Here at the Cape, local farmers have been offering a trained, structured response to Maritime Search and Rescue call outs for the past 50 years. We have gone through various name changes, until finally Cape Egmont Sea Rescue Trust was brought in to being in 2009.

Our biggest asset is our local knowledge; sea conditions, coastal topography, tidal movements and weather patterns. Our six senior skippers have over 85 years of SAR experience between them and many more years of boat handling in the notoriously rough, changeable waters off Cape Egmont. All of our 20 volunteer crew are used to being out in heavy seas. If you waited for a flat calm day to go fishing on the Cape, you’d never get out much . . .

We’ve come a long way from our humble beginnings.

In the mid 1960’s a couple of cow cockies from the Cape Egmont Boat Club realised when boats got in trouble locally, it was a long wait for help to arrive. They decided to fix the problem.
Back then, the 17ft recreational fishing boat “Aquarius” was the star of the show. The crew of local farmers would race from cowshed to boat ramp whenever they got that phone call – someone’s missing off The Cape…

Fast forward to 2013 and Cape Egmont Sea Rescue Trust has grown into a highly respected, independent and thriving organisation. We have a $900,000 state of the art purpose built Lavranos  design rescue craft, “TSB Sea Rescue”,  a dedicated and skilled volunteer crew of 20 men and women, a yearly budget of $80,000 and 10 non-crew volunteers working hard in the background.

We train specifically for rescues in the harsh sea conditions prevalent here at the Cape, the most trafficked area by sea and air on the West Coast of New Zealand. We work closely with the police, the rescue helicopter, Taranaki Air Patrol, Surf Life Saving, Coastguard Taranaki from  New Plymouth, and South Taranaki Coastguard.

We are humbled to have generous sponsors ranging from corporates and oil companies to family trusts and donations from school children. We have a range of 400 Nautical Miles (741km) and go out further than 50NM (93km) if we are called.
Training and searching for missing boats and people has cost us $20,000 in fuel and over 3000 man hours in the past 12 months.  Fundraising takes up much of  our time.
But if you are missing at sea, our job is to find you.