Theory on Browns Bay drownings put forward

By AINE DE PAOR

A Browns Bay woman has come forward with information that could shed light on how three people recently drowned at the placid swimming beach.

Although the recent tragedy was thought to have been the first of its kind at the beach, Vi Fieldhouse lost her husband, Norman, in a similar accident just over a year ago. Now she wants North Shore City Council to erect a notice warning swimmers of problems at the beach.

In November 2002, the married couple were returning from a swim at the southern end of the bay when they noticed two young boys who seemed to be in trouble. Mr Fieldhouse, 74, turned back for the boys and, although out of his depth, lifted their heads above water so they could breathe.

Mrs Fieldhouse made for shore, shouting for help, and three Rangitoto College girls came to the rescue. Mr Fieldhouse passed the boys to them and they were taken to safety, but when rescuers returned, he was found face-down in the water.

Mrs Fieldhouse says the boys suddenly got out of their depth when the sand fell away beneath them and they dropped into a deep hole. The underwater channel seemed to cause an undertow and, unable to stand, the children began to panic.

Mrs Fieldhouse has been swimming at the beach for 30 years and says she has recently noticed underwater holes or channels on a number of occasions. "It has happened three or four times in the last two years, including the day my husband drowned."

Mrs Fieldhouse swims at the beach every day in summer and says she has always come across the problem on the southern side.

However, according to police, the recent tragedy that claimed the lives of Christle and Joshua Robinson and Rosemary Hosie, the woman who tried to rescue them, took place towards the centre.

But Mrs Fieldhouse's daughter Susie, who runs a swim school in East Tamaki and is an adviser to Water Safety Auckland, backs up her mother's theory. She says that just last week she sat on the beach and watched an underwater channel forming. "I was watching the tide go out and in one spot you could see from the surface that a big channel was being gouged out beneath."

Now Mrs Fieldhouse feels Browns Bay can no longer be relied upon as a completely safe beach and wants the North Shore City Council to erect a notice alerting swimmers to the possibility of underwater channels.

Water Safety New Zealand agrees the onus is on the local city council to put up any warning signs.

But when approached for comment, council spokesman Mike Weaver says the council can only act if asked to do so by a member of the public.

However, he adds that he doesn't think it's feasible to put up a notice.

"This sort of thing happens at every beach," says Mr Weaver. "One day there's a hole and the next day it's filled in - this is a natural situation caused by the tides.

"Are we going to be in a situation where we have to put up signs on every beach saying they are potentially dangerous?"

Mrs Fieldhouse remains adamant Browns Bay has a problem that people need to be warned about, though.

- THE AUCKLANDER