The efforts of rescuers who took a 4-year-old girl to safety after she and her father were dragged out to sea at the weekend have been praised by Coastguard Hawke's Bay.
A 44-year-old man and his daughter, neither of whom were wearing lifejackets, were pulled out to sea when theirkayak flipped at the Tukituki rivermouth on Sunday afternoon. Stuck on a shingle island offshore, the young girl was carried to safety by David Goodman on his longboard.
Coastguard Hawke's Bay duty skipper Glenn McAdam said people needed to be aware of the importance of lifejackets, and not underestimate the power of the sea.
"If they hadn't been rescued by those people, I don't know if they would have been swept out to sea, but it could have been quite serious.
"We could have been doing a body recovery and there is a fair bit of that going on around the country at the moment, unfortunately."
Although the Coastguard did not attend, it had been placed on standby during the event, and Mr McAdam said it was disappointing to hear neither of kayakers had been wearing lifejackets.
"I guess it's just a bit disappointing. There is plenty of information around and a lot of effort has been put into raising awareness."
The possibility of a second unidentified rescuer has also been raised by one of the people who witnessed the rescue.
Whitebaiter Norm Fraser said another man swam into the water and pulled the girl and her father to the refuge of the shingle island, before Mr Goodman carried the girl in on his longboard.
"He waded through the first bit of water and dived in and swam after the kayak.
"He was the one that actually dragged them out of the water.
"If it wasn't for him they both would have been out to sea."
