About Us
The WSLS has been safeguarding Whanganui’s beaches for more than 100 years and is arguably the oldest club in New Zealand. As far as the records show there has, since the 5th of January 1911, been a body of men and women at Castlecliff beach and at Kai-iwi Beach since 1977, assisting the community to enjoy our beaches safely.
Our beaches
We are a unique club for New Zealand, in that we are one of the very few clubs in NZ to patrol more than beach simultaneously throughout the patrol season. The WSLS strive to keep drownings on our beaches at zero and educate the public about the dangers in and around our beaches by using pro-active lifeguarding techniques.
Check out the SafeSwim pages for our patrolled beaches, including weather, tides and water qaulity reports:
Season 2024/25 Insights
Over the 2024/25 Season (October - March), our Lifeguard teams supported people from Whanganui and afar to enjoy the beaches on our backyard,
Visitor numbers to both beaches continue to rise year on year, with the summer days getting hotter, our Surf Lifeguards kept watch to ensure everyone who was enjoying the refreshing West Coast waters, went home safe.
Our teams provided the below support to beach visitors:
- 6 Rescues
- 536 Preventitive Actions
- 6,612 Safety Interventions
- 1 Search & Rescue Mission
- 5 Minor First Aid actions
Our Organisation Structure & Executive
We are an Incorporated Society which is affiliated to Surf Life Saving New Zealand (SLSNZ) and have a strong and growing membership.
Our WSLS executive board is made up of both governernance advisory and surf lifeguard specialists. Our board members include members from all walks of life, including lawyers, business owners, public servants and private sector executives.
At an annual AGM, the executive board is elected to operate WSLS as an organisation, in line the Surf Life Saving New Zealand framework.
