What a year it has been! Sorry that this report is reasonably lengthy, but it had to be to cover all that has gone on in the year.

All in all it has been a fairly quiet year for SAR. We still had a number of activations, most of which we were stood down for before, or soon after we arrived on site, which is quite common due to the distances we have to travel, and in particular due to the nature of searches these days.

It is with regret that I recall the passing of Graham Wilson ZL3KX (ZL3UCU) whom I got to know even better during a 3 day SAR at the Hawdon Shelter. We lost an active and enthusiastic member and a good friend; we will all miss him.

As well as these callouts we were involved with the Regional SAREX at Lake Ida, 3 Sector SAREX’s, the Harris Trophy SAR Competitions, and an activation exercise for the Mt Hutt Rescue Plan. We also hosted two training sessions for Search and Rescue at the Clubrooms, one on GPS, presented by two of our members and one coming up on Managing SAR Operations.

During the year I was active in the writing of a submission to the Police Review supporting the current arrangements between the Police, SAR and us. I also attended the NZLSAR AGM and a number of NZLSAR related meetings keeping up our close relationship with the SAR organisation.

Many members, and other hams, were involved in the three part Operation Pandora Exercise activating Region and all the Area HQ’s over a period of a couple of months.

We were also involved in two major rescue exercises, the first a 12 hour exercise, and then later a 6 hour version of the same thing and a Lyttelton Area exercise. We also assisted with the CD Light Rescue Inter-Firm Competitions.

Geoff has also been involved in providing on-going communications training for CD Volunteers during the year.

As usual a small but dedicated team headed out into the cold and wet conditions during the winter months. They were active for 4 monthly races on local rivers, a weekend away for the Across New Zealand Marathon, and the most part of a week for the NZ River Racing Championship around Oamaru, Wanaka and Queenstown. Still to come this month is their final race on the Waimak.

We have quite a number of other events that we use for exercise and fund raising purposes, the biggest of these, the Coast to Coast, which went off well again, with a bigger team than previously. As well as this we also provided communications support for the New Zealand Motor Cycle Grand Prix at Ruapuna at the end of last year, the Hurunui Endurance race, the City Council Shakedown event, and the Canterbury Rally. Our thanks to North Canterbury Section for their support in the Rally. Unfortunately this year there was no Around the Bays race, we did not get contacted about the Christchurch Marathon, and the Motor Cycle club is now making use of facilities at Ruapuna provided by the Car Club, and no longer requires our assistance.

Still coming up is the Arawa Canoe Club Classic Kayak race, which we did last year as well.

The new Command Vehicle is a major project, which we have been planning for some time, and has come to fruition this year when Geoff spotted a suitable bus. Geoff and Gareth have led this project, putting in a lot of effort, which assistance from many others as well. This project has had a major impact on our financial situation, and so we have been looking for additional funds from sponsorship and other sources. If you are able to provide suggestions or contacts to assist us in finding funds for this project it would be appreciated if you contact Gareth, Geoff or myself.

As well as the new vehicle we have also purchased a more modern portable computer, a new GPS, updated the dual-band set in the Diahatsu and purchased large display digital clocks, as well as various smaller items such as antennas. So through our fund raising exercises such as the Jetboating and the Coast to Coast in particular we continue to improve the equipment that we have on hand to provide the services we do the Search and Rescue, Civil Defence and the many sporting groups that we work with.

As well as all these events and projects many of us have been busy attending meetings, working on repairs and other activities. Also a big thanks to all those that assisted with the working bee to clean out the garage early in the year, this made a big difference.

From me: a very big thank you to all members for your support and efforts through the year, it is a team effort, and I appreciate it a lot. My special thanks to Jeni, Dave and Barry for their work on the "core" team with the extra planning meetings before the main section meeting.

I am willing to stand again as the Section Leader if this is the wish of the members.

73
Steve Davis ZL2UCX