History
Ocean Beach Kiwi traces its origins back to the Kiwi SLSC, the Clifton SLSC and the Ocean Beach SLSC.
The Clifton SLSC was formed at Clifton Beach in 1961 after a breakaway from Waimarama. It was formed by Messrs B. McCarty and E. Clark snr.
Clifton Beach, while not a surf beach, was however a popular swimming, camping, and boating spot, and the start point for the walk to the gannet colony at Cape Kidnappers. Unfortunately, support for the club was not forthcoming, and in 1964 the operations were transferred around the Cape to Ocean Beach, a beautiful untouched surf beach with a small bach settlement and much more in need of a Surf Life Saving patrol. The club was renamed Ocean Beach SLSC.
The Kiwi SLSC was formed in 1964 by Ivan Wilson after a breakaway from the Westshore Club.
The club patrolled the southern end of Westshore Beach. Membership grew quickly and the club achieved immediate success in competition. The beach however was very safe with little surf and in the five years the Kiwi club was based at Westshore, no rescues were carried out.
Members often trained out at Ocean Beach and quickly fell in love with this picturesque golden sandy surf beach. Due to dwindling membership numbers in the Ocean Beach Club, an approach to Kiwi to form an amalgamation took place and in 1970 the Kiwi SLSC and the Ocean Beach SLSC amalgamated to form Ocean Beach Kiwi SLSC.
In the years since amalgamation the club has gone from strength to strength, developing a unique club culture and performing hundreds of rescues along with achieving significant success in competition. The popularity of Ocean Beach is increasing all the time, making a strong surf club essential on this difficult, high-risk beach. The club is proud of its continuous voluntary public service at KIWI and Ocean Beach since 1964.
Our club members come from both Napier and Hastings.
The beach has 30 baches but no permanent residents, therefore the community we serve resides in both the wider Hastings and Napier districts. We also facilitate Beach Education for primary and intermediate schools that travel from all over the Region.
Surf Life Saving helps build self-confidence, self-discipline, integrity, strong character and courage for life, not to mention friendships that last a lifetime.
We train our members to become valuable Life Savers who patrol our beach, teaching techniques from surf swimming through to vital Life Saving and resuscitation skills. During patrol season, Junior Surf (ages 7 – 13) sessions are held at Ocean Beach (and sometimes at Kiwi Beach), each Sunday morning from 10am.
Once 14 and a qualified lifeguard, Surf Sports competition provides members the opportunity to refine and practice their Life Saving skills in the competition arena at local, regional, national and international level. Surf Sports forms a significant component of the Surf Life Saving movement.