By ROSALEEN MACBRAYNE
Nearly five months after the sea spared her life but took those of her father and two fishing mates, Kirsty Robinson can walk along Maketu beach with "a good feeling."
She tries not to dwell on the April ordeal in which she saw three men, including her father, slip away from their capsized boat.
They had insisted that she take the only lifejacket that drifted from the upturned hull and she was rescued after 30 hours in the ocean.
Life goes on for the Te Puke High School sixth-former, who turns 17 on September 17.
"Everyone has been supportive," she says.
The teenager, who still plans to reply to the heaps of letters she received from around the country, says she has coped well.
She was relieved when the media spotlight dimmed and she could get back to filling her days with school, family and friends, the drawing she has loved to do since she was a little girl, and a normal social life.
After seventh form, she aims to begin a computer graphics degree.
She lives with her mother, Val, and brother Gareth near the sea at Pukehina, a neighbouring settlement to Maketu, and likes to stroll on the sand with her friends.
They still talk about the accident and she even gave a speech about it to her English class.
"But there are some things I won't go into."
A keen angler and 1997 junior female world record-holder for a kahawai on a 2kg line, Kirsty hasn't ruled out going fishing again.
She has already been out on patrol on board the Tauranga Coastguard rescue boat with the team who pulled her to safety and have since befriended her.
She says she was not at all nervous and is thinking of one day joining the Coastguard herself.
Although the sea is a daily reminder of what happened on April 2, Kirsty is not threatened by it and does not have nightmares, "thank goodness."
It was late on a Sunday morning when the group's borrowed 6m aluminium craft capsized near Plate Island as they attempted to retrieve a stuck anchor.
Kirsty, her father, Ross, family friend John Lim and Kirsty's second cousin Tim Cantwell scrambled onto the upturned hull.
There they remained huddled together for warmth until the vessel finally sank about 3 am on the Monday.
As it went down, one of seven lifejackets on board floated out and the others insisted Kirsty don it.
Over the next few hours, she watched Mr Lim, aged 38, and later 14-year-old Tim, both of Auckland, slip away.
Last to go, about five hours before Kirsty was picked up floating 12km offshore, was her father. He had repeatedly refused her requests to take the lifejacket.
The 45-year-old had borrowed the new $60,000 boat Mafoff 3 from his friend Brian Goldsbury.
Mafoff was well-equipped with safety and rescue gear.
In 12 years, Mr Robinson and Mr Goldsbury had helped with about 80 rescues of other people and boats.
There have been no signs of Mafoff 3 since. Tim and the two men are still officially missing, presumed drowned, and a Coroner's Court inquest is unlikely before early next year.
Meanwhile, Mr Goldsbury is planning an auction of donated All Black memorabilia, including a current signed training jersey, to raise funds for the Maketu Volunteers Rescue Trust.
Bids will be received until October 20.
The proceeds will go to help the families and to recover some of the search costs.
Kirsty Robinson, who never thought "something like that would happen to me," has a plain message for anyone putting to sea:
"No matter what, always wear a lifejacket, even if you are just in the harbour."
Survivor heeds the call of the sea
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