IAN and Leanda Guy are no strangers to pressure.
The couple and their fellow volunteers at Marine Rescue Lake Macquarie hold the lives of boaters that get into trouble in their hands.
But Mr and Mrs Guy put themselves to the test in a different way when they competed at the NSW Police and Emergency Services Games in the Shoalhaven for the first time last month.
The dynamic duo took home a whopping 12 medals between them - six each - in angling competitions.
"I've lived on beaches and done fishing since I was pretty well born, I've had a fishing line in my hand," Mrs Guy told the Newcastle Herald.
Mr Guy has been sailing since he was a kid, and the two shared with each other their different skills when they met in 1979.
They have been married 43 years, live in the Coal Point area, and know the lake like the back of their hand.
"I've lived here my whole life, I'm on the same property where I was born actually," Mr Guy said.
"We've been around boating and fishing and things like that for many, many years."
Working in the emergency services isn't easy, and the Guys said it was fantastic for all different agencies to get together for the games, have fun and share experiences.
"Honestly, the teams and the people we met were absolutely unbelievable," Mr Guy said.
"The stories that come from people like the navy and the police and what they have to put up with, you know, all these sorts of stories come out."
Mrs Guy was awarded the gold medal in the overall women's competition, and her husband won silver in the men's category.
They took out another five medals each in offshore and species categories during the three-day tournament.
"I got one - I'd never thought I'd get it - for catching a bream," Mr Guy said, laughing.
"I was the only one that caught a bream in the whole time we were there, everyone was shaking their heads."
Mr Guy said they were blown away by the generosity and warmth shown to them by local communities during the games, which ran from September 20 to 27 and involved a dozen agencies, including firies, cops, sheriffs, the defence force and government workers.
He said the locals helped them out with ideas for where to put their boat in and fishing spots.
As he was filling up his boat with fuel on the second day of the competition, Mr Guy got chatting with a paramedic nurse at the bowser.
"As I'm walking into pay, he just said to me 'it's okay mate, I've fixed it up' ... we've got to look after each other," Mr Guy said.
The couple has been part of the Marine Rescue Lake Macquarie unit for about three-and-a-half years, and were members of the radio club before that.
Before joining, they were out on the lake one day when a man who was close to crashing onto rocks near a headland waved to them for help.
It was their first rescue.
"After doing that, we thought there are a lot of people out there that need some help," Mr Guy said.
They're gearing up for a busy boating season, and encouraged anyone with a passion for the water, and some time up their sleeve to commit, to consider volunteering for Marine Rescue NSW.
The unit, which is regularly one of the busiest in the state, runs off volunteers and donations, pumping through up to $100,000 in fuel alone each year.
