Opinion: Water deaths are a sad fact of life in NZ

Marine Parade can be dangerous, and not only when the surf is massive.

At 45, I learned to swim.

Somehow, growing up near the coast, I'd never learned properly.

Chase Swanson-Ewing never learned to swim either.

Last Thursday, the 14-year-old jumped off a pontoon on the Whanganui River, and never made it out of the water alive.

He had often joined his mates down at the river, but never made the leap before.

His mum Louisa Baldwin reckons he may have been too embarrassed to let his mates know he couldn't swim.

Growing up near the coast, I was too embarrassed to admit I couldn't swim.

I felt for Chase and his family when I read of his death.

As a teenager, I lied to hide my inexplicable inability to swim. Inexplicable because how do you get by living in a New Zealand coastal town, when you can't swim?

You make excuses, tell fibs. I had "injuries" that kept me out of swimming sports.

I jumped 8m to 10m off rocks into the ocean, when we hit the beach to celebrate the end of the high school year.

Everyone else was doing it. I felt pressured to do it.

And not one person was standing on the rocks, urging me on, yelling at me, or belittling me.

No one said a word because they didn't know.

I still felt I had to go through with it.

Years later, when I wrote about learning to swim in my 40s a mate got in touch and said "Wow, I never knew".

I understand a little, about why Chase jumped off the pontoon.

I also understand a little, how treacherous Napier's Marine Parade can be.

The loss of 7-year-old Marama Te Pou last Friday is a tragic reminder of how the ocean is our friend one moment, and foe the next.

As a cautious "swimmer", I've been knocked over twice on Marine Parade, and emerged with grazes on my legs. I was surprised.

The surf wasn't huge, but it packed enough power when it broke on me in the shallows to knock me off balance. Even on a seemingly calm day, it can be tricky.

Napier City Council is reviewing its signage, that warns of Marine Parade's challenging coastline. And its unpredictability - even on a seemingly calm day, it can be tricky.

It is difficult to conclude that we can't do a little more about warning beachgoers, without scaring people away from our coastline.

And we should encourage our kids to learn to swim.

But sometimes, even being a strong swimmer or bold signage isn't enough - the ocean is unpredictable, with a habit of reminding us, sometimes with tragic consequences, of its power.