"I have a loud whistle I do if the kids have gone out too far, I tried that, yelling and waving but it was at that point I knew she could hear and see me but she couldn't respond."
She began to panic.
Gaylard ran through the water in an effort to make it out to her daughter.
"By this stage I'm in about waist-deep water which is hard to run through so I just started diving through the water.
"I got out further and this wave nearly six foot tall just pulled over top of me, rolled me around in the surf to the point where I took in water," Gaylard said.
As she was toppling over she thought to herself that her "little girl might be gone".
With adrenaline kicking in and a moment between the waves, she leapt out and grabbed her daughter by the wrist.
"A wave hit us and I just held on as tight as I could - she's actually got marks from where I held her so tight," Gaylard told the Herald.
The Gaylard family, from left to right is Tony, Nastacia (10), Klaudia (13), Anita and Danny-Lee (8). Photo / Supplied
After the pair made their way back onto shore, lifeguards checked if they were both okay and explained what to do if it should happen again.
It was a great day to go to the beach and there were plenty of families there enjoying the water.
Her body was found this morning after she went missing late last night - both the children she was with found their way to shore.
Nastacia Gaylard at a beach education day in November. Photo / Supplied
Drowning Prevention Auckland chief executive Davin Bray said the loss of a loved one in an attempted rescue came with a "massive social cost to whanau and community".
From 1980 to 2016, 93 people had died while trying to rescue others — 51 of those at beaches, he said.
In most cases the original victim survived, while the would-be rescuer, often a family member, drowned.
