Safer Boating Week: 'Message In A Bottle' Sent From The Land

New Zealand boaties are a notoriously stubborn crowd.

They’re reluctant to take advice and by the time they’re on the water, well, it’s too late to remind them to throw on a lifejacket, check the marine forecast, or carry two ways to call for help.

We needed a plan to reach them, so we created a deal.

‘Come Home Safe Deals’ is a lighthearted take on legal documents, a contract that loved ones make with their favourite boatie before they head out. If you wear a life jacket, I promise to tidy my room OR If you check the marine forecast, I promise to make dinner. After all, friends and whanau are the true influencers of our audience.

Sailors of old dropped notes into the ocean when in trouble. In a twist on this nautical trope, we placed our contracts inside bottles we had submerged at sea for one year - a genuine message in a bottle.

Rather than a traditional mail drop, we made a boat drop, delivering the contracts directly to boats, kayaks, jet skis and SUPS parked on the land.

The ‘Come Home Safe Deal’ delivered as a message in a bottle has received nation-wide attention, getting the thumbs up from the National Safer Boating Forum, Government Ministers, and key NZ Olympians - as well as making it to national primetime news.

More importantly, New Zealanders are rallying behind the cause, helping more boaties return home safely from the ocean.