'It's got to stop': Grieving mum calls to end access to treacherous fishing spot

Friday, 30 July 2021

It was the 'calmest of calm' days when a rogue wave crashed on to Papanui Point, pulling Molly Martin's son, Jack Martin Macnicol, into the sea in November 2018. (This video was first published on July 30, 2021.)

Standing on the cliffs looking out at Papanui Point just south of Raglan on Waikato’s rugged west coast, you’re struck by how vast the ocean is.

On a rough, windy day the waves hit the rocks with a roar not unlike the rumble of an earthquake, as sea spray flies up to the edge of the cliff.

Whitewash swirls surround the rocks, a huge wave every so often crashing through, devouring the entire bottom of the rock face.

On days like this you can see how easy it is for people to get swept from the rocks in their quest for a big fish.

Papanui Point is a notoriously dangerous fishing spot on Waikato’s west coast where many people have been washed off the rocks.

But even on calm days, rogue waves are still a life-threatening issue.

That’s something Jack Martin Macnicol’s mum, Molly Martin, knows all too well.

Her 17-year-old son was swept off the rock in 2018 on the “calmest of calm” days, she says.

His body has never been found.

* Family 'devastated' after man swept off the coast near Raglan confirmed dead

* Wave claimed Te Awamutu teenager Jack Macnicol while fishing off rocks near Raglan

* Body found on rugged beach near Raglan identified as Hamilton man

Jack’s family are among many whose lives have been changed forever due to this notorious fishing spot.

Caroline Swann, who lived on the isolated coastline of Ruapuke for years, used to keep tabs on how many fishermen had died after tumbling off the rocks, or being pulled into the water at Ruapuke Beach.

Ruby Macnicol with mum Molly Martin beside the garden they have created for Jack at their home.

In 2017, that number was already at 19, with another three swept off the rocks since then, including Jack.

The unforgiving fishing spot claimed the life of 38-year-old Michael Landig, swept into the sea in November 2020. It took two months for the ocean to relinquish him, his body washing up at Raglan surf spot Whale Bay on January 9, 2021.

Just a few months later in May, 43-year-old Ariel Tagao, fishing for snapper, became the point’s most recent casualty. His body was found days later.

To find Papanui Point you have to travel on the open coast, a 40-minute drive south of Raglan, along windy and gravel roads.

It’s an isolated spot with little to no cellphone service, which makes the events that can happen out there hard to get help for.

Speaking from her Te Awamutu home, Martin says the day Jack went missing, Saturday, November 17, 2018, he was out fishing with his friends and one of his brothers.

Wild days at Papanui Point make the waves and their dangers obvious, but rogue waves on calm days are just as perilous.

She had just seen him days earlier at her daughter Ruby’s 10th birthday party.

At the party Jack told them he was going to go fishing at Papanui Point.

She says he was told it was very dangerous and not to turn his back on the sea, but he was determined to go and catch some fish.

Two days later, the police arrived at her door.

Jack was only 17 years old when he was swept off Papanui Point, where he was fishing with friends and one of his brothers.

“I just couldn’t believe it when they said he’d been swept off.

“I said, ‘But you’ve got him.’ And they said, ‘No, we haven’t,’ and I just ran around the house like a mad woman.”

Jack was swept off the rocks about 1.30pm by a freak wave.

His brother, who was with him, told Martin that a wave came up and saturated Jack initially, while they were packing up to leave.

Then, while his back was turned on his brother, another wave came, and Martin says they think with this one, Jack must have lost his footing and slipped.

“Jack was a strong swimmer. He would have knocked his head, because when they saw him he was 30 metres out, face down, and by the time they could even do anything, he was gone.”

Molly Martin and her daughter Ruby Macnicol say Jack was a caring 17-year-old.

While other family members went out to help search for Jack, Martin says she could not bring herself to go out there for some time.

“Jack’s dad and family friends, they went that night … Jack’s dad continued the search for months and months, he did an incredible job and that’s all he wanted to do was bring Jack home to us.”

Martin says, even from day one, she had a feeling Jack wasn’t going to return.

“I look out there every day and think, ‘Has that really happened?’ I never got anything back.”

In the early days after he went missing, she went out to the point and stared out into the water.

“I just said, ‘God bless you Jack, Mum is with you.’”

Jack’s mum says she keeps waiting for him to walk through the door.

The boys who were with Jack that day have never returned to the spot for fishing.

Martin’s face breaks into a smile when asked to describe Jack, who she says was a “loving, caring boy”.

“He would do anything for you.”

What happened is still a huge shock to everyone, and she says she keeps waiting for him to walk through the front door.

It upsets her that, since Jack, others have been pulled off the rocks at the point.

“It’s got to stop, and it’s not going to stop unless someone speaks out.

“I don't wish this on anyone, what we have gone through as a family.”

Jack’s dad and sister Ruby at the beach near where Jack was swept into the ocean.

