A longtime Ōpoutere resident believes the death of a man this week could have been prevented if his plea for lifeguard patrols there had been heeded.
A water, air and land search is continuing for a missing teenager in the water at Ōpoutere Beach, north of Whangamatā.
A survivor has been discharged from Thames Hospital while another is in Waikato Hospital recovering but is in a stable condition.
Acting senior sergeant Will Hamilton of the Whangamatā Police said a fixed-winged aircraft was to search the area from the air while searches will also be carried out along the shoreline and on the water.
Surf Life Saving New Zealand national manager Andy Kent said it had been a “hectic” 48 hours with Wednesday’s rescue of five people at Ōpoutere, a drowning at Whangamatā on Tuesday evening, and another early this morning near Coroglen.
“It’s bloody tragic, some of the lifeguards who responded to the incident on Tuesday responded again to the family on Wednesday. It’s taken a toll on them and we have good support for them,” Kent said.
“It’s a relatively quiet area and all of a sudden everything just happened at once.”
Kent said surf lifesaving clubs in Whangamatā, Pāuanui and Ōnemana sent several jetskis and two inflatable rescue boats to aid in the rescue of the seven people reported to have been in trouble in the water yesterday.
But Ōpoutere Beach holiday home owner Phillip Ratcliffe was disappointed his requests to Surf Life Saving New Zealand to have patrols at the beach had been ignored.
Ratcliffe has been going to the Coromandel beach for over 50 years and said the “sleepy little beach village” between Pāuanui and Whangamatā has become a popular summer holiday spot attracting hundreds a day over the past five years.
“You take one step... [at Ōpoutere] and you’re in a pothole and within seconds you’re 30 metres away from where you were standing and unable to touch the bottom,” he said.”
After witnessing a near-drowning incident involving a teenager, Ratcliffe reached out to Surf Lifesaving New Zealand in July.
He hoped to start a conversation about how they, the locals and the campground could work together to have a lifeguard patrol on the beach - even just for the summer period.
However, Ratcliffe never got a response from the organisation.
He was left feeling even more disappointed hearing a man died yesterday and a teenager was still missing.
“I’m disappointed, appalled... this could have been prevented. The most annoying thing is, you know, there was no dialogue, no response,” he said.
“We just want to keep our beach safe and you know, having witnessed many many near misses, incidents on that beach, that kind of thing, it was just a matter of time... and then hello yesterday, there we are.”
Surf Life Saving’s Kent said they had seen Ratcliffe’s email, “but we need to understand we get lots of requests to patrol areas.
“It all comes back to money and resources, and there’s a real process to determine where to patrol, and [setup costs] for clubs,” Kent said.
“Our volunteer capacity, which our organisation is founded on, is not able to patrol every area we get a request for. Every year we apply to councils for support and it’s up to them to help us.”
Kent said the surf at Ōpoutere Beach during their rescue operation Wednesday was “running big, with big rips and strong currents” and he said people should not swim there due to its danger.
He said it would not make sense to patrol a beach where they didn’t want people to swim.
“Ultimately, that beach is a dangerous beach. Do we want people swimming at a beach that is dangerous?”
Kent was unaware whether any signage warning people from swimming at Ōpoutere existed, but said carefully-placed signage should “absolutely” be on site.
He said “lots of work” had been done in the last five years communicating swim safety, and encouraged people to check the Swimsafe website to check which beaches are patrolled and when.
“It’s easier than ever to find which beaches are safe. People are just taking risks,” Kent said.
“There are four patrols close by Ōpoutere. It is surrounded by patrolled areas.
“A very short trip to a patrolled beach could have prevented the loss of life yesterday.”