Surf Lifesavers are urging people to swim safely this Auckland Anniversary weekend, after a record level of drownings in December.
File photo. Photo: Surf Life Saving New Zealand
Fourteen people died in the country's waterways over the Christmas-New Year period - the highest number in 25 years.
Surf Lifesaving Northern duty manager Faron Turner is urging people not to underestimate the conditions.
"We've got a swell running from half a metre to a metre on the east coast, the high tide time later this afternoon which means that people will be able to get out in the water just as the tide's starting to change," he said.
"And on the west coast today we currently have one metre to one-and-a-half metres. So it tends to be that height and level that people underestimate their ability."
Turner urged swimmers to know the conditions and stay out of the water rather than risk it.
