{"id":430639,"date":"2026-05-16T13:50:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T13:50:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/430639\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T13:50:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T13:50:12","slug":"waitemata-harbour-kayaker-dies-after-heart-attack-on-morning-paddle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/430639\/","title":{"rendered":"Waitemat\u0101 Harbour kayaker dies after heart attack on morning paddle"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mplxTcLUMibHPxLgQP\" style=\"display:none\">A friend out on the water with him when tragedy struck told the Herald that McLarin suffered a heart attack whilst paddling with around seven others during a training. <\/p>\n<p class=\"mplxTcLUMibHPxLgQP\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cI was with him on the water as part of the kayak training group, and I was the one who made the 111 call,\u201d the friend said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"mplxTcLUMibHPxLgQP\" style=\"display:none\">In an online tribute, another friend said McLarin would be sorely missed during their early morning training sessions.<\/p>\n<p><img  alt=\"Friends have named Waitemata Canoe &amp; Multisport Club member and father Simon McLarin as the person who died following the medical event yesterday. Photo \/ Facebook\" class=\"article-media__image responsively-lazy\" data-test-ui=\"article-media__image\"\/>Friends have named Waitemata Canoe &amp; Multisport Club member and father Simon McLarin as the person who died following the medical event yesterday. Photo \/ Facebook<\/p>\n<p class=\"mplxTcLUMibHPxLgQP\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cHe always said to me the water was his happy place, and if he had to go, he wanted it to be on the water,\u201d the friend wrote. <\/p>\n<p class=\"mplxTcLUMibHPxLgQP\" style=\"display:none\">Others said McLarin was a \u201cgreat guy and an awesome competitor on the water\u201d. <\/p>\n<p class=\"mplxTcLUMibHPxLgQP\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cHe was such a monster paddler,\u201d another friend wrote. <\/p>\n<p><img  alt=\" A kayaker suffered a medical event in the water off Auckland\u2019s Hobsonville Marina. Photo \/ Dean Purcell\" class=\"article-media__image responsively-lazy\" data-test-ui=\"article-media__image\"\/> A kayaker suffered a medical event in the water off Auckland\u2019s Hobsonville Marina. Photo \/ Dean Purcell<\/p>\n<p class=\"mplxTcLUMibHPxLgQP\" style=\"display:none\">Witnesses told the Herald the kayaker had suffered a medical event, and the nearby launch had stepped in to help and take him onboard.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mplxTcLUMibHPxLgQP\" style=\"display:none\">The man received medical treatment on the private launch, but died, police said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mplxTcLUMibHPxLgQP\" style=\"display:none\">Hato Hone St John said it sent an ambulance, a helicopter and a rapid response unit to the marina.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mplxTcLUMibHPxLgQP\" style=\"display:none\">The private launch had docked in the marina by 9.30am, with one of the Police Maritime Unit\u2019s rigid-hulled inflatable boats (RHIBs) rafted up alongside it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mplxTcLUMibHPxLgQP\" style=\"display:none\">The police boat, Deodar, and Fire and Emergency NZ were also at the scene.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mplxTcLUMibHPxLgQP\" style=\"display:none\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nzherald.co.nz\/nz\/the-daily-h-your-fast-smart-guide-to-the-days-biggest-headlines\/VQR5CULLQRECZP2ORSWPGDORBU\/?utm_source=nzherald&amp;utm_medium=article&amp;utm_id=nz_cta\" title=\"https:\/\/www.nzherald.co.nz\/nz\/the-daily-h-your-fast-smart-guide-to-the-days-biggest-headlines\/VQR5CULLQRECZP2ORSWPGDORBU\/?utm_source=nzherald&amp;utm_medium=article&amp;utm_id=nz_cta\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sign up to The Daily H<\/a>, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A friend out on the water with him when tragedy struck told the Herald that McLarin suffered a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":430640,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[74,125659,89,3952,7126,8532,1445,20589,2862,98473,152971,1304,111,43,139,69,90,21315,32258,31145,38694,210,5839,25448,114941],"class_list":["post-430639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-after","tag-apparent","tag-attack","tag-aucklands","tag-dies","tag-ended","tag-friends","tag-harbour","tag-heart","tag-kayaker","tag-kayakers","tag-morning","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-paddle","tag-reaches","tag-suffered","tag-surrounded","tag-through","tag-tragically","tag-upper","tag-waitemat"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=430639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430639\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/430640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=430639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=430639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=430639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}