Delcie Martin, who nearly drowned 39 years ago, has donated $1000 to a Bayswim intiative to sponsor a year's swimming lesson for two children. Photo/Andrew Warner.
Delcie Martin, who nearly drowned 39 years ago, has donated $1000 to a Bayswim intiative to sponsor a year's swimming lesson for two children. Photo/Andrew Warner.
Still haunted by almost drowning 39 years ago has inspired a Te Puke woman to donate $1000 to sponsor disadvantaged children to learn to swim.
Former Merivale School principal Delcie Martin was one of the first members of the pubic to donate funds to a BaySwim initiative to sponsor swimming lessons for families experiencing financial hardship.
Mrs Martin said when she read about the programme in the Bay of Plenty Times last month she immediately wanted to contribute funds.
Her donation will help pay for a year's worth of basic swimming lessons for two children.
"This is a no-brainer. The more kids we can get swimming, the better. Just look how many people we lose in this country each year," she said.
"It's something you can never forget. Every time I hear of someone drowning, especially a child, including the tragic death of young Jack Dixon at Mount Maunganui Beach, it brings that day all back to me again."
Delcie Martin, who nearly drowned 39 years ago, has donated $1000 to a Bayswim intiative to sponsor a year's swimming lesson for two children. Photo/Andrew Warner.
Mrs Martin said this was the first time she had spoken publicly about her horror day out in the surf off Papamoa Beach in February 1978.
She was doing so to encourage others to donate to the programme, she said.
"I was very lucky to have been saved from the surf that day. I was pronounced clinically dead and spent a week in Tauranga Hospital. I'm keen to give others the best chance of survival if they are faced with a similar situation."
Mrs Martin said with limited swimming skills back in 1978 she never ventured beyond waist-deep height in the surf.
But on that summer evening she was standing in the surf up to thighs when a freak wave dragged her and her now husband Bob out to sea, she said.
"We were dragged a long way out from the shore and Bob tried to help me but I told him he needed to go back in, while I tried to get myself out of difficulties. But I couldn't."
"I remember being tossed around and around in the surf and became exhausted before I lost consciousness," she said.
Meanwhile Mr Martin had staggered onto the beach and sought help.
Mr Martin said he recalled vividly the fear he felt when his now wife disappeared from sight and anxiously waiting on the beach for news.
"I really thought Delcie was a goner. "
Bruce Crosby, the owner of Papamoa Beach Resort, swam out and brought her back to shore where a doctor on the beach performed CPR.
"If it had not been for my rescuer Bruce, I wouldn't be here today," she said.
Mr Crosby received a NZ Royal Humane Society award for his bravery.
BaySwim manager Matthew Strange said the Salvation Army Tauranga Community Ministries would select the children to participate in the sponsored lessons.
Mr Strange said those supporting the sponsored swimming programme would be giving them a lifelong skill and an equal chance to develop along with their peers, he said
Last year 108 people drowned across the country, 81 of those deaths were preventable, according to Water Safety New Zealand research.
The Bayswim learn-to-swim programme
● Each $500 allows a child to receive a year of basic swimming skill lessons ● The sponsored child would not be identified ● They children would learn in mainstream classes at Baywave, Greerton, and Otumoetai pools. ● To donate, email matthew.strange@bayvenues.co.nz
