Bay Harbour: February 14, 2018

PAGE 10 BAY HARBOUR<br />

Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi<br />

Wednesday <strong>February</strong> <strong>14</strong> <strong>2018</strong><br />

Adam Hutchinson<br />

Our People<br />

Explaining the dangers of rips on<br />

Tech wizard Adam<br />

Hutchinson invents travel<br />

apps but in his spare<br />

time, he makes short<br />

documentaries. His most<br />

recent has been shared<br />

more than 900 times in<br />

10 days. It explains the<br />

dangers of three rips<br />

that exist in Sumner<br />

and Scarborough when<br />

there’s a swell. He<br />

talks to reporter Sarla<br />

Donovan.<br />

What prompted you make<br />

this documentary about the<br />

rips in Sumner?<br />

I occasionally hear the coastguard<br />

siren go off and recently<br />

it’s been going off more than<br />

usual. I don’t understand much<br />

myself about the rips in Sumner<br />

and speaking to a couple of<br />

friends they felt the same. So I<br />

thought community-wide there<br />

was maybe a lack of awareness<br />

and this was a way to provide<br />

information easily. Documentary<br />

making is a project that I do<br />

on the side, a hobby I guess. My<br />

background is actually in IT. I<br />

developed an app in 2011 called<br />

CamperMate, which turned into<br />

a network of GPS enabled apps<br />

called GeoZone collecting GPS<br />

data on tourism flows which I<br />

sold to Tourism Holdings in 2015<br />

and now work for the company<br />

from out here in Sumner.<br />

You must have been gutted to<br />

see a <strong>14</strong>-year-old was lost in one<br />

of those rips just last week.<br />

Absolutely, really terrible<br />

circumstances. It really took<br />

the danger up another level. For<br />

me personally my experience in<br />

rips has not been life threatening.<br />

Every person that I know<br />

who’s been caught in a rip has,<br />

thankfully, been rescued and<br />

it was very sad because it really<br />

escalated the threat in terms of<br />

how severe the consequences can<br />

DANGER:<br />

Sumner<br />

man Adam<br />

Hutchinson<br />

has made a<br />

documentary<br />

about the<br />

three rips in<br />

Scarborough<br />

and Sumner<br />

which he<br />

posted online<br />

10 days ago.<br />

PHOTO:<br />

MARTIN<br />

HUNTER<br />

actually be. It’s not only awful<br />

for the family but just highlights<br />

the risk again. It’s super sad all<br />

round.<br />

I was surprised watching the<br />

documentary to hear Sumner/<br />

Scarborough could be so dangerous<br />

– I usually think<br />

of Piha and places like that on<br />

the Auckland’s west coast.<br />

Were you surprised?<br />

I sort of was in all honesty. I<br />

knew it was dangerous but again<br />

it wasn’t on the scale of Piha in<br />

terms of just how dangerous it<br />

could be. Put it this way, after<br />

the terrible incident last week<br />

it’s really escalated the threat or<br />

the danger and bought home the<br />

potential consequences of being<br />

in a rip.<br />

Do you think there’s enough<br />

information provided about the<br />

rips along Sumner and Scarborough<br />

beach?<br />

We could do with better signage<br />

to help people understand<br />

the dangers of the rips. We’re<br />

in a fairly unique position in<br />

the fact that the rips in Sumner<br />

don’t change, meaning that the<br />

information we can provide on<br />

the signs can be fairly detailed to<br />

help people understand exactly<br />

where they are in Sumner, as opposed<br />

to generic rip information.<br />

Could you tell me a bit about<br />

your family?<br />

I live up on Heberden Ave, I<br />

bought up there recently and just<br />

love it, love the neighbours and<br />

the community. In my house<br />

there’s my son Max, puppy Nash<br />

and myself. I have a shared office<br />

space above Stoked surf shop.<br />

We’ve got nine people working<br />

there.<br />

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