Mum’s warning after son’s scare at Waterworld Waterpark in Tauranga

Jenna Thomsen and her son after the incident, photographed by her older son who witnessed their struggle.

A day of planned birthday fun turned to terror for a mum who says she feared for her son’s life in an incident at a Tauranga floating attraction.

Jenna Thomsen says she and her three children were at Waterworld Waterpark, an inflatable obstacle course on Tauranga’s waterfront at The Strand, when her 9-year-old son fell in the water and struggled to swim against strong currents on Tuesday.

Thomsen, who posted a public warning on social media after the incident, says she wants it to move to a non-tidal area and better inform parents of the risks.

Waterworld owner Kel Travers said in a comment responding to her post the business was “investigating what occurred here by reviewing all camera footage and talking to our lifeguards”.

“A section of the park has been changed … to ensure the area that Jenna claims she had an issue in will not be an issue in the future,” Travers said.

He said the tides were “quite large at the moment” and staff were warning all customers about this when booking and at the venue.

Stuff reported he said the layout of the park in the area in question had been adjusted 90 degrees “so now you would be swimming with the current not against it”.

All participants had to be able to swim.

“The reality is that currents can sweep anyone underneath, but that’s why people have to be confident strong swimmers, because then you would just pop out the other side in seconds,” he told Stuff.

The Bay of Plenty Times has approached Travers for further comment.

Waterworld Waterpark posts warnings on its website and social media recommending only older and more confident kids visit close to high tide or low tide and noting the strong current at The Strand can be challenging for new or weak swimmers.

‘I just used all my strength’

Thomsen, who described herself in her post as “a strong woman and a strong swimmer” said she took her children and one of their friends to the waterpark to celebrate her 11-year-old son’s birthday.

Thomsen said she was on the obstacle course with her 9-year-old when he fell off into the water.

Realising he could not swim against the currents, she jumped in after him and also found herself struggling.

“I just used all of my strength to push him to the side while trying not to get sucked in myself,” she said.

“I hate to think what would’ve happened if he went under [the structure] because he might have gotten stuck with his lifejacket keeping him afloat while the water pushed him down,” she said.

She said she was seconds away from yelling for help when she got her son to a handle and helped him climb back on to the inflatable.

“I’m lucky he is quite little for his age so I was able to help him. I don’t know what I would have done if it was one of my older ones.”

She climbed up after him with difficulty.

She said her son was scared to get back in the water, which was necessary to return to shore.

“Luckily the water was pushing us back in and we could get back to the steps quickly,” she said.

She said her son’s friend also fell off earlier in the visit and after realising the current was strong got out straight away.

“He sat on the side for the remainder of the time and we took turns sitting with him because he was quite upset.”

Thomsen said if she had been “made aware of the risk” about the currents she “would have never gone in”.

Her advice to other parents would be to “be aware of the tides” and “watch your children like a hawk”.

No public complaints to councils

Bay of Plenty Regional Council general manager, regulatory services Reuben Fraser said the council had not received any complaints or reports from the public about “the safety event referenced”.

Staff saw a post about it on social media and had contacted the attraction’s operator.

“We have received information from the operator about the incident which we are reviewing and are also in discussions with WorkSafe about next steps.”

Tauranga City Council general manager of corporate services Alistair McNeil said it had not received any public complaints about the incident.

The waterpark operators had approval to use council land for access to the activity from January 11 to February 6, McNeil said.