A campaign to swap old and unsafe life jackets for new ones saw more than 100 life jackets replaced in Lake Hāwea yesterday (January 5). 

The national Old4New campaign exists to get life jackets that are no longer fit for purpose off the water and get people into new, safe ones, Old4New representative Wayne Miller told the Wanaka App. 

It is one of the Coastguard's leading water safety initiatives and around the country 15,000 life jackets have been replaced since the programme’s inception. 

Wayne said he was surprised by the “massive” turnout in Lake Hāwea, where the pile of old life jackets grew higher and higher over the three-hour event. 

Lake Hāwea’s Finlay Gilmour replaced five life jackets with new ones. 

He estimated more than 100 life jackets were replaced. 

“What we’ve seen today is a fantastic turnout and a great response to the campaign,” he said. 

Old4New representatives are currently travelling the country, visiting towns and providing discounted life jackets from Hutchwilco. The Hāwea stop-in yesterday followed a Queenstown event the day before, and the team - in their huge van filled to the brim with life jackets - are moving on to Haast today. 

About 100 life jackets were replaced.

Wayne said if they are well cared for, life jackets can last up to 15 years but often they aren’t stored correctly or kept dry. Some of the life jackets replaced yesterday were decades old. 

Lake Hāwea resident Finlay Gilmour was one of the many people who took advantage of the campaign: he replaced five life jackets that he’d held on to for too long, he said. 

He praised the promotion for creating an easy opportunity to upgrade his jackets and said he was pleased with the high quality jackets and good prices. 

Wanaka Lakes Coastguard president Jonathan Walmsley said he estimated half the people who swapped their life jackets were from the Upper Clutha and half were holidaymakers. 

The Old4New campaigns runs each summer but staff travel the country less often; the last visit to the Upper Clutha took place in 2018 and saw 300 life jackets replaced.

PHOTOS: Wanaka App