It was in Paul Wakelin’s nature to be helpful, the Gisborne Herald quotes his father as saying. “He saw his brother and their friend were in trouble and went to help. He loved his younger brother dearly. We are very proud of what he did.”
Paul Wakelin, 23, and his brother John, 19, died on the weekend while swimming at Makorori Beach, near Gisborne.
Seventeen people have drowned already this year, the highest fatality rate since 2012. Safety advocates say that people aren’t taking the precautions they need to around the water.
It seems strange that in a country where most people live, work, and play close to the water, the messages about water safety aren’t getting through. Especially to young men – more than three quarters of the 90 people who drowned last year were men.
“It’s that she’ll be right attitude that is ingrained in a lot of males,” says Water Safety New Zealand’s Cory Sweeney. “And it’s something that we need to work hard in changing so we can make better judgement calls.”
Surf Life Saving New Zealand’s Nick Mulcahy agrees. “Men are taking a lot more risks in what they do. They’re perhaps in many instances just going for it and thinking about the repercussions later, which in many instances is too late.”
It has, so far, been a pretty good summer – meaning more people are hitting the beach and the river, and so the risk is heightened. “This summer it has really been highlighted that we’ve been making bad decisions,” Cory Sweeney says.
Both Sweeney and Mulcahy say there are two main causes of drowning: The over-estimation of ability and the under-estimation of risk.
“So they’re going into our open waterways without preparing themselves, and without understanding the dangers of the environment,” Sweeney says. “And then the understanding of their abilities, whether it be swimming or boating, or any other activity around water. And we’re becoming a little bit unstuck.”
Mulcahy says people often underestimate how big the surf is. “You may enter a beach over a dune, and when you’re standing on top of that dune, those conditions look a lot calmer, but when you get down there it’s too much for people. But obviously once you’re already in the water things can go wrong fairly quickly.”
He also points out that swimming in a pool is very different to swimming in the surf.
“I guess it’s just making that decision and establishing whether you can handle particular conditions. And there’s other way to mitigate it as well: if you’re not a good swimmer, don’t go into the water. If in doubt, stay out. These are the messages we keep sending.”
Surf Lifesaving New Zealand has been conducting surf education for 5-14 year olds since 1993 – more than 800,000 people have been through the course. It also provides a website where people can get information about the conditions about the country’s beaches.
“It’s disappointing in these circumstances where people drown, it’s obviously very sad for the family, the friends, and everyone associated with those people.”
Mulcahy says water safety agencies are doing their best to try and push those messages “but the onus is also on those people to try to pick those messages up, listen to them and identify what they have to do to prevent themselves and their family and their friends from getting into trouble”.
“Really building that culture among New Zealanders to not always take the biggest risk and the she’ll be right attitude.”
