Nelson Surf Lifesaving has brought to a close the 2026 season with their last beach patrol and Junior surf day.

What an amazing season it has been:

• Record levels of patrolling hours from our Lifeguards at Tahunanui Beach

• High numbers of new Surf Lifeguards being trained up

• Others up-skilling across all areas

• The SAR team excelling in all events

• Huge growth in our outstanding Junior Surf programme which is the lifeblood of our great club.

The Nelson IRB race team of Courtney, Britt, Pipi, Billie and Elouise made the massive journey to Warrington Beach, Otago to complete in the South Island IRB Champs. The team faced a big 1.5m rolling swell which created some interesting racing. The Open women’s team produced some technical surf racing and are coming home with a bronze medal in the single rescue event.

Big shout-out to Kyan Munnerley who competed in the U12's at Oceans26 (730 competitors u14-u11) representing Nelson this season after completing for Taylors Mistake last year in the U11's.

It’s been another intense and emotional weekend for our Nelson Surf Life Saving Search and Rescue Squad, with more than five separate rescue incidents in strong, unpredictable winds.

What an amazing effort by our mighty Wahine Toa flying the flag high for our Nelson Surf Lifesaving Club!The open women’s IRB team are returning to Nelson after a successful 33 hour trip down to North Beach for the 2026 Canterbury Championships.Courtney Moir, Brittany Spencer, Pipi Johns, and Elouise South came away with two silvers in the Teams and Mass Rescues, and two bronzes in the Assembly and Single Rescues. Unfortunately the team were DQ’d in the Tube Rescue where they displayed extreme dominance, completing the swim and crossing the finish line before other teams left the swim cans. This has left the girls hungry for a gold at the South Island Championships which kicks off on March 14 at Warrington Beach, Otago!

Nelson Surf Life Saving Club is asking the community to help complete its new clubhouse at Tāhunanui. With $3.29 million of the $4.9 million project already secured, the club has launched a Donate a Brick campaign to raise the final funds and support the volunteers who serve the region year-round — from beach patrols to Search and Rescue callouts.

The Nelson Surf Life Saving Club is proud to have nine outstanding wāhine toa representing the club at the upcoming Surf Life Saving New Zealand IRB Nationals in Gisborne this March.

This dedicated group spans from youth through to Masters competitors and reflects the strength, skill, and spirit of our IRB programme. The team has been training hard and is looking forward to competing alongside clubs from across Aotearoa.

To support their Nationals campaign, the team is running three fantastic raffles:

What an incredible day we had at our Junior Surf Club Champs on Sunday!

We had 8 juniors head down to New Brighton for the South Island Junior Champs over the long weekend.

It was a massive weekend for our juniors as most of them had never participated in such a big competition with big surf. Everyone handled the pressure of racing and the fear of heading out into the big surf with confidence and happy enthusiasm. There were definitely a few butterflies but being part of a strong team they all encouraged and supported each other which so great to see.

An epic weekend was had by all at the Tasman IRB Development Weekend! A huge thank you to the amazing team from Rārangi Surf Life Saving Club for their incredible hospitality, and a massive shout-out to Brendon Ferguson (Rārangi SLSC) for running such a top-notch weekend, supported by the awesome efforts of Ariana McGee, Benson Geary, and Carl Tresfield. Big thanks also to Amy Phillips SLSNZ | Southern Region for her support in organising and bringing it all together.

Nelson turned on the weather for what was a hugely successful Nelson Carnival last Saturday the 10th Jan 2026.

A total of 150 athletes were in attendance across 7 South Island clubs. A super close competition with the honours ultimately being taken out by North Beach by a slim margin of 3 points over Nelson SLSC.

December Newsletter

Epic day on Sunday with over 80 kids on the beach. Big thanks to everyone that helped out. So nice to wrap the season with a sausage sizzle filling some hungry tummies.

The SAR team finished off their training for the year in style with an over night camp on a secret island followed by a marine SAREX the following day. The team flew via helicopter up the applebee river with x2 IRBs sling loaded in the net.

New guards join the team

What an absolute stunner of a day down at Tāhunanui Beach! The beach was buzzing, with over 90 of our Nippers loving the morning waves at Junior Surf, Bravo Patrol group kicking off their first patrol of the season, and a surf lifeguard exam taking place!

A fun day for Junior Surf at Kaiteriteri beach.

Inter agency training at its best once again! On Sunday 23rd November we linked up with our good friends from “Nelson Marlborough rescue helicopter” and “Coast Guard Nelson” for some on water winch training.

The Nelson Open Women IRB Race Team made an outstanding impression at the Eastern Region Development Clinic and Competition held at Papamoa Beach.

Libby Bolland and Mitre 10 supporting SAR with generous donations.