A father saw his daughters' faces flash before him as he risked his life, diving into the surf to save two girls caught in a rip at a Hawkes Bay beach yesterday.

A surf boat crew will stage a symbolic row down Auckland's North Shore tomorrow, as they prepare for a commemorative international race in Turkey next year.

Exclusive: When 5-year-old Tre-Vaughn Dysart saw his classmate slip underwater his instincts kicked in.

Darryl Rolton wouldn't hesitate to help a mate in trouble. That instinctive nature cost the Christchurch man his life on Saturday when he leapt 11 metres off the Maruia Falls.

King tides are due to wash up on Auckland's shores just after 10am today, and the New Zealand Transport Agency is warning people to take extra care on coastal roads.

King tides lure dozens out to play but expert warns people to take care in the current.

A teenager who died after she was pulled from a Hamilton motel swimming pool had lived in an orphanage, and had a promising teaching career ahead of her.

A teenage girl caught in a rip had stopped breathing by the time lifeguards plucked her, limp and grey, from the sea.

"It was 3-4m surf, and really, really dumping." Two teenage sisters fought 4m waves to save a man and four children at an unguarded surf beach.

Lifeguards are gearing up for the biggest weekend of the year as holidaymakers are set to throng popular beaches all over the country.

More New Zealanders will be given first-aid treatment by lifeguards for injuries such as cut feet and marine stings this summer than rescued from the water, new research shows.

Auckland councillors have passed the first stage of a new bylaw to make the wearing of lifejackets compulsory in small boats.

A push to make the wearing of lifejackets compulsory on small boats is another case of "Nanny State" and won't reduce drownings, a boating club says.

The father and daughter who died in a tragic kayaking accident on Lake Tarawera yesterday have been named by police.

More details are emerging of a father's desperate attempts to save his young daughter before both died in a Rotorua lake yesterday.

Thousands of Auckland children are becoming more confident in the water, thanks to a city-wide project teaching them how to swim.

A grieving mother is pleading with parents never to leave their young children alone in water after her infant son drowned in a bath.

This summer, water safety messages will be seen on 600,000 tray mats in KFC restaurants around the country.

The surf lifesaving season kicked off without any serious incidents at Hot Water Beach, but lifeguards there fear that won't last long.

Media personality Duncan Garner is swapping his blazer for a lifejacket this summer - and is calling on boaties to remember theirs too.

A Bluff woman has been named New Zealand's champion of water safety.

A push to make wearing lifejackets compulsory on the Waitemata Harbour to save lives is expected to be strongly opposed by boaties.