Joanne Rachel Dening died after falling from a stand-up paddleboard (SUP) in Wenderholm Regional Park, north of Auckland, despite several people’s attempts to save her.
A tribute posted to a UK swimming school page after her death described the 35-year-old as “an experienced and award-winning swimmer and lifesaver, as well as a full-time swimming teacher”.
“She was a lovely person, a wonderful teacher who was loved by all her students.”
But despite her confidence in the water, she was unable to get to safety after falling from her SUP in February 2019.
Coroner Katharine Greig has ruled that a combination of factors contributed to the English woman’s death, including using the wrong leash, not having a personal flotation device (PFD) and being in circumstances beyond her control.
The coroner said her death highlighted the dangers of the sport and the need for education.
Dening had recently returned to New Zealand after visiting her parents, family and friends in the UK for Christmas when her roommate Lorissa invited her to go paddle boarding.
It was her day off and Lorissa knew her roommate had woken up earlier and thought she might like to try SUP.
Lorissa described Dening as eager to try the new sport and had arranged for her to use her friend’s SUP.
They arrived at the park on the south side of the Puhoi River at about 11 a.m. The weather was nice and there was no wind.
The river flows into the Hauraki Gulf, which borders the eastern side of the park. The boat ramp at the reserve leads to a large estuary, fed by the river, with a channel to the Gulf.
Their plan was to enter the river from the boat ramp and paddle from the mouth into the canal on the outgoing tide, then paddle around the beach.
Lorissa said that Dening could quickly get up on the board and paddle around.
The pair paddled together slowly to the mouth of the estuary to enter the bay where Lorissa said the water was very calm and fairly clear.
However, as they paddled across the canal, the water became more turbulent and a strong current flowed.
Two witnesses watching from the shore described the women as moving fast with the current they said “really poured out” and the fastest they had ever seen.
“They described one of the women as wobbly and unconfident,” coroner Greig said in her findings.
Lorissa watched as Dening lost her balance, fell into the water and was swept by the current toward the channel mark.
Dening tried to reach for her board, but her leg rope was wrapped around the marker with her on one side and the paddle board on the other.
“Lorissa said she could see Mrs. Dening trying to swim against the current to the marker so she could loosen the leg rope, but the current kept pulling her underwater,” Greig said.
Lorissa tried to paddle back to Dening, but the current was too strong. Instead, she paddled to the beach to raise the alarm and asked a member of the public to call emergency services.
A kayaker, who saw Dening fall, came to her aid.
“As he got closer, he saw Mrs. Dening bobbing up and down as she tried to breathe.”
As he got closer, Dening didn’t respond to his calls, so he grabbed her armpit and pulled her out of the water.
“Then she grabbed the kayak with both hands and the kayaker told her to hold onto the front of the kayak. She replied to the kayaker to rest.”
As Dening held onto the kayak, it began to pull into the current and the water began to rush in, causing the kayak to overturn.
Dening let go of the kayak and the kayaker entered the water. Unable to swim against the current to get back to her, the kayaker swam to the beach holding onto his kayak.
When he got close to the beach, after being in the water for about 20 minutes, a commercial fisherman came to his rescue and explained what had happened.
The skipper then set out to assist Dening, but said there was “a lot of crack that was really obvious” and that it was the second day of the biggest tide of the year.
He found Dening on one side of the channel marker and the paddleboard on the other, but couldn’t help her alone.
“One of her legs was tied to the board and Mrs. Dening’s body was underwater.”
After they rounded up a member of the public, they went back together and cut the leg rope and pulled Dening onto the boat and took her back to shore.
Ambulance officers provided first aid to Dening, but she did not respond and was pronounced dead at the scene.
A post-mortem examination revealed that she had drowned.
A Maritime New Zealand report stated: “Given the vastness of the estuary at high tide, in flat conditions and with minimal wind, it would present itself as an area where people could reasonably be expected to use stand-up paddleboards, including beginners in the sport such as Mrs. Dening.”
The report noted that Dening was using the wrong type of lanyard, according to the New Zealand Stand-up Paddling (NZSUP) Safe Code.
NZSUP states that only a belt with a quick release system that can be operated above the waist should be used under the circumstances and a belt attached to the ankle or calf should never be worn in running water.
Dening did not use a personal flotation device, which was also in violation of the NZSUP code and maritime rules.
However, the report concluded that it could not be known what impact wearing a PFD would have had on the situation, with the fast moving current and the different types of PFD available.
Coroner Greig found that the planned excursion was not a reckless expedition and that there were many factors that made the sport a natural fit for Dening.
“She was fit, a strong swimmer who was confident in the water, she had experience in a number of water sports.”
However, with the benefit of hindsight and expert advice, the coroner concluded that Dening’s death was preventable.
Dening was using the wrong line, which she and Lorissa were unaware of, she was in circumstances beyond her control as she exited the estuary and entered the channel, and she had no PFD.
Coroner Greig advised Auckland Council to put up signs at the boat ramp warning of the dangers of strong currents in the canal, the presence of marker buoys in the canal and the need for extra care around the buoys, which had been accepted.
Consultation with Auckland Harbor Master to identify other locations where similar hazards exist and where new signage needs to be implemented should also continue.
She also advised Maritime New Zealand to post safety information on social media about lessons learned from the circumstances of Dening’s death.
“Mrs Dening’s tragic death, like so many unexpected and unintentional deaths, occurred when a constellation of potential risks associated with the activity she was undertaking crystallized with fatal consequences,” coroner Greig said.
“At the heart of preventing deaths in similar circumstances is the need for accessible and widespread safety information related to stand-up paddleboarding.”