Girl drowns at Piha

An 11-year-old girl drowned at Piha beach yesterday afternoon after two freak waves "stompted" against the shoreline.

Henderson police sergeant Gary Barber said the west Auckland girl had been swimming between the flags with her brother and two female companions at the Auckland beach, when a large wave threw her into difficulty.

"Her brother tried to help her, but a second wave came on top of them and did the damage."

Sergeant Barber said lifeguards at the beach had been assisting swimmers further away from the shore, when the accident occured around 5.30pm on Christmas Day.

The girl, who was not a strong swimmer, was at the beach with her parents, but it is not known if they were at the water at the time. The 11-year-old, who is yet to be named, is the second person to drown since Sunday.

A man netting fish with family members at Pawarenga, on the Far North's west coast, drowned as he tried to retrieve a runabout.

He was Samuel Stephens aged 60, of Pawarenga.

Constable George Makene said Mr Stephens had tried to retrieve the runabout after it drifted away on an incoming tide on Sunday.

Two teenage family members went to help him, and were joined by two adults in the group.

CPR was administered, but Mr Stephens died before emergency rescue services could reach the settlement.

His death has been referred to Kaitaia coroner Robin Fountain.

Though most beachgoers enjoyed a relaxed day with family and friends, many people continued to ignore safety advice.

Lifeguards at Muriwai Beach had to ask hundreds of people to move inside the flags throughout the day.

Lloyd Herbert, patrol captain at Muriwai, said about 3500 people had flocked to the West Coast beach, where conditions were messy and dangerous. Some rips along the beach were particularly bad.

Lifeguards had asked about 300 people to swim between the flags. For many, English was a second language.

"The language barrier has been quite a problem."

Mr Herbert said boogie boarders had also been drawn outside the flags, but no one had needed rescuing.

On the East Coast, thousands of swimmers enjoyed calm conditions at Whangamata and Mt Maunganui.

Mere Mollard-Wharepapa, a volunteer lifeguard at Mt Maunganui Beach, said about 2000 people had made the most of near-perfect weather.

"This is Lake Maunganui, there's no surf."