Coastguard Raglan, with support from Environment Waikato, is helping to educate boaties on how to cross the notorious Raglan bar and to be generally safer at sea.

The Coastguard is holding a Raglan-specific course for boaties on Sunday 15 November, while EW will be providing safe boating resources and regional harbour guides to participants.

In 2009 to date, five incidents on the Raglan bar involving boats have been reported to the Raglan harbourmaster. All of these incidents involved the vessels capsizing with a total of ten people impacted, and, sadly, one of the incidents was fatal.

“When we ran this course last April about 90 people turned up, so there’s a definite need for people to learn about bar crossing,” Coastguard Raglan’s Kevin Dreaver said.

The course on 15 November will run from 9.00am to about 1pm. Registration starts at 8.30am at the Raglan Fire Station at 11 Wainui Road. A course fee of $20 is payable by cash or cheque. Participants should bring a lifejacket, as a boat trip out on the bar is included.

A range of useful material, including safe boating resources and North Island harbour guides, will also be available from EW on the day.