Water Safety chief executive Daniel Gerrard said people tend to take more risks at this time of year.
Often people’s perception of how competent or confident they are in the water does not align with either the conditions or situations they get themselves into, he added.
Data showed older white men were the most likely to make bad choices on the water.
While this group engaged in more water activities, the choices they made also often impacted the people they were with.
“In some cases, out on a boat and not wearing lifejackets, jumping off things without having a good look at the conditions.”
Better water safety education for the generations since was likely part of the explanation for higher drowning figures among men over 55 years old, Gerrard previously told RNZ.
Gerrard added supervision was another aspect of water safety.
“Making sure those people that you’re with, those who are under your care, are within arm’s reach. If we’ve got little New Zealanders in and around water, we want people to be within contact.
“We feel that being within arm’s reach, enjoying those environments with our little people, keeps them safer and puts them much less at risk”.
Surf Life Saving rescued 16 people on the first day of the year. Photo / Surf Life Saving New Zealand
In the last two years, water-related deaths had been plateauing, and there were pleasing improvements for some groups, he said.
“Our primary school aged kids and the next age group up really seem to be behaving much better. Their risk-taking is way down and their drowning rate is considerably down.
“It’s one of the reasons we’re suggesting the 10-year average (of 83 deaths annually), might be trending in the right direction.
“But unfortunately we still have some poor decisions and choices being made, that are having significant impacts on the friends, family and loved ones of those who don’t come home.”
Surf Life Saving general manager Andy Kent said many people needed rescuing after being blown off inflatables too.
“Pool toys cause us issues as people are going down there and are caught unawares.
“But it’s other things too with stand-up paddleboards and someone’s got a brand new Christmas present, and he’s not that confident on it.
“Paddleboards are perfectly okay for beach conditions but if you don’t know what you’re doing and you fall out, you can get blown off sort of out of your depth.”
Kent said people who do get swept away should keep holding on to their item, to help stay afloat.
But he said it is best to keep inflatable pool toys, like lilos, at home.
“Blow up lilos, we see all sorts. Our amazing volunteers right across the motu are well experienced in this sort of stuff and they see all sorts of stuff.
“And, pool toys are definitely not for the beach.”
Kent urges those going to the beach this month to swim between the red and yellow flags.
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