A man who drowned at Opoutere Beach was “the kindest man” who would “do anything for anyone”, his wife says.

Ian Cruickshank and his son Samuel Cruickshank died after they were swept out to sea while swimming at Opoutere, a remote, rugged beach north of Coromandel Peninsula’s Whangamata on Wednesday.

They were from Takapau, a tiny township of around 500 people in the Central Hawkes Bay, where Ian worked as an orchardist.

Ian’s wife Donna described him today as incredibly kind and loyal.

 “In the big scheme of things, a good man is hard to find, and I found one. He was amazing. He still wanted to hold my hand after 22 years of marriage, and when we walked down the street, he always had to be between me and the traffic, my protector,” she said in a statement.

“He was the kindest man. He’d do anything for anyone. Cliché, but true.”

She said he treated the orchards he managed as his own, and would have been blown away by the positive things being said about him by the people he worked with.

Ian and Donna had had three sons and one daughter. Donna said that of all of them, Samuel, 15, was most like Ian physically and in personality.

Ian Cruickshank, who drowned at Opoutere Beach near Whangamata on Wednesday. His wife described him as "the kindest man". Photo / Supplied by family

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“I’ve always thought about Samuel as Ian’s mini-me,” she said. “He was so kind, so funny, and just in the past couple of months we’ve really noticed his quick humour. It was lovely seeing that side of him. He’s always been good with people; he loved being with people.”

She said it was hard not to smile at some of the stories coming out about the 15 year old, who loved ball sports, particularly basketball, and was soon to start Year 11 at Central Hawkes Bay College.

“We knew he was cheeky, but just how cheeky…”

Sam Cruickshank was kind and funny, and "loved being with people", his mother said. Photo / Supplied

Donna thanked all of those involved in the search and rescue operation – Police, Surf Life Saving, Coastguard, LandSAR, Fire and Emergency, and the Royal NZ Navy. She also had two special mentions – the first for the head of the search and rescue team, known simply to them as Joe.

“He told me he was making it his mission to bring Samuel back to us, and he did. We had absolute confidence in all the rescue teams, who did their absolute best for us, and we’re so grateful.

“The local community here has also been incredible with offers of support, flowers, and so much food. It was nice to be able to tell our own community at home that we were being very well looked after. We are so very aware we’re not alone.”

BODY FOUND

A body was found near Slipper Island/Whakahau, off the coast of Opoutere, yesterday afternoon and police said they believed it was a swimmer who went missing three days ago. Emergency services had been searching for Samuel’s body over the previous three days.

His father, Ian Cruickshank, could not be rescuscitated at the beach on Wednesday, and the partner of one of Cruickshank’s daughters had to be airlifted to Waikato Hospital, where he is recovering.

On Wednesday, a group of seven people were seen signalling for help in the water as the tragedy unfolded, with all brought to shore but one was unable to be revived.

Earlier this week, holidaymakers told the Herald about their desperate efforts to save the family caught in “very rough” surf off the isolated beach. Among the people at the scene were a doctor and two nurses.

Kathy Le Haavre and Tony Brooks, who has worked on a rescue helicopter and is a former surf life-saver, were both on the beach when they spotted a man being dragged out to sea.

Le Haavre, a nurse, spent half an hour giving the man CPR before paramedics arrived on the scene, but he was later confirmed to have died.

Both Brooks and Le Haarve comforted a woman on the beach whom they understood was the dead man’s wife.

“To lose her husband in front of her eyes and to know her son [was still missing] must be really tough,” Brooks said.

“She had her whole family there. Her son lost his dad. Can you imagine the heartache?”