Lee, a member of the local surf lifesaving club since he was 10, was at the beach visiting his parents during the school holidays. He is a Year 11 student at Auckland's Mt Albert Grammar.
"The rips were incredible but there must have been about 300 people in the water," Lee said. "Just after two o'clock I heard some parents calling out in distress to their kids and I saw two boys in real trouble about 100m from the shore. I had no lifesaving equipment but as soon as I saw them I just went for it. Lee got two surfers to take the boys to shore. "The boys were very close to drowning and their parents were frantic."
Ten minutes later, Lee rushed back into the sea to save the middle-aged Turkish man, who couldn't swim.
"He was going under the waves and was panicking like mad. He had swallowed a lot of water."
As Lee managed to get the man on to a boogie board and safety, an American man in his mid-20s got into trouble.
"At this point I was feeling pretty overwhelmed but the adrenalin was pumping and that kept me going. Fortunately this guy could swim and I managed to get him to a sandbar.
"At this point I had had enough and started telling everyone to get out of the water. I was shattered."
Coromandel tour operator Willie Lochore said Lee was "exhausted emotionally and physically. He acted way beyond his years".
