Robert Hewitt back in the water

After spending 75 hours lost at sea, cold, severely dehydrated and suffering hallucinations, Rob Hewitt “tried to stay inland”. But his passion for the water couldn’t be suppressed.

The brother of former All Black Norm Hewitt was diving with mates off the Kapiti Coast when caught in a rip in February 2006.

He surfaced 600m behind their boat and was quickly pushed further away by the tide.

His skin was nibbled by sea lice and he made two half-hearted attempts to end it all.

He survived by eating kina and crayfish and sucking watery mist from his oxygen tank.

Eventually his mates Navy chief petty officers Lyle Cairns and Buzz Tomoana found him floating in a sheltered cove while searching with an inflatable boat.

Hewitt penned a book titled Treading Water and a documentary was filmed about his ordeal.

He is now on the board of Water Safety New Zealand and works for the body as a Māori water safety advocate and educator.

“I think it was inevitable I would move back into this space.

“After my survival I tried a few things here and there — I managed a rugby league team, I tried to stay inland rather than coastal.

“I went for that old attitude of once bitten, twice shy — but then I had to push through it.”

His role is all about connecting health and wellbeing around the water to Māori and Pacific Island people.

“I talk to them about putting on their spiritual life jacket before their actual life jacket. That could be saying a karakia before going into the water, telling someone where you’re going, checking your gear, checking the environment, the weather before you put that actual life jacket on. I’m alive and everything is good — if you’ve got a story to tell then people are going to listen.”