Martin says she would like to see Papanui Point closed but, if that can’t happen, she wants to see some sort of memorial to those who have lost their lives at the point.

“People need to be more aware, there needs to be more stuff out there warning of the danger of it.

“If there could be a plaque out there of all the people that have gone off that point, that might make people realise when they see names and stuff.

“Even if it was photos of them, I think something like that would make people stop and think.”

She also wants the equipment at Papanui Point to be regularly checked. When Jack went into the water, his companions discovered the flotation device, kept at the point for such circumstances, had been vandalised.

Martin has three words for anyone thinking of fishing out at the point.

“Just don’t go, just don't go.

Caroline Swann lived at Papanui Point for 74 years and in that time 19 people drowned at the point and beach.

“It’s not worth your life for a fish.”

The land around the point is privately owned but in 2014 the Waikato District Council bought two pieces of land from the owners – the car park and the scenic reserve.

Access to the scenic reserve or car park could not be closed off by the private landowner, says district council community connections manager Megan May.

“Council can close off access to the public in exceptional circumstances. The purpose the land was bought for was as a scenic reserve, not as a fishing location.”

The property owner approached council about selling in 2009 as at the time the public were accessing Papanui Point by crossing the owner’s farmland.

“Council purchased the areas to allow for continued public access for any future owners and to create a scenic reserve.

“An agreed upon price of $100,000 [plus GST if any] was settled in 2011.”

Because the coastline was used by the public for fishing, which was not owned by Waikato District Council but the Crown, council had no legal jurisdiction to ban fishing there.

“We don’t think it would be practical to close Papanui Point without stopping people going to the scenic reserve.

“Closing access to the reserve would stop the public from using the area for its intended purpose, as a scenic reserve.

“There is signage when leaving the reserve advising that the coastline is unpredictable and dangerous.”

Information released by the Ministry of Justice on behalf of the chief coroner shows there are three active coronial cases for incidents at Papanui Point and Ruapuke Beach.

In the past five years, three coroner reports have been completed for deaths at the point and at the beach.

The sea at Ruapuke can be unpredictable.

One was for a fisherman who was swept off the point in September 2017, with his body found three months later.

The other two were for Xia Liu, 38, and Ji Shun Li, 33, who both drowned at Ruapuke Beach on Christmas Day in 2015.

The pair were standing waist high in the surf when a large wave knocked them off their feet, and they drowned, a coroner’s report completed in 2016 said.

Both were Chinese nationals who were working together in New Zealand as technicians for NZ KiwiRail, and they had been at the beach with friends that day.

Coroner Michael Robb said in his report that, at about 5pm that day, the pair and a third member of their group decided to go in the water, while others from their group continued walking along the beach.

They held hands as they stood in the water at about a waist-height depth, with the water being described as cold and choppy due to the wind, with a swell creating waves coming onto shore.

It was low tide and the area where they entered the water was prone to developing holes in the sand below the waves, as a result of the action of the cross current or undertow.

This meant a swimmer could unexpectedly step into a hole where the water was suddenly significantly deeper.

The three colleagues stood in the water, holding hands, facing back towards the shore. There were no lifeguards at this point on the beach.

Liu stood in the middle holding the hands of each of her two companions who could swim, but it is believed she could not swim.

Then, a larger wave unexpectedly struck all threes from behind.

The force of that wave was sufficient to sweep all three off their feet and under the water.

Taken by surprise, they were unable to continue holding on to each other’s hands.

Liu was within arm’s reach of the third person out in the water, and she tried to pull herself above the water by climbing on top of him.

He managed to regain his feet and started to pull Liu towards the shore while calling and waving out to a man who was swimming nearby.

That man helped get Liu to shore and two other people ran to assist. Unfortunately, attempts to resuscitate Liu were unsuccessful.

A surf lifesaver took a jet ski out into the surf and began searching the surf line for Li, who was found face down in the water, unable to be revived.

Robb said the circumstances that led to the deaths of Li and Liu were sadly not uncommon for those who entered the coastal waters of New Zealand.

“This was a situation where the location where they entered the surf was an intrinsically dangerous place to swim.

“The swell and wave action created an undertow which resulted in unexpected holes at low tide.

“The swell also created surf waves that were inconsistent in their size and strength. By facing the shore instead of the oncoming waves, it was impossible to know when a wave of a larger and stronger nature might be encountered.

“It was a combination of those factors that led to all three individuals having their feet swept from beneath them.”

While their deaths were a tragic accident, Robb said it highlighted the risk of entering a coastal surf break without appreciating the risks that may be encountered.

“The requirement to understand how a beach break operates, where there is a rip, where uneven ground is likely to be encountered, are important matters to know before entering the water and before determining what is a safe depth to enter out into the water.

“Where there is surf, it is also important to look towards the oncoming waves in order to recognise when it is necessary to move in closer to shore because of an approaching larger and stronger wave.”