iron Pot where she will remove the Nelson Quay Wave Wall and the Discharge Wharf. Site establishment and land-side works will run alongside this. The work is targeted for completion ahead of Christmas.
What does this mean on the water
During manoeuvring the tug and barge are Restricted in Ability to Manoeuvre (RAM) all vessels must not impede its passage and keep 100m clear. No vessel is allowed to use the channel without permission from the Pilot on VHF 12. A 5m exclusion zone will exist while the vessel is working. For the Wave Wall removal, a safety spotter (in red) will be in place to ensure vessels using the Nelson Quay ramp can safely enter and exit.

Stay safe.

Henry
Coastguard Hawkes Bay

13/09/2026

Kia ora folks

This morning during our regular training session we spotted and recovered a large log about 700m off the Inner Harbour entrance. With more boats getting out and about with the improving weather we want to remind everyone to keep an eye out for debris in the water.

Some logs can be hard to spot especially with the sun low in the sky.

Stay safe.

Henry
Coastguard Hawke's Bay

22/08/2026

Kia ora folks,

During the agm we reviewed what had been a very busy year. Our annual average has traditionally been around 29 Coastguard assists and approximately 10 Police jobs.
During 2025/26 we carried out:
• 55 Coastguard assists
• 14 Police jobs
• 1 FENZ job
• 1 RCCNZ job
• 1 medical job
We also recognised the efforts of our crew.
Life Membership was awarded to John Flett and Trevor Mitchell. John and Trevor have contributed a huge amount to our Unit over many years and this is a fitting recognition of that support.
Long service awards:
3 years – Jack Hayward
5 years – George Meredith
Two of our trainees were awarded their Deckhand certificates, well done Carol Chen and Wayne Russell.
Awards:
The 2026 Steve McManaway Trainee of the Year Award went to Steve Gorst.
The Steve McManaway Trainee of the Year award is given out each year in memory of Steve who was not only an enthusiastic volunteer, giving many hours as the unit training officer, but was also a mentor and friend to the new trainees joining our group.
The award recognises the time and effort that individuals put into their training to become professional volunteers; it not only recognises their dedication but also their attitude as part of a critical team.

The 2026 Radio Operator of the Year went to Graeme Calder.
The Radio Operator of the Year Award is an award especially for the radio operations section of our organisation.
Our Coastguard radio provides an essential maritime safety service, whether it is a regular radio watch providing trip reporting, navigational information and weather updates to a critical communications role in times of life-threatening emergencies.

The 2026 Bruce McLeod Rescue Vessel Volunteer of the Year went to Sam Walsh.
The Rescue Vessel Crew Volunteer of the Year Award is an award for Rescue Vessel crew members and is named in memory of Bruce who was one of our early skippers and trainers. The award recognises outstanding work, commitment and teamwork contribution in the maintaining and operation our Celia Knowles Rescue vessel either in normal day to day operations or extraordinary events.
The 2026 Mike Carroll Award for Volunteer of the Year went to Neil Faulkner.
The Mike Carroll Award for volunteer of the year recognizes the efforts of a volunteer from anywhere in our unit, wet, radio, or support. The award recognizes the time and effort that individuals put into providing this service, their dedication and their commitment as part of a critical lifesaving team.

Stay safe.

Henry,
Coastguard Hawke's Bay

Address

704 Meeanee Quay
Napier
4110

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 1pm
Wednesday	9am - 1pm
Friday	9am - 1pm

Telephone

+6468341345

Website

http://www.hawkesbaycoastguard.co.nz/

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