The Sixties

OCEAN BEACH KIWI

1964/65

Members and family attending prize giving at KIWI Beach Westshore.

The wooden building was public changing rooms owned by the Napier City Council. The Council allowed the club to use the back half to store Life Saving equipment. The building was replaced later with a concrete block building which was demolished in 2023 due to the beach erosion.

1965 Nationals

1965 Team of ten that represented the club at their first nationals at New Brighton Beach Christchurch all 14 or 15 year olds

The age group was called junior anyone under 18 years of age.
Back Row: L Dixon B Wilson G Larsen R Jones F Harbottle I Davidson
Front: K Eddy N Williams C Plunket P Clarke.

1965 Nationals

Back in the day 6-man rescue and resuscitation was the premier event every club wanted to win.

The training included lots of swimming and perfect precision drill work. The six positions in the team were drawn for before the event started so every member needed to know every position. Two swim positions one reel man and three linesman. On the gun it was a race to the team’s buoy by the swimmer/patient. The swimmer raised his hand when he touched his buoy and then the belt man towing the line swam to the swimmer/patient to rescue him. The first belt man to his buoy lost no points. All those behind him lost points. The linesman were paying out the line for the belt man and the reel man controlled the line coming off the reel. The linesman and reel man then pulled the belt man and patient back to shore and proceeded to perform Resuscitation on the patient all to perfect drill precision. Points were deducted for mistakes made and the team with the lowest points got the Gold.

Left to right: Patient/swimmer P Clarke, Belt man F Harbottle, Reel man L Dixon, Linesman R Jones, B Wilson and I Davidson

The 1965 team waiting for the gun to start the race. Notice the sneaky judge looking for a mistake so he can deduct points.

This team finished 5th in the final a mighty effort for a first time competing team. Team coached by the famous Ivan Wilson.

1965 Nationals

The 1965 team marching out of the arena after competing.

1966 Nationals

Same team as above 1965 Junior 6-man rescue and resuscitation Team 4^th in the final.3^rd junior canoe, 3^rd marchpast and 2^nd junior belt race Brian Wilson.

1966 Nationals

From left to right: C Manning, B Bennett, G Larsen and C Plunket

1966 Our brand new surf canoe called Rangi needed a crew to race it at Nationals so the four left over from the 6-man team got talked into racing Rangi which was a very heavy slow fibreglass canoe.

As expected and without much practise we were left for dead at the start of the three rounds of races out around the buoys and back. The other clubs had the new light weight very fast wooden surf canoes. However the first two races were contested in huge surf conditions at Oakura beach. The fast canoes got well ahead of us at the start but the big waves just smashed them backwards to the shore. Our crew just closed our eyes and hoped for the best. Rangi being heavy and a brass nose on it just smashed through the waves. One of the other clubs wooden canoes hit Rangi and sunk. Rangi just kept going. After we opened our eyes and got back to the shore we found we had won the race. Same thing happened in the next race wow we had won two races. In the last race the surf went flat and we got last. However we were third on overall points. From that day onward Rangi became one of our greatest club hero’s and many fun wave rides were had by club members in Rangi the canoe that had no rudder and no one could steer straight on a wave at ocean beach.

1967 Nationals

finished 4th in final of 6-man, 3rd in march past and Brian Wilson 3rd in junior surf race 400
Left to right: C Plunket, G Larsen, B Bennett, B Wilson, F Harbottle and S Denholm.

1967 Women's Team

1967 was the first season for our woman’s team coached by Gil Ockey the girls performed extremely well locally and nationally against more experienced teams.
From left to right: S Berridge, K White, D Harbottle, J Tutt, J McCormack, M Sweeney and R Ludvigson

1968 Nationals Titahi Bay

Junior 6-man team finished 4th in the final. Left to right B Wilson, R Pike, P Burns, S Denholm, B Bennett and G Larsen.

1968 Nationals Titahi Bay

With depth in numbers of members we could now form a second 6-man rescue and resuscitation team
Left to right: J Simmonds, B Prenderville, I MacKay, B Faulknor,R Shaw and R Brown.

1968 Nationals

The first gold medals for the club won by the junior surf team’s race (swimming in a relay) and Brian Wilson first in the individual surf race (swim). Brian also finished second in the belt race (towing the belt to the buoy).
Left to right: Russell Brown, Brian Wilson, Davy Jones and Peter Burns.

Mid Sixty’s

By the mid sixty’s and with the help from the KIWI swim club section membership numbers had started to grow. The photo shows a march past at an opening day at KIWI Beach notice the sand on the beach which is not there anymore.

Mid Sixty’s to 2023 Westshore Erosion

Photo 2034 shows the beach mid- sixties. Cars parked behind the beach and club house was behind the cars and road. Photo 20230626 shows KIWI beach Westshore 2023 bad erosion. Good thing we moved to Ocean Beach 1970. The sand dunes, car park, road and surf club building GONE. Surf now comes up to where the club house was.

Mid Sixty’s Wooden Racing Surf Skis

Wooden racing surf skis were introduced into the club mid sixty’s. The photo shows a club race from KIWI Beach to the Napier port and back.

Left to right: R Shaw, K Bennett, P Redman, G Larsen S Larsen and G Bristow.

1968 Surf Awards

1968 Gaining 19 new surf awards (new qualified life guards) in the season by any club in New Zealand. The club won the National Gudsell Trophy. “In competition the club gained two national titles, seven Wellington regional titles and ten Hawkes Bay titles and trophies said Ivan Wilson” the club president.

Some of the team with trophies.

Back row: I Wilson, J Simmons B Bennett, C Frost, B Wilson, B Prenderville, P Burns G Ockey instructor.

Middle row: I McKay, B Faulknor, B Ludvigsen, A Horton, S Larsen, R Shaw,

Front Row: M Wilson, D Scott, R Pike G Larsen, R Brown, R Carnegie

1969 Team Training

1969 members of the Hawkes Bay team training at Westshore

Left to right: Brian Wilson (KIWI) Alan Christie (Westshore) Ben Bennett (KIWI) Greg Larsen (KIWI) and Paddy Guthrie (Westshore)

Brian Wilson was a beast when swim racing in the belt always finishing in top three at Nationals as a junior under 18 competitor.

Check out Brian’s complete record with the club in the next section “The Seventies”

The Sixties

The Ocean Beach Kiwi Surf Life Saving Club Inc Founding Members and Life Members

Members and family attending prize giving at KIWI Beach Westshore.

1965 Team of ten that represented the club at their first nationals at New Brighton Beach Christchurch all 14 or 15 year olds

Back in the day 6-man rescue and resuscitation was the premier event every club wanted to win.

From left to right: C Manning, B Bennett, G Larsen and C Plunket

1969 members of the Hawkes Bay team training at Westshore

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