^{This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website}

Beach Signal Flags (New Zealand)

Flags on patrolled beaches
Flags for signalling
BP Surf Rescue flag
Beach flag in Surf Life Saving NZ logo

See also:

Other sites:

Surf Live Saving NZ

Flags on patrolled beaches

Swimming area boundary flag
image by António Martins, 17 May 2007

Red over yellow flags are used on patrolled beaches in New Zealand and other countries such as Australia and Hong Kong. In New Zealand, the usual situation is that when lifeguards are in attendance the beachside building they use as their office/HQ flies the flag of that particular club (usually a logo, and often sponsored). Two red and yellow flags will be placed on temporary poles hammered into the sand of the beach at either end of the patrolled area, and the public are advised to "Swim between the flags".
James Dignan, 22 May 2005

Considering the other flags of this group shown in the Surf Life Saving PDF found by Jan, I'd say the ratio is 4:5 (the images in the pdf are exactly 76:93, which is even "squarer" than 4:5).
António Martins, 3 July 2007

Certainly the flags I've seen are longer than square, and a rudimentary measure of them last summer suggested 3:4, but I didn't have a ruler with me on the beach. 4:5 is equally likely (as I suggested in my last message).
James Dignan, 3 July 2007

António Martins wonders whether there are flags for New Zealand similar to the board riding, no swimming and shark alarm flags in Australia.

I don't know of any of the above - the local surf club has a shark bell which is used to get people out of the water when there are sharks around, but I don't know of any flags.
James Dignan, 17 May 2007

Danger flag
image by António Martins, 3 July 2007

This Surf Life Saving NZ PDF document includes another flag: The "danger flag" is, like in Australia, dark red, but with the «International “No Swimming” Logo» in black centered on it. Again, ratio is about 4:5.
António Martins, 3 July 2007

I first saw [this flag] a couple of days ago. Hoisted on the same staff as the red & yellow patrolled beach flag was a slightly smaller flag (below the red & yellow flag), probably about 3:5.
James Dignan, 18 December 2007

Flags for signalling

image by António Martins, 2 July 2007

Seen at the bottom of this Surf Live Saving NZ page (PDF), a “Signal flag / Used for communicating with other Surf Lifeguards through the SLSNZ signals system. Now largely replaced by rescue tubes”. Shown is a square orange flag with a blue ascending diagonal.

This page from Bondi Surf Club in Australia shows some examples of messages relayed by this flag, including “attract attention” (two photos), “go to left” (one photo) and “investigate submerged object” (two photos). More examples are shown on these Danish pages (in Danish): first “animated” pictures, second a parade of similar photos.
Jan Mertens, 3 March 2007

The flag seems 4:5, rather than square, like the yellow/red safe swimming flags.
António Martins and James Dignan, 2-3 July 2007

BP Surf Rescue flag

From where I sit at the computer, I can see the flagpole of one of the South Island's top surf clubs. The flag most often seen from that flagpole is in the green of NZ surf lifesaving's chief sponsor (BP) with a thin orange vertical stripe at the fly, and the words "BP SURF RESCUE" and the BP logo in gold. An image of that flag is shown on the club's website.
James Dignan, 3 March 2007

Surf Life Saving NZ logo

image by António Martins, 3 July 2007

The red over yellow flag, in spite of its primary semaphoric meaning, seems to be used also as an informal emblem of seaside life saving activities (not unlike the diver down flag), instead of the BP flag or any other. The logo of Surf Life Saving NZ includes the red over yellow flag.
António Martins, 3 July 2007