Tyro died after using wrong safety leash
Coroner says death highlights need for education on paddleboarding
A swimming coach who drowned while stand-up paddleboarding for the first time wasn’t able to untie the safety leash attached to her ankle.
Joanne Rachel Dening died after falling off a stand-up paddleboard at Wenderholm Regional Park, north of Auckland, despite the attempts of several people to save her.
A tribute posted on a British swimming school page after her death described the 35-year-old as “an accomplished and award-winning swimmer and lifesaver, as well as a fulltime swimming teacher . . . She was a lovely person, a marvellous teacher loved by all her pupils”.
But Dening wasn’t able to get to safety after falling off her board in February 2019.
Coroner Katharine Greig has ruled a combination of factors contributed to the Englishwoman’s death, including the use of the wrong leash, the fact she didn’t have a personal flotation device and was in conditions outside her ability.
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 Britain, when her flatmate Lorissa invited her to go paddleboarding. It was her day off and Lorissa knew her flatmate had previously wakeboarded and thought she might enjoy paddleboarding.
Lorissa described Dening as being excited and organised for her to use her boyfriend’s board.
They arrived at the park, on the southern side of the Puhoi River, at 11am. It was a fine and windless day.
They planned to start at the boat ramp and paddle from the estuary into the channel on the outgoing tide, then paddle round the beach area.
Lorissa said Dening was able to stand on the board. They paddled off together, slowly, towards the estuary mouth to go into the bay, where Lorissa said the water was calm.
But as they paddled across the channel the water became more turbulent and a strong current flowed. Two witnesses described the women as moving fast with the current, which they said was “really streaming out” and the fastest they had seen it.
“They described one of the women as wobbling and not looking confident,” Greig said in her findings.
Dening fell in and was pulled by the current towards the channel marker. Her leg rope got wrapped around it, with her on one side and the paddleboard on the other.
“Lorissa said that she could see Ms Dening trying to swim against the current towards the marker so she could undo the leg rope, but the current kept pulling her under the water,” Coroner Greig said.
Lorissa tried to paddle back to her but the current was too strong. Instead, she paddled for the beach to raise the alarm and asked a bystander to call emergency services.
A kayaker went to Dening’s aid. “As he got closer, he could see Ms Dening bobbing up and down, struggling to breathe.”
She was not responding to his calls, so he gripped her by her armpit and pulled her out of the water.
She grabbed the kayak with both hands and the kayaker told her she needed to hold on to the front of the kayak. She [said] she needed to rest.
As Dening held on, the kayak started to pull into the current and water poured in, causing it to flip.
Dening let go and the kayaker went into the water. Unable to swim against the current to get back to her, the kayaker swam towards the beach, holding on to his kayak.
A commercial fisherman helped him and then headed to assist Dening but said there was “a lot of rip”.
He found Dening on one side of the channel marker and the paddleboard on the other but could not help her on his own. “One of her legs was tied to the board and Ms Dening’s body was underwater.”
He picked up a member of the public and they cut the leg rope, pulling Dening on to the boat and taking her to shore. Paramedics gave first aid but she was pronounced dead. An autopsy later found she had drowned.
She could see Ms Dening trying to swim against the current . . . but [it] kept pulling her under the water. Coroner Katharine Greig
A Maritime NZ report noted Dening was using the wrong type of safety leash, according to the New Zealand Stand-up Paddling (NZSUP) Safe Code. NZSUP states only a leash with a quick release system that can be operated above the waist should be used in such conditions and one attached to the ankle or calf should never be worn in moving water.
Dening was not using a personal flotation device, which was also in breach of the NZSUP code and maritime rules. The report, however, concluded it could not be known what impact wearing one would have had in the situation, with the fastmoving current and the different types of flotation device available.
The coroner found the planned outing was not a reckless expedition and 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 of a number of water sports.”
However, with the benefit of hindsight and expert advice, she reached the view the death was preventable.
Dening was using the incorrect leash, which she and Lorissa were unaware of, she was in conditions outside her ability when she left the estuary and entered the channel, and she did not have a flotation device.
Greig recommended the Auckland Council erect signs at the boat ramp warning of the dangers of strong currents, the presence of marker buoys in the channel and the need for extra care around the buoys, which had been accepted.
Consultation with the Auckland Harbour Master to identify other locations where the same set of hazards exist and where new signs should be implemented should also continue.
She also recommended Maritime NZ post safety information on social media about the lessons learned.
“Ms Dening’s tragic death arose . . . when a constellation of potential risks associated with the activity she was undertaking crystallised with fatal consequences.
“At the core of preventing deaths in similar circumstances is the need for accessible and widely disseminated safety information relating to stand-up paddleboarding.”