Editorial: River drama a wake up call for all

In Taupo last week my teenaged daughter, two of her friends, and my 9-year-old twins found a swimming spot which they wanted to share with me.

The attraction of the spot, by the harbour just behind the domain, was a rope on a tree.

Upon arrival in the early evening I was a touch disturbed to see the powerful current, given that I had not accompanied them earlier.

Initially I watched on to see how they handled the drop into the water, and the swim to a boat ramp 20m downstream where I had positioned myself. No problems.

Then, all together, we let the current take us 200m downstream. It didn't exactly peter out, but we were all strong enough swimmers to clamber aboard a tree and scramble to shore ahead of a rope strung right across the waterway. Watching my youngsters swim, made the hours sitting watching lessons at Onekawa totally worth it.

Now comfortable with my surrounds, what happened next was a complete shock.

Back at the tree the screams of a distressed swimmer broke the air. His friend running along the pathway behind us assured that it was no hoax.

I looked at the young man in the middle of the flowing current, panicked, screaming "help", going under every few metres. I yelled at the top of my lungs several times "don't panic", "float". He was out of control as he flowed past us, 30m away.

Unless he got a grip on himself, I was certain he would drown.

Suddenly there was hope. He seemed to sit up in the water - keep his head up as the river pulled him away out of sight.

People stood on the bank helpless. Some like myself were looking after other children.

We headed down the pathway realising that he had a chance if he could get to the rope and hang on.

On arrival he was on the wrong side of the rope, holding on for dear life, out of breath, out of energy, complaining of a sore leg.

Two men were in the water talking to him. He could not think, or did not have the strength to pull himself along the rope so they had to go to him.

It took several tense minutes to move him along towards the shore.

On land he sat slumped, exhausted. A young teenager lucky to be alive.

Could he swim? It certainly didn't look like it. But panic is a terrible thing.

My twins, earlier comfortable in their surrounds, were shocked. One expressed that by saying she didn't want to go back in.

She said the current had worried her initially when she overshot the ramp by a few metres. I had done the same thing first up.

While not entirely happy with my teenager's choice of swim spot, when accompanied by her sisters, I recognised that she had familiarised them with the necessity not to panic by taking them down the current, and they had always been just metres from shore.

The boy had gone into the river from another point which had taken him far out into the waterway. We were working within our limits.

Nevertheless I was pleased that they recognised the danger.

My eldest daughter and her friends, later took the boy and his friend home.

Upon their return they commented on their politeness and thankfulness.

We were pleased not to have witnessed a typical New Zealand summer tragedy.

In 2011, 123 people drowned in New Zealand. So far in 2012 the toll stands at 15.

The 2011 Drowning Report will be released by Water Safety New Zealand today.