KEY POINTS:
The drowning of three men in separate incidents highlights the importance of safety when swimming and drinking, rock fishing in rough weather and diving alone.
Damon Stevens, Martin Firth and Ngaku Rangi Te Huia drowned in separate incidents in the past year. Their deaths could have been avoided had they followed simple safety rules, an inquest found this week.
Auckland coroner Murray Jamieson said each man had made mistakes or errors of judgment.
The first case involved the death of Damon Barry Stevens, who drowned at Beach Haven last September.
The 39-year-old Birkenhead man had spent the morning drinking before driving to the wharf where he crashed his car into a boat before getting the vehicle stuck.
He then decided to swim out to a boat, but got into difficulty and went under.
Toxicology reports later found that Mr Stevens had 361 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood - four and a half times the legal limit for motorists.
Dr Jamieson ruled that Mr Stevens drowned, in part because of his heavily intoxicated state.
"You don't need me to tell you that Damon's death was due to an error of judgment," he told Mr Stevens'family yesterday.
"And of course as everyone knows, but some struggle to remember at times, alcohol and water are not a good combination."
In the second case, Ruapehutimber worker Ngaku Rangi Te Huia drowned at Omaha Beach in February 2007 after running out of air while diving.
The 34-year-old had gone scuba diving with a friend but the friend surfaced after problems with his weights. Mr Te Huia kept diving on his own and is believed to have lost consciousness and drowned when his oxygen ran out.
Senior Sergeant Bruce Adams, the officer in charge of the police national dive squad, said Mr Te Huia had no formal scuba dive training and had received only limited explanation about how to use the gear he had borrowed from his brother.
Mr Adams said Mr Te Huia's death highlighted a number of things, including the need for divers to receive training, always dive in pairs and check on equipment.
Dr Jamieson said he told Mr Te Huia's family there was little point in him making any recommendations as everyone knew divers should be trained and obey the rules.
"Those who venture into an environment that poses danger to land-dwelling mammals like us understand there are particular dangers which, with care and training and obeying the rules, can be avoided."
In the final case, wearing a lifejacket and obeying safety signs might have saved the life of 49-year-old Birkdale man Martin Christopher Firth when he went rock fishing at Bethells Beach in February.
The keen fisherman remained on rocks although others moved when conditions became rough, and was hit by a large wave which dragged him into the water.
Other fishermen tried to help but were unable to save him.
"Other fishermen made, I think, heroic attempts to get a rope to him and he was able to grasp it, but pulling a body in that sort of weather and conditions was beyond them and he died," said Dr Jamieson.
"This was an error of judgment, such as I see time after time on the West Coast ...
"Despite signage which I now believe to be adequate, you cannot do anything about errors of the most simple form of judgment in a very unsafe environment."
Water Safety NZ general manager Matt Claridge said all three deaths highlighted the need for good decision-making around the water and the need to be prepared.
He said 110 people drowned last year. Thirty more had drowned this year.
In the past five years 20 per cent of drownings have been alcohol related, while 8 per cent involved land-based fishing and 6 per cent underwater activities such as scuba diving.
