Meet the volunteers Coastguard Tautiaki Moana is celebrating this year
Auckland, 1 November 2026 - On Saturday night, volunteers from across Aotearoa gathered in Auckland to celebrate an outstanding year of lifesaving mahi at our Excellence Awards.
This year we included a hand-carved taonga as the new centrepiece of recognition.
74 nominations came in this year (up from 72 in 2025) across our seven categories. Below are our seven national winners and 14 regional winners. Congratulations to every one of them, and to every volunteer and unit who was nominated.
Crew Member of the Year
National winner: Geoff Eban, Coastguard Nelson
Geoff Eban joined Coastguard Nelson in 2017 and has become one of the unit's most respected operational leaders, serving as Bosun, Senior Crew Member, relief Duty Officer, Incident Management Team member and Management Committee member. His technical expertise was on full display during the recovery of the grounded 52-foot ketch Vaila in Te Puketea Bay, where his analysis and recommendations from shore helped the vessel refloat safely before a tow back to Adele Island. Beyond the water, Geoff introduced TimeZero search-planning software to the unit, project-managed its rescue vessel build through to commissioning in 2021 and has since given more than 200 volunteer hours a year maintaining and upgrading it. Colleagues describe him as the benchmark for what an outstanding Coastguard volunteer looks like; technically excellent, endlessly generous with his knowledge, and quick to step back so newer crew can grow.
Regional winners - Roy Pearson - Coastguard Mangawhai; Mark Johnston - Coastguard Wellington
Outstanding Leadership Award
National winner: Annette Nistor, Coastguard Nelson
Annette Nistor exemplifies the very best of Coastguard leadership; quiet, consultative and empowering. As President of Coastguard Nelson, she has strengthened the unit's governance, volunteer development and community profile. She has championed initiatives like Suddenly in Charge and the forward-looking Project Tora, which is exploring faster, more localised rescue capability for remote Golden Bay and Tasman Bay communities. She leads by example too; progressing from Qualified Crew (2020) to Senior Crew (2023) to Master (2026) while serving as President. In her first deployment as Skipper, tasked at 1am to a critically ill patient aboard a commercial fishing vessel off D'Urville Island, she calmly led her crew through a complex five-hour medical evacuation. Annette epitomises inspiring the next generation of volunteers, "under her leadership style our unit has grown its younger volunteers including our female volunteers," says Peter Kara, former Coastguard Nelson President and current Water Safety Council member.
Regional winners - Zane Bryhn - Coastguard Hibiscus; Richard Middleton & James Groombridge (joint) - Coastguard Wellington
Unit Support Volunteer of the Year
National winner: Brigid Green, Coastguard Raglan
Since joining Coastguard Raglan as secretary in 2006, and later taking the treasurer's role, Brigid Green has quietly become the backbone of the unit. Her astute financial management has helped Raglan bank $700,000 toward a new rescue vessel build and a further $50,000 for two new jet skis, while her focus on health and safety has equipped the unit with defibrillators, full PPE and a comprehensive first-aid kit. She personally administers Raglan's Bar Crossing Safety Days, which reached 130 boaties this year and more than 4,000 people over two decades. Her nomination describes a culture of accountability, respect and calm competence that other units have come to know as "the Raglan gold standard", two decades of unglamorous, essential work that keeps the unit's crews focused on the job of saving lives.
Regional winners - James Truebridge - Coastguard Turangi; Crystal Gaiger - Coastguard Nelson
Emerging Volunteer of the Year
National winner: Zane Smith, Coastguard West Coast
When Zane Smith joined Coastguard West Coast in February 2025, the unit had no operational rescue assets, no qualified Masters and just a single qualified crew member, Coastguard Tautiaki Moana had paused operations while the unit rebuilt. As a professional consultant and educator with deep local knowledge of the Grey River Bar through the surfing and waterman community, Zane was asked to help. He did far more than help himself progress; as Unit Training Coordinator and now a Board member, he identified and recruited experienced watermen and jet-ski specialists, and by March 2026 six had qualified as Coastguard Rescue Watercraft Masters, a specialist capability that simply didn't exist in the unit fourteen months earlier. He also helped the unit re-establish its community presence, producing water-safety videos with West Coast Health that reached more than 5,000 people online, and designing the unit's first school-based water-safety programme since the rebuild, reaching more than 90 local students. His nomination is unambiguous about where the credit lies; "his greatest contribution has not been his own advancement, but his role in helping build the people, systems, culture and future readiness" of the unit.
Regional winners - Robbie Parish - Coastguard Hibiscus; Jordan Charles - Coastguard Maketu
Community Engagement Unit of the Year
National winner: Coastguard Auckland
Coastguard Auckland proves community engagement doesn't need a big team, just a consistent one. Across 44 events this year, from the On-Water Auckland Boat Show to Outboard Boating Club open days and visits from Scouts and Brownies, volunteers gave 457 hours and connected with roughly 3,500 people. More than 100 people had a lifejacket properly fitted and shown how to fit it themselves; around 800 stepped aboard the unit's heavy rescue vessel, Lion Foundation Rescue, to see first-hand what a rescue looks like. For the second year running, the unit has also sent Lion Foundation Rescue north to the Bay of Islands for a month over the busy summer period, supporting that community while keeping its own boats crewed at home. It's community engagement built on relationships, not one-off appearances. Their engaging presence is what makes the difference, year after year.
Regional winners - Coastguard South Taranaki; Coastguard Marlborough
Rescue of the Year
National winner: Coastguard Wellington
On 20 May 2026, Coastguard Wellington undertook one of the most demanding rescues of the year; a night-time medical evacuation 42 nautical miles south-east of the capital, near Cape Palliser, for a sailor suffering seizures aboard a yacht. Tasked by Police and RCCNZ at 8pm, a crew of two Masters and two Qualified Crew, plus a Maritime Police Unit officer, had Spirit of Wellington underway within 15 minutes, with CNOC securing approval for the vessel to operate beyond its certified limits given the seriousness of the case. In gale-force winds and rough seas, the crew navigated to the casualty vessel, assessed the situation and carried out a direct vessel-to-vessel transfer in darkness, without injury or collision. The return leg was, if anything, tougher; more than three and a half hours pushing north through 2.5–3.5m seas and 25–30 knot winds. The patient was handed to Wellington Free Ambulance at 3.45am, almost eight hours after the initial callout. The following night, worsening conditions saw the yacht's skipper himself request evacuation, recovered by an RNZAF P-8 Poseidon and HMNZS Taupo, underscoring just how serious the conditions Coastguard Wellington's crew had already navigated really were.
Regional winners - Coastguard Houhora; Coastguard North Canterbury
Unit of the Year
National winner: Coastguard Nelson
Coastguard Nelson's nomination reads like a masterclass in doing the job today while building for the future. The unit responded to 74 requests for assistance and 58 operational incidents during the nomination period, saving seven lives across three complex rescues, including the grounding of a fishing vessel in French Pass and assisting a further 126 people over 870-plus volunteer hours at sea. Behind that operational record sits serious investment; 90 training sessions totalling 1,725 volunteer hours, a new digital communications platform, a capital reserve that has more than doubled to roughly $290,000, and a membership that is both younger and closer to 30% female than it's ever been. The unit also backed the Suddenly in Charge programme and launched Project Tora, working directly with remote Golden Bay and Abel Tasman communities on faster, more localised rescue capability. It's a unit Nelson Police Search and Rescue singles out as an outstanding SAR partner, and one the Mayor of Nelson recognised publicly during National Volunteer Week.
Regional winners - Coastguard Auckland; Coastguard Wellington
Congratulations to every finalist.
