About Pāpāmoa Surf Life Saving Club (PSLSC)

MISSION |
To prevent drowning and injury on Pāpāmoa Beach. |
VISION |
Delivering excellence in lifeguarding, surf sport and leadership programmes through strong membership and community engagement. |
VALUES |
Fun, Respect, Encouragement, Excellence, Commitment |
During the 2024/2025 season, the Pāpāmoa Surf Life Saving Club had over 900 members and achieved some impressive results:
- We had 137 volunteer Surf Lifeguards patrolling our beaches
- They completed over 3,900 volunteer lifeguard patrol hours
- And performed 1,138 preventative actions
- They carried out 1 rescue from the water, 5 assists and 5 major first aids
- We qualified 30 new Surf Lifeguards and 5 new Patrol Support people
- We gained 2 new IRB Crewpersons, 7 new IRB Drivers and 1 new IRB examiner
- 8 of our Rookies qualified as lifeguards
- Over 1,300 primary school students attended SLSNZ’s beach education programme at the Club
- 417 kids were involved in our Junior Surf programme, supported by 38 volunteer Junior Surf coaches
- We were the top finishing Club at Oceans ‘25 Festival of Junior Lifesaving, winning more medals than any other club
- 3 senior athletes were selected to represent New Zealand at international competitions
- We crowned national champions across all surf sports age groups
- 14 qualified officials volunteered their time at regional and national competitions
The Pāpāmoa Surf Life Saving Club’s core purpose is to prevent drowning and injury on Pāpāmoa Beach.
Although one of the youngest clubs in New Zealand, the membership of PSLSC has grown rapidly and substantially to become one of the largest with almost 900 members aged from 5 years through to 80.
In addition to our Lifeguard Service, PSLSC offers a comprehensive Junior Surf Programme for 5-13 year olds, a Rookies Junior Lifeguard Programme for 12-13 year olds and a competitive Surf Sports Programme for those 10 years and above.
The club has a large active membership passionate about our beach community.
The dedicated (unpaid) lifeguards of PSLSC devote close to 4,000 volunteer hours each summer to ensure the safety of the community. Thousands of hours are spent training through our surf sports programmes developing lifeguards in an environment that is safe, fun, goal focused and disciplined, enabling our members to achieve their full potential.
Pāpāmoa SLSC volunteers also provide an on-call 24/7 rescue service all year round and support local emergency services when necessary.
Our Junior Surf Programme is developing tomorrow's lifeguards and opening up a whole new world to children. The national Junior Surf Programme is designed for 7-13 year olds but at Pāpāmoa we have extended this to include 5 and 6 year olds. By encouraging our kids to have fun and to participate safely in the surf lifesaving spirit of fair play, it is an ideal way for children to develop and improve their surf lifesaving knowledge and skills for themselves, and one day possibly for others.
Pāpāmoa Beach is a 14km stretch of white sandy coastline renowned for great swimming and surfing.
Pāpāmoa is one of the fastest growing communities in New Zealand and over 20,000 people visit the beach here each summer. This beautiful coastline is bordered by an ever-lengthening residential strip of housing making it the longest stretch of beach actively patrolled by any club in the country. This growth is bringing new people into our community, a large number of which have low levels of beach awareness and water skills. Statistics collated by Surf Life Saving New Zealand confirm the Pāpāmoa club sits within the top ten busiest nationally for patrol hours, rescues, first aids, preventative actions and other on-beach activity to keep beach visitors safe.