New Zealand’s Most Dedicated Volunteer Lifeguard Is 75 and Still Saving Lives at Piha and Karekare

Karel Witten-Hannah was 34 years old and teaching computer programming at Massey High School in West Auckland when he first qualified as a surf lifeguard in 1985. Forty years later, at 75, he is still patrolling the black-sand beaches of Piha and Karekare — and this past summer he logged more volunteer hours than any other surf lifeguard in New Zealand.

According to Surf Lifesaving New Zealand, Witten-Hannah clocked more than 340 volunteer hours during the 2025-26 season, attending patrols every weekend of the 25-week season bar one. That kind of dedication would be remarkable in someone half his age. In a 75-year-old who manages arthritis in both knees, it is quite simply extraordinary.

Piha and Karekare are among the most dangerous swimming beaches in the country. Their wild surf, powerful rip currents and unpredictable conditions have claimed many lives over the decades. They are also, on any warm summer weekend, packed with families, tourists and swimmers who underestimate what the Tasman Sea can do. For four decades, Witten-Hannah has been the calm, watchful presence on the sand — the person who knows when a rip has shifted, when a swimmer is in trouble, when someone needs to be talked back from the water’s edge before they make a decision they cannot undo.

His record of service is remarkable. He has rescued a young surfer who was blown two kilometres out to sea at night, guided to safety in near-total darkness. He helped free a passenger after surviving a plane crash on Karekare Beach in 1998 that killed the pilot, Sergeant Phil Stubbs. He was involved in the Cyclone Gabrielle response in 2023. And he sought mental health support through Te Kiwi Māia in 2024 — an honest acknowledgement that four decades of witnessing emergencies at the water’s edge takes a toll that physical fitness alone cannot address.

To maintain the level of fitness required, Witten-Hannah swims and hikes three times a week and uses weights, a rowing machine and a cycling machine to stay ready. Each season he must pass the compulsory 600-metre run-swim-run fitness test that all active lifeguards complete. The arthritis in his knees has changed how he operates — he tends to favour rescue tube work over the inflatable rescue boat — but it has not blunted his commitment to showing up, weekend after weekend, for an entire season.

What keeps drawing him back, he told RNZ, is something deeper than routine or habit. “Life doesn’t get much better than this,” he said. He described his motivation as rooted in manaakitanga — the ethic of hospitality, care and support for others — while noting that he receives as much from the role as he gives. That mutual sense of belonging and purpose is something surf lifesaving fosters in a way few other voluntary organisations can match.

Lifeguarding has become a multigenerational calling for his family. All three of his children were volunteer lifeguards at various points in their lives. Six of his grandchildren are now involved in surf lifesaving in some form. Three generations of the Witten-Hannah family have patrolled the same beaches together — a community legacy that is quietly rare in modern New Zealand, and a testament to what can happen when one person’s dedication takes root in those around them.

The story of Karel Witten-Hannah is also, in a broader sense, the story of the volunteer network that makes New Zealand’s coastal communities safer than they would otherwise be. Surf lifesaving in this country depends almost entirely on unpaid people who give up their weekends, maintain their fitness, undertake ongoing training and turn up regardless of wind and weather. Without them, New Zealand’s most popular beaches would be far more dangerous. Witten-Hannah is not alone in that commitment — there are thousands of volunteer lifeguards around the country — but he stands out even within that remarkable group.

His life beyond the flags is equally varied. He served as a United Nations polling station officer during the 1993 Cambodian elections, as that country attempted its first democratic vote after decades of conflict. That same year he appeared as an extra in Jane Campion’s film The Piano, the New Zealand-made production that won the Palme d’Or at Cannes and three Academy Awards. He is someone who has found his way into history both large and small, from the dunes of West Auckland to the polling booths of Southeast Asia.

He has expressed no plans to retire. If you have ever swum safely at Piha or Karekare and come home without incident, there is a reasonable chance Karel Witten-Hannah was the person watching over the water. New Zealand is fortunate to have him — and fortunate to have the thousands of volunteers who follow his example on beaches from Northland to Stewart Island.

What do you think of the dedication shown by volunteer lifeguards like Karel Witten-Hannah? Share your thoughts in the comments below.