"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.
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.
"Most of these people would still be alive if they entered the water with some form of floatation.
"[Lifeguards don't attempt] a rescue without equipment," he added.
Gaylard said everyone was a bit shocked after the family's ordeal and thankful to be alive.
"It's a pretty traumatic thing to happen. As a parent it was absolutely petrifying," she said.
