The teenager had apparently simply got out of his depth.
Unable to swim, the result was devastating.
The lagoon looks pleasant and placid on an early summer's day but like any waterway, when a string of factors are involved, it can clearly be a killer.
"Very sad," Surf Life Saving New Zealand Hawke's Bay club support officer Debbie Moodie said quietly.
It was news that hit hard, especially as it tragically echoed one of the six drownings in the region last season.
Three were offshore, two were at beaches and one was at inland "still waters".
Ms Moodie said surf life saving crews were gearing up for the summer and if last season was anything to go by, they could have their work cut out again.
Because in terms of rescues, last season was a busy one for the region's lifeguards.
There were 68 rescues carried out at the beaches of Westshore, Pacific (Napier beach), Ocean Beach and Waimarama.
During the previous season there had been just 36.
The seas and waterways of Hawke's Bay were no more treacherous or threatening than anywhere else in the country, Mrs Moodie said.
"Not at all."
There is diversity in the shoreline and how the waters behave - but that is the same anywhere.
The Pacific Beach can be gentle or it can be rough and has a sudden "dip" where the bottom drops away.
It can also create not a rip but an undertow.
While the shoreline may be somewhat daunting today -in getting down to the waters and back- Westshore can still stack up as a good place to swim, and yes, there is even sand there from time to time.
But it can, when the seas roughen up, resemble the Pacific shoreline.
Waipatiki, Ocean Beach and Waimarama are sandy landscapes and there is not a discernable "dip" and bathers can wander out a long way on a fair day.
But there can be rollers and all three are prone to the creation of rips and unseen holes.
"The beaches here are no worse than anywhere else but like any beaches they just need caution."
Mrs Moodie said one statistic that stood out and underlined the approach of caution was that none of the drownings last season occurred at patrolled beaches.
The message for swimmers, she said, was effectively four simple words: "Swim between the flags."
It was the approach surf life savers had taken since they began and it stood firm.
There would be times when there would be no flags, and beaches where patrols were not carried out and that was when the "caution" ingredient came into it.
It was a case of look at the situation and take nothing for granted.
For visitors from out of town it came down to approaching locals - people who know the region - and ask their advice about good places to swim and what uncertainties could arise in certain areas.
The rips were the greatest natural threats for swimmers, Mrs Moodie said.
"They are strong and if you get into one it will pull you out - you have to go with it because it will come to a calm area."
However, the sensation of being swept out to sea usually resulted in the opposite.
"If you fight it you get tired quickly."
That was where swimming between flags, and within close range of them, came into play.
Mrs Moodie said lifeguards would patrol beaches on four-wheel-drives and when necessary advise people to find a new spot - preferably within the flags.
Lifeguards could also spot the telltale water surface movement signs of a rip and react accordingly.
The importance of patrolled waterways had again ensured that Waipatiki would be covered by patrols funded by the Napier and Hastings District Councils.
"It will be the second year we have done Waipatiki - the ratepayers out there have clearly stated the need for it and the councils have stepped in with funding."
The patrols will run over the school holiday period.
What lay ahead was always the great unknown and while in a perfect world the target would be zero drownings, that figure was simply not a realistic one, Mrs Moodie said.
For Water Safety New Zealand CEO Matt Claridge the target they have was as realistic as they could hope for but it all came down to trying to change some tough-to-budge attitudes - among males.
Males and preschool children top the drowning statistics and last year 70 males were lost to the seas and waterways.
"We have set the target and that is half that number of males we want to get it down to less than 35," he said.
That would effectively bring New Zealand drowning statistics into line with other OECD countries - at present we are way above them.
"We are too high here," Mr Claridge said.
While there were issues with funding and time and energy commitment in trying to do more to pull the statistics back, the number one commitment was "attitude".
For young males it was simple.
"Don't over-estimate your ability and don't under-estimate the risk," Mr Claridge said.
It came down to personal responsibility - in that if someone wanted to enjoy the water they simply had to take the right precautions.
"And in some cases say no, don't go in."
But the Kiwi male was often a difficult species to get that sort of message home to.
People also needed to take a collective responsibility, he said.
Anyone coming across a group of people who were clearly visitors to an area, and the area was not conducive to safe swimming, needed to have the courage to approach and advise them to stay clear.
Likewise, people arriving in an area they were not familiar with needed to talk to locals about swimming conditions.
In terms of the greatest swimming danger Mr Claridge said it was simply "moving water".
The unpredictable waves, the undertows, the backwash, the currents and the rips.
He said while Hawke's Bay beaches did not feature on Water Safety New Zealand's worst drowning sites beaches like Pacific (the Napier Beach) were known to be notorious at times, and had been the site for several rescues.
"That has a mean shore break."
Water Safety New Zealand was now gearing up for the summer season and an extensive programme to prevent drownings and step up the safety attitude required will be launched next Friday.
Also being launched at this time of the year as the weather turns warm are recreational boats and the over-riding rule of them all for safe boating was "preparation", Hawke's Bay Coastguard president Henry van Tuel said.
"I have to say that most of our boaties are really good, although one thing I would suggest is that they call Coastguard on channel VHF82 with a trip report."
A trip report is to let Coastguard know what time they would be going out, where they were heading for and what time they expected to return.
"If something were to go wrong we will have a very good idea of where they are likely to be."
Another channel, VHF21, was also a wise part of the preparation approach," Mr van Tuel said.
It supplies constant weather updates, and was invaluable given Hawke Bay was a large spread of water and conditions in one part could be vastly different to conditions in another.
"It might be calm and no wind here but head for Cape Kidnappers and it could be a lot different out there."
Last summer the Hawke's Bay Coastguard responded to about 20 tow-in calls for boats which were disabled, and three to four police call-out jobs - "they are the most serious ones".
One of the region's most troublesome weather ingredients are the westerly winds.
They created a challenging seascape for kayakers and small boat operators.
"They have to be aware that if they go out there and get tired then there's only one way they are going to go - and that is out."
He said one promising thing he had encountered was the more widespread wearing of lifejackets.
"That has improved a lot which is a very good thing because if all else fails that jacket does become the lifesaver - that will keep you above the water."
There had also been a rise in the number of boat owners, who are on the Coastguard's books, who have gear safety checks carried out.
"At the end of the day it is all about safety - get it checked."
