{"id":431268,"date":"2026-05-17T00:05:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T00:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/431268\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T00:05:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T00:05:09","slug":"waitemata-harbour-dawn-paddle-honours-kayaker-simon-mclarin-who-died-after-medical-event","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/431268\/","title":{"rendered":"Waitemat\u0101 Harbour dawn paddle honours kayaker Simon McLarin who died after medical event"},"content":{"rendered":"

Emergency services were called to an area offshore from Hobsonville Marina at around 8.35am yesterday. <\/p>\n

Despite a multi-agency rescue operation, McLarin did not survive.<\/p>\n

A friend out on the water with him when the tragedy struck, told the Herald that McLarin suffered a heart attack while paddling with seven others during a training.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was with him on the water as part of the kayak training group,\u201d the friend said.<\/p>\n

\"SimonSimon McLarin’s sons joined club mates at dawn today to lay a wreath in Waitemat\u0101 Harbour.<\/p>\n

Matt Thomson, who has competed against and alongside McLarin, described him as a \u201clegend\u201d of the sport. <\/p>\n

\u201cSimon was a legend of kayaking in New Zealand with multiple NZ titles in sprint and marathon,\u201d Thomson said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI competed against him in many events, including NZ champs. I had huge respect for his competitiveness and strength. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe was also generous of spirit and always found time to help others.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"FriendsFriends have named Waitemat\u0101 Canoe and Multisport Club member and father Simon McLarin as the person who died following the medical event yesterday. Photo \/ Facebook<\/p>\n

In an online tribute, another friend said McLarin would be sorely missed during their early morning training sessions.<\/p>\n

\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

Others said McLarin was a \u201cgreat guy and an awesome competitor on the water\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was such a monster paddler,\u201d another friend wrote.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe kayaker suffered a medical event in the water off Auckland\u2019s Hobsonville Marina yesterday morning. Photo \/ Dean Purcell<\/p>\n

Witnesses told the Herald the kayaker had suffered a medical event, and a nearby launch had stepped in to help and take him onboard.<\/p>\n

He received medical treatment on the private launch but died, police said.<\/p>\n

Hato Hone St John said it sent an ambulance, a helicopter and a rapid response unit to the marina.<\/p>\n

The private launch had docked in the marina by 9.30am, with one of the Police Maritime Unit\u2019s rigid-hulled inflatable boats rafted up alongside it.<\/p>\n

The police boat, Deodar, and Fire and Emergency New Zealand were also at the scene.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Emergency services were called to an area offshore from Hobsonville Marina at around 8.35am yesterday. Despite a multi-agency…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":431269,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[74,89,3952,8984,6179,8231,2109,11784,1445,20589,305,2862,7568,7560,98473,220811,3523,111,43,139,69,21315,10142,6037,31145,20838,114941,1299,102],"class_list":["post-431268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-after","tag-attack","tag-aucklands","tag-dawn","tag-died","tag-event","tag-family","tag-fatal","tag-friends","tag-harbour","tag-have","tag-heart","tag-honour","tag-honours","tag-kayaker","tag-mclarin","tag-medical","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-paddle","tag-paid","tag-simon","tag-suffered","tag-tribute","tag-waitemat","tag-who","tag-with"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431268","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=431268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431268\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/431269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}