Amie Russell was holding on to the paddleboard of her brother, Hayden, when she lost her grip and was dragged by the current under a boat mooring in the Whangamata harbour.
A coroner's inquest into the 17-year-old Morrinsville woman's death in Hamilton today revealed that her board was swept to one side of the boat, while she was stuck under the boat on the other side, unable to free herself likely due to her leg rope becoming wrapped around the boat's keel.
Earlier, Amie had been standing on the paddleboard, while her friend, Natarsha O'Flaherty, was sitting in front of her. The pair were among a group of friends who had decided to paddle out into the harbour.
Natarsha said they decided to travel between two boats which were moored about 3m apart after being swept down by a strong current.
However, while they were in between the boats, the pair had been knocked off their board by a strong wake created by a passing boat.
"I'm not sure if she has jumped or fallen but when she went in the board went one side [of one of the boats] and Amie the other," she said.
Amie's brother Hayden, now 15, was with the group and saw Amie putting her leg rope on as she held onto a fishing boat.
He paddled over and she grabbed hold of his board. They then paddled over to a mooring boat, Clara; Hayden was holding on to the boat's anchor rope while Amie was holding onto her brother's paddle board.
"Amie was still holding on to my board. Amie then lost grip of the board and went towards the side of the boat going under the water. Amie's paddleboard was on one side of the boat with Natarsha on it and when Amie came off my board she was on the opposite side of the boat. I got off my board and went into the water to help."
He first tried to find her on the side where the paddleboard was before heading to the back of the boat.
Another friend in their group, Cameron Dromgool, paddled over and dived into the water. On the second dive, he found her and tried to hold her head above water however the leg rope was pulling too tight.
David Wenham was on a paddleboard with his six-year-old son when he heard someone say "she's gone under". He dropped his son off and paddled over before diving under the boat to try to free Amie. He was able to undo the rope leash which immediately saw her rise to the surface.
CPR was performed by rescuers, including surf lifesaving staff, and a pulse was found, however, she died a short time later.
Senior constable Garry Paton said it was likely that Amie's leash got caught around the boat's anchor rope, however, testimony by those who helped rescue Amie from the water believed the rope had become wrapped around the keel of the boat.
Amie's father, Darrell, said he and wife, Catherine, had taught all three of their children to swim from an early age.
His daughter was a strong swimmer and they encouraged their use of paddleboards, buying five for the family to use.
Although they were all very water-wise, they were completely oblivious of a moored yacht being a hazard.
He said while a sign warning paddleboarders of the danger could be an idea, he wasn't sure it would be of any use as it has to be seen by paddleboarders, most of whom can enter the water from anywhere.
Mr Matenga reserved his decision.
On a personal note, he acknowledged the positive impact Amie had on people as he knew of several people in the basketball fraternity that had been rocked by her death.
Outside court, Mr Russell said the past 14 months since his daughter's death had been incredibly hard but he hoped there would be learnings from the incident so that it didn't happen to others.
