Oscar Rayner saved the boy but could only watch as the boy’s father went under in the cold water at the top of Lake Wakatipu, near the outlet of the Rees River.
Leroy Kaaho (48), also known as Linkin Kisling, of Wanaka, died on Friday trying to save his two sons, aged 10 and 12, when they apparently became caught in the river’s current.
Mr Rayner, himself a reasonably strong swimmer, said the area north of the Glenorchy Wharf where the boys were swimming appeared to be a safe place to swim.
He quickly learned otherwise as he entered the water.
It was "much more dangerous than it seems".
Mr Rayner spoke to the Otago Daily Times yesterday because he wanted to let people know about the conditions on the day and because he felt awful for the family.
"I certainly won’t forget it [the day] and I just feel sorry for the whanau that’s missing their father and partner and everything else.
"But I’m so glad that that boy’s alive now," he said. Mr Rayner, his partner and a couple of friends had just finished lunch at the Glenorchy pub when they went to the wharf to take in the sights.
As his partner and their friends stopped near the shore to take photos, Mr Rayner walked out to the end of the wharf.
From there he saw two people in the water at quite a distance from the shore, off to his right.
They were too far away for him to hear anything and he could not see them calling for help but he could tell from the body language of a woman standing at the edge of the water that they were in trouble.
Another woman standing next to him on the wharf was "obviously seeing the same thing", Mr Rayner said.
They looked at each other momentarily, recognising the pair in the water were in trouble.
"At that point I just sprinted back down the wharf, past my partner and yelled at her to get a boat in the water: ‘There’s people in trouble.’
"I believe that from the time I saw the people in the water it was the father and the son and by that time I had seen one of them go under the water multiple times."
By the time Mr Rayner was halfway out, Mr Kisling had gone under and had not resurfaced.
"I just managed to get to the boy, who at that point had gone underwater two or three timesthat I’d seen.
"I managed to get to him.
"I just got on my back and pulled him on to my chest and just tried to keep his head out of the water.
"I tried to make it back to the shore."
But as soon as he entered the water he realised how strong the current was as the river flowed out into the lake.
As he entered the lake, too, he realised it was shallow for about 5m or 6m and then the lake bottom suddenly dropped off, quite close to the shore.
He believed he reached the boy about 50m or 60m from the water’s edge and getting back to the shore was hard going, Mr Rayner said.
The deceased man’s wife told The New Zealand Herald the day was meant to have been just another fun family day out.
They had not planned to go into the lake, but it had been a spontaneous trip and the boys had their togs, the weather was warm, the lake looked inviting and there were plenty of other people around the area.
When the parents called their boys out of the water they knew they needed help.
The older boy managed to get himself out of the water, as Mr Kisling tried to reach his 10-year-old son.
The police national dive squad recovered Mr Kisling’s body the following day about 3pm.
