The newly minted skippers, Sharyn Gingell-Kent and Graeme Evans, sat and passed their final Coastguard examinations on June 30.
They replace longtime skippers Lynn Stuart, who retired last year, and Jonathan Walmisley and David Balls, who recently decided to step back from boat master duties but remain as volunteers.
The appointments now bring Wānaka’s skipper tally to four, including Chris Thornton and David Brown.
Mrs Gingell-Kent said she was thrilled to graduate from senior operational crew member to skipper, after seven years of study, practise, and training.
She is also a Coastguard instructor and training co-ordinator.
"There were so many rules and regulations to learn, so many — for example, about all sorts of lights that we don’t even have in Lake Wānaka. But you just have to learn them all. That is the big disadvantage to not being in Auckland," she said.
Mrs Gingell-Kent said she and Mr Evans would drive the rescue boat as senior operational crew, but as skippers they had a more "hands off" role on the boat, directing the crew.
"We have to stand at the back of the boat and maintain situational awareness," she said.
The skipper’s priorities were to maintain the safety of the crew and the boat, do risk assessments and prioritise tasks for the crew, she said.
Mr Evans joined the unit about four years ago.
He used to sail, as a child, and saw the unit "as a chance to help out the community. That’s the guts of it. No-one wants people to get into trouble on the lake."
Mrs Gingell-Kent had never driven a power boat before joining up.
Her water experiences include open water swimming, paddleboarding, rowing, scuba diving and sailing.
She was keen for more members to join the Wānaka unit.
"Over the last five years, Coastguard has changed a lot. In the old regime I came through, it took ages to become an operational crew member. It took three years. Now they have structured it so you can progress from deckhand to qualified crew, so they can get the crew out there on the boat and doing something," she said.
Online learning has also been introduced and the new curriculum ensured trainees felt productive much earlier in their voluntary career, she said.
Volunteers are given first aid and defibrillator training, with a focus on treating hypothermia and bleeding injuries.
The volunteers meet and train on Monday evenings in the Marine Rescue Centre at Eely Point and many are women, including four women in the boat crew and five training to be radio operators through Wānaka Land Search and Rescue (SAR), as part of a co-ordinated SAR management system.
Over the years, Mrs Gingell-Kent has pulled many swimmers from the cold lake suffering cold water shock.
The unit patrols swimming, rowing and other sports events, lakeside music festivals, New Year’s fireworks displays, Warbirds Over Wānaka displays, and help with Mount Aspiring College lake activities.
Volunteers have also experienced their fair share of sad occasions, taking part in search and rescues and retrieving people who have not survived.
Mrs Gingell-Kent said she would advise people attempting cold water swims to join Wānaka Lake Swimmers Club.
"What you get taught there and the camaraderie and the support of the club gives you the lessons on how to cope with cold water," she said.
Coastguard volunteers must also do a 50-metre cold water swim in full uniform — "gumboots and all".
"That is so you get to experience that cold water shock and realise how cold the lake is," she said.
"Cold water shock makes you breath in, and if you are under water, you will have water in your lungs straight away," she said.
