In the build-up to Christmas last year, talented footballer and former University of Otago student Jack Skellett had just bought himself a kayak, and on the morning of December 20, he decided to take it for a paddle at Wellington’s Petone Beach.
Sadly, the 23-year-old never returned.
At first, his mum Karen was not concerned when Jack failed to answer his phone later that day, because he was such an "active and outgoing person".
"I thought he was probably out with his mates.
"I knew that he had got a life jacket. I thought he would just drive it down to the beach and go somewhere along the coastline a little bit."
But everything changed when Jack’s car was found that night at Petone Wharf, without the kayak.
The police and coastguard began searching for him and his body was found the next evening.
It was a call no parent ever wanted to get, she said.
"But he said, ‘no, no, no, they found the kayak — they haven’t found Jack’. Then they found his life jacket a little bit later.
"There was a lot of searching going on by lots of people — the football club, the university and his friends.
"It was just that realisation. We were walking up and down from Eastbourne to Days Bay and it was so windy and raining, the sea was so rough that you just knew that he wasn’t going to be found alive.
"You knew that it wasn’t going to be a good outcome."
Jack’s death was part of a shocking rise in drownings last year.
Water Safety New Zealand statistics show the number of fatalities was the worst in a decade — 90 people drowned in 2021 and there have been 83 drowning fatalities so far this year.
In Otago, there have been four drowning fatalities already this year — the same amount as the 2021 toll.
As the anniversary of Jack’s death passes, Ms Skellett is urging people to take extra care when out on the water this summer.
"I just don’t want other parents to have to do this."
She wants to raise awareness about the dangers of getting into any water-based activity without the right training and support, particularly among young adult males who may think they are bulletproof.
"You can be intelligent and physically strong, but things can go wrong for you. And people don’t know what they don’t know.
"There needs to be some input into our young adults to help them, not only with water safety, but there’s lots of things where life can go wrong and it’s taken away from you."
