Coastguard Sumner Lifeboat Station

Inaugurated in 1898, the Sumner Lifeboat Institution Inc. is one of the oldest surviving lifeboat units in the country. Situated at the base of Whitewash Head at the far eastern corner of Sumner Bay, the unit’s recently refurbished and extended headquarters provide an excellent operations base. The extended Sumner community is justifiably proud of the long and distinguished service record provided by its volunteer lifeboat institution. The Institution recently took delivery of its new surf rescue craft, ‘Hamilton Jet Rescue’ which is to replace “Caroline Nicholson’’ a water jet propelled 5.8m Naiad RIB which has served the Institution well for the past 12 years.

Planning for and construction of the new craft took around 3 years and one of the SLBI Management Committee’s main aims for the project was that Christchurch based suppliers would be utilized as much as possible. This would allow the Committee to more easily track the project and to implement design solutions as construction proceeded to suit their specific requirements for the boat.