Brian Rogers Rogers Rabbits www.sunlive.co.nz

The surf is really dangerous. It's the only public place, apart from some swimming pools and the odd political rally, where dudes stand ready to stop others dying on a regular basis.

In the news this week, again a local surf instructor helped a trio to safety. Every week on TV we have Piha Rescue earbashing us with how risky it is and how marvellous the rescuers are.
Yet if I go out the entrance of the harbour in my boat, or even surf in my kayak, the law says I must wear a lifejacket. I must have a fitting lifejacket on board for all passengers. This is JUST IN CASE we end up in the water.
Swimmers using our surf beaches end up in that same water.
Only they INTEND to go in it; there is no doubt that they will end up swimming.
Not so the boater, who MIGHT go in. The boater will only end up swimming if something goes badly wrong. A one in a million chance.
Why then, when we know the surf is so dangerous, is it not illegal to enter without a lifejacket? Surely this is the only sensible option?
Answer: Because it's ‘uncool'.
There's something masochistically heroic about throwing yourself into the surf wearing just a skimpy outfit, and when you get in trouble, which is virtually guaranteed to happen to some people, an even more heroic person in an even skimpier outfit will save you.

Sink or float
The compulsory wearing of flotation in the surf has been the topic of discussion quite a lot lately. We've had some good letters here in The Sun and on comments on SunLive.
Surely it's time as a culture we got over the ‘uncool' concept of swimming with a buoyancy aid, just like we got over the need to smoke.
I can understand surfers not wearing buoyancy or restrictive gear, especially when they're paddling out. I can see the absurdity of trying to duck dive under a 2 metre green Pacific roller on Tay Street wearing a bright orange Hutchwilco with supportive neck collar and emergency whistle. It clearly won't work and won't catch on.
But then surfers hardly ever get into trouble. Besides being leashed to a floating board, and probably wearing wetsuits with inherent buoyancy, they are ocean-savvy, fit and have a good understanding of how to stay alive in the swells.
The average beach bunny does not. These are the people who flock to the coastline in droves, throwing themselves and their kids into imminent danger like lemmings; with an equally enthusiastic bunch of clubbies watching and waiting to make a sport of saving them.
I detect a certain reticence from some in the surf club fraternity to suggestions that their victims should have lifejackets. After all, it tears at the heart of the sport's base of thousands of potential patients and undermines the entire basis for surf life saving's existence.
But from a perfectly commonsense point of view, it is bizarre that we allow beaches with surf to stay open to people without the ability to keep themselves afloat, while legislating the same against people who MIGHT end up in the water, falling from their boats.
Besides, I'm sure the surf life saving movement as a sport will still thrive even if they have a bit less rescuing to do. It's a great pastime with fantastic values and morals and promotes a lot of what is quintessential Kiwiness: fitness, teamwork, an appreciation for our natural environment and a sense of caring for others.
As an avid watersports fanatic, I rarely go out without a vest. I'm long over the ‘uncool' factor, and these days there's pretty funky gear around.
For example, a Seventh Wave vest that I use a lot when surfing, skurfing, boarding and generally mucking around is a slim fitting, streamlined buoyancy aid that isn't a fully fledged, regulation-compliant lifejacket – but it's enough to help when it counts. It's great for those times that a full blown legal jacket isn't required.

Gadgets and gizmo's
But there are other advantages of a buoyancy aid, fit for the purpose.
Even provision of pockets and tags for gear – such as water bottles, camel backs, knife, waterproof VHF, camera, snacks, fishing gear or whatever – makes time on the water not just safer, but more fun. Plus, you can stay out longer.
In an age when Nanny State is sticking her nose into every crevice of our lives, it's strange that she's apparently overlooked a seriously fatal flaw in our culture that could easily save lives and prevent a whole of 'ambulance at the bottom of the beach” dramas.
On the subject of water action, the RR offshore research team had some interesting encounters over the last two weeks, off the coast of the Bay and Coromandel.
Most notable was the tsunami surges on Saturday morning and the woeful lack of information available from Civil Defence, via Coastguard, to boaties already on the water Friday night. The full account is in this month's Waterline Magazine coming out next week; and on Brian's Boat Blog on SunLive.

Show us your credentials
On a lighter note, it's not every day we get to play ‘Sea Patrol'.
It was while I was diving and the co-skipper was working on maximum Vitamin D intake on the front deck, that the navy arrived. Not just a few keen eyed sailors, but a whole ship full. Virtually our entire navy. Whether they'd spotted the beautiful features adorning our bow, or heard about our rum stocks, it's hard to say. But I guess there were a lot of ship's telescopes trained on our foredeck.
Claire didn't notice any of this – the arrival of a warship, the launching of the ship's RIBs and the approach of the fully kitted, helmeted boarding party.
I'd just popped up from a dive to find ourselves thrust into a real life episode of ‘Sea Patrol'. Luckily I've watched every episode, so I know what always happens.
Normally a couple of members of the Hammersley's crew are taken hostage by the bad guys, but later miraculously escape and then apprehend the baddies.
I was just trying to figure out how a portly middle-aged yachtie in a leotard-like wetsuit and a bad haircut was effectively going to overpower the entire fit young navy RIB crew; tie a couple of them up, at least until the commercial break. Then I thought, hang on, this is the NZ Navy, those dramas only happen to the Aussie Navy.
Any further illusions about the reality of Sea Patrol were shattered when instead of the blonde, beautiful, slim XO sashaying alongside; we got the NZ version – a short, rotund frumpy woman from Stratford with freckles and glasses. There goes that fanciful ideal.
They were nice people, though. Very professional and polite, Lieutenant Frumps in pursuit of customs violators.
Luckily, the navy left before they heard the muffled sounds from below decks of our six Somalian refugee families, hidden amongst the sacks of cocaine and opium poppy seeds; or whatever is fashionable to smuggle these days.
Fortunately they didn't find the rum stocks.

The full story, and pictures (except the foredeck scenery) coming up in this month's Waterline Magazine.
Take care out there and, set a new fashion trend - wear some flotation in the surf.