Napier's Marine Parade: beautiful but malevolent

Tuesday, 14 December 2021

Napier’s Marine Parade is regarded by Water Safety NZ as “an area of high-risk for drowning”. (File photo)

The Pacific Ocean off Napier’s Marine Parade is pretty much like any other bit of sea. Some days the noise made by ferocious waves pummelling beach pebbles can be heard throughout the city centre.

On other days it’s glassy and flat as a mirror, its small waves no more than a ripple.

This bit of sea is as malevolent as it is beautiful.

Seven people have died while playing or swimming, or just walking or sitting on the beach since 1996. The latest victim was 5-year-old Te Karauna Waihirere Manawa Tua Tahi o Te Ora Tamaiti Te Rangi Issac Jerricoh Warren-Whakamoe (known as Jerricho) who drowned on Friday despite the rescue efforts of four police officers and a member of the public.

A human chain was used to rescue 12-year-old Joshua McQuoid of Napier, after he was dragged into the water along Marine Parade in March, 2013.

* Father drowned after being dragged out to sea while saving son

* Boys' games in crashing waves may have led to drowning tragedy

Signs warn of the dangers present on Marine Parade, Napier. (File photo)

* Napier drowning victim was Joseph Taurua Terrill

* Wife's screams alerted bystanders to Napier drowning

Each drowning and near drowning prompts the same questions about the adequacy of warning signage, and what it is that makes this beach so dangerous.

Jago Kara, 5, who died after being swept off Marine Parade beach in January, 2009.

NIWA coastal and estuarine physical processes scientist Dr Christo Rautenbach said there was a combination of factors that led to people getting into trouble. One was entering the sea where there was a rip.

“People will see areas with no waves and think ‘this is a sweet spot to get in’, but they’re actually getting right in the rip current,” he said.

Another was the coastal bathymetry (or topography of the sea floor).

“If it’s a steep shore face it will be more hazardous because the waves break more suddenly … the wave doesn’t slowly shoal and then break. It takes the predictability away. The more you can be surprised by conditions the more hazardous they can be,” he said.

Water Safety NZ last year analysed drownings on Marine Parade over recent decades and found they spanned all age groups and occurred across all seasons.

“What is common to these drowning incidents is the force of the sea at Marine Parade and how quickly it can take a life. Several of the drowning victims were not even intending to be in the water but were swept out to sea by rogue waves while at the water’s edge and were unable to be rescued,” the analysis found.

WSNZ considered the water off Marine Parade to be “an area of high-risk for drowning”, and “We stress the importance of people being made aware of the risks associated with any water play and water recreation”.

Napier City Council communications manager Jess Soutar Barron said there were 23 warning signs along Marine Parade presently and the council had commissioned a coastal public safety assessment.

That would involve “a very thorough analysis of the area and recommendations of what can be done about safety issues there”, and would be completed by mid-April next year, she said.

“We will work with Surf Lifesaving and police to determine if any further signage or public messaging is required following this tragic incident. We have a meeting with Surf Lifesaving this week to decide what immediate actions are required,” she said.

The council had been working with Surf Lifesaving for several years on what to do to raise awareness about Marine Parade in terms of safety and would continue to do so.

“We have information about safety around the water at motels and the i-Site,” Soutar Barron said.

Napier’s Marine Parade; Beautiful but deadly

Te Ao Marama Te Pou (known as ‘Marama’), 7, was playing in the shallows at the southern end of Marine Parade with his twin brother Whetu and another friend when he was swept away in the afternoon of February 21,2020. Coroner Peter Ryan said the boys had been playing in the water without any adult supervision. There was “significant amount of surf and a strong undertow”, the coroner said.
Joseph Taurua Terrill, 51, drowned while swimming off Marine Parade in Napier on November 1, 2016. He entered the sea near the Ocean Spa complex. Sea conditions were rough and there was a strong undertow. Attempts to rescue him were unsuccessful due to the water conditions.
Josh McQuoid, 12, very nearly drowned on March 10, 2013. He was caught by a wave and swept out while playing with friends at the beach on Marine Pde. It took four police officers and a human chain of people to drag him from the surf.
Jago Hohua Te Rangi Kara, 5, drowned after being torn from his mother's grasp and dragged out to sea by a freak wave near Marineland (now Bay Skate) on January 29, 2009.
Susan Jayne Brinkley, 46, had been sitting at the water’s edge on Marine Parade when she was washed into the sea by a wave. A man reached her but was unable to keep hold of her due to a strong rip.
Caroline Halligan, 4, was walking along the Marine Parade beach with her brother, 6, and father, when a rogue wave struck them and washed them into the surf on the afternoon of March 31, 1997. The boy and his father were pulled to safety. Caroline's body was found by a fisherman days later.
English tourist Corina Coxill, 68, was swept off the beach by a rogue wave as she strolled along it with her family in February, 1996, and later died after being resuscitated.