‘I could have been fish bait,’ says Muriwai rip survivor
Paris Schlooz shares her near-drowning experience at Muriwai Beach to warn others of the risks, after a horrific summer drowning toll. Shea Turner reports.
THE sound of waves can be therapeutic, but for two years it has sent Paris Schlooz, 18, spiralling back to Muriwai Beach.
Two surfers were all that stood between Schlooz and death on November 8, 2019 as she narrowly escaped drowning – something she says ‘‘wasn’t something I’d wish on my worst enemy’’.
It overcast and humid in Manurewa when Schlooz’s sister Maddison and two friends dragged her out of bed to go to the beach.
Schlooz remembers the black sand was scorching hot when they arrived, so there was no assessing the water; it was sunblock on and a sprint to the water to cool off.
The water was shallow for a while, so she went further out, but didn’t realise the effect the waves were having on the depth.
‘‘The water would get pulled out, and it would seem really shallow, but then as soon as the waves came back in it was quite a lot deeper. As soon as we couldn’t touch the ground we got pulled out in a really strong rip.’’
While not the most confident swimmer, Schlooz could swim, but when her sister’s older friend screamed at the top of his lungs that he couldn’t swim, the panic set in. ‘‘I tried to let the rip take me out and swim parallel to the shore, but I freaked out because I wasn’t sure how wide the rip was.’’
The towering waves were also frightening. ‘‘I was getting pushed under the water, and I was tumbling around under the surface, which was very scary.’’
Being separated from the others, Schlooz quickly felt alone.
‘‘I was so tired, and I could not keep above the water or swim in any direction that I thought would help. I just tried to stay afloat and to listen for when the waves sounded close and holding my breath.’’
She even reached a point where she wanted to give up. ‘‘It’s
actually very hard to let yourself go in that situation because your body is trying really hard to stay alive, and you’ll hold your breath as long as you can before letting go.’’
If it wasn’t for two surfers arriving, Schlooz says she ‘‘probably would have drifted off and gone under and be gone’’.
Fortunately, her sister had managed to make it to shore and found surfers who could help. By the time they grabbed Schlooz and made it back to the beach, she was floating in and out of consciousness. ‘‘On the beach I remembered being on my side and throwing up a lot of water and everyone shouting at me to stay awake.’’
She says she cried the whole trip via Westpac Rescue Helicopter to Middlemore Hospital. ‘‘It was my realisation of all that had happened, and it was at that point I felt that it was over. Before then, I thought that it was the end.’’
She spent overnight in hospital as they drained fluid off her chest. Physically she made a full recovery, but mentally it took a lot longer.
‘‘The first couple of months were hard and then after I was kind of OK and wouldn’t think about it as much. But little triggers would send me and I’d go into a pretty dark place.
‘‘It really gets under my skin the fact that if I had died I would have been at the bottom of the ocean or some kind of fish bait and the thought of that makes me feel so uncomfortable.’’
James Whitaker, ACC Injury Prevention Lead, says Kiwis must stop underestimating risks and overestimating their abilities.
‘‘I’ve surfed for more than 30 years and still find myself in some very humbling and unsettling situations. There have been many times that things could have gone really wrong if I wasn’t constantly reassessing the risk.’’
Whitaker hopes that having people like Schlooz speak out will help people realise how quickly things can go wrong.
ACC has so far reported 23 preventable drownings in 2022, compared to 15 at the same time last year. The number of drownings over the recent Christmas break was the highest in nearly 40 years.