KEY POINTS:
The canoeist who drowned in heavy seas at Mt Maunganui at the weekend had taken part in white-water rafting and kayaking world championships, and was training for a race across one of the world's most treacherous stretches of water.
James Moore, 33, saw the 7m swells battering the east coast on Saturday as a rare chance to train for the Molokai Hoe, a 66km outrigger canoe race between the Hawaiian islands of Molokai and Oahu, his closest friend told the Herald yesterday.
Lance Roozendaal, one of his team-mates in the October event and his friend for 14 years, said Mr Moore had taken the opportunity because it was unusual to get the type of swells seen in the Kaiwi Channel, between Molokai and Oahu, in New Zealand.
"If we can practise in some sort of high seas, you have to go out and practise, otherwise you're just not going to be able to compete against what they have in Hawaii," he said.
"[The Kaiwi Channel] is regarded as one of the most treacherous channels in the world."
Mr Roozendaal was at work on Saturday and so did not join Mr Moore's ill-fated trip from Maketu to Mt Maunganui. But three other canoeists did, one turning back after he cracked his hull crossing the Maketu bar.
Mr Moore was 500m off the Mount beach when he got into difficulties, and police said the swells were so big and the winds so fierce that a professional pilot boat captain and experienced surf lifesavers feared for their lives when they attempted a search.
Senior Sergeant Carl Purcell said the canoeists' decision to go out was their own, but the state of the seas, the 60 to 70 knot winds and the fact that a weather bomb was lashing the north of the country had contributed to the death of the renowned rafter, kayaker, outrigger canoeist and photographer.
Since the discovery of Mr Moore's body on Matakana Island on Sunday, the outdoors community in Rotorua, where he lived, has been in mourning.
"He was an accomplished water man," Mr Roozendaal said. "That is what he did. He loved to live life and scare himself [by] dropping big waterfalls in a kayak [or] pushing rafts through big rivers."
Stevie Wall of Rotorua rafting and sledging company Kaitiaki Adventures, which Mr Moore helped to establish, also said he was deeply passionate about his sports.
"He definitely pushed it to the limit whatever he did. He did everything 110 per cent."
Mr Moore began his career as a rafting guide in 1994, and was captain of the national rafting team in 1999 and 2000, developing interests in kayaking and waka ama (outrigger canoeing) through the sport.
"Lately, outrigger canoeing had been more of a passion than anything and the waves were never big enough for him to ride," Mr Roozendaal said.
He and Mr Moore were members of outrigger canoeing teams that came second and third in the 2006 and 2004 world championships respectively, and had rafted together in many countries.
Mr Moore was also a photographer, and established a business specialising in white-water and wedding photography eight years ago. The business was originally called Adrenalin Shotz but is now known as James Moore Photography.
He leaves behind a partner of eight years, Amanda Sutton, and a brother and sister in Rotorua.
