This morning at dawn, I was witness to and a participant in a beautiful and poignant celebration of the life of Hamish Rieger.

Hamish was tragically swept off rocks a year ago today.

A member of the Mount Maunganui Lifeguard Service, he had finished patrolling for the day and was with two friends watching the rough sea conditions when tragedy struck about 7pm.

A wave crashed over the rocks at the end of Moturiki Island that Hamish and his two friends were standing on. In a fatal moment he was gone.

Police, the Coastguard and surf lifesavers were unable to locate the Mount Maunganui College student that night.

A search for Hamish began at first light the next day and his body was discovered at 11am that morning by a member of the public near North Rock

Greg and Donna Rieger were left devastated after the loss of their 17-year-old son.

I can't imagine the suffering from such an extreme distress.

Over the weekend I had been reflecting on his life and tragic loss, and watching the big sea swells that seemed to have come again a year later. This morning I went to watch the sun rise. I wasn't actually aware there was a commemoration planned, so it was quite by chance that I found myself surrounded by a few hundred of his family and friends quietly assembling on the beach.

Afterwards, Hamish's father Greg Rieger told me he hadn't expected so many people to join them.

'We thought we'd get just a few people, not many,” said Greg. 'This was a little bit surprising. This was his playground. This was where he lived his life.”

'He was a cheeky little s***,” says Greg. His eyes gleamed a moment. 'Today is a celebration of his life.”

Ellis Te Arahi Bryers, who conducted the first part of the gathering on the Mount Main beach, agreed.

'They will always be in pain,” says Ellis of the family. 'But today was about celebrating the fact that Hamish lived. Whereas a year ago when he died you don't get to do that because you are in so much pain.”

On the day it happened the sea had been up. Ellis remembers driving past and seeing the ambulance. He is part of the local surf club family and is called on for those moments, as he says it, when the physical meets the spiritual.

Ellis placed Hamish's family in the middle of a circle and quietly drew in the few hundred who attended the beach gathering, forming them into two outer circles. The second surrounding them were his closer friends and wider family including his surf lifesaving family.

The third outer circle continued the wider group of friends, police and local surf lifesaving club members. I joined the outer circle, as I hadn't known Hamish personally but also felt part of this expression of our local community encompassing the family.

'The role of everyone around them was to circle them and hold them,” says Ellis, 'hold their pain, hold their love. To show that the love for Hamish will never be forgotten.”

Everyone linked up, arms around each other and for the next few minutes we stood silently. Many held stems of deep blue and pink hydrangeas and other flowers. Ellis spoke quietly in te reo Māori.

'He swam off here, ran up the Mount, was doing surf lifesaving,” he says. 'This was his world and life. This was his playground and where he lived. There was a blessing when he came into the world and a blessing when he died.”

Afterwards he and I talked about that moment, in that circle, and the spiritual nature of it.

'The thing about this is that I find it's very powerful,” says Ellis. 'Getting people into that space and making them aware of it.”

I had felt the wave, the bonding of people. I had felt the immense sadness and sorrow as everyone held each other, and for a moment it had seemed overwhelming because I was no longer just a witness to this poignant point in time, but a participant. The girl next to me started shaking, I wasn't sure if she was unwell or feeling the emotion but helped her to sit on the sand.

Within the sadness around me there was also a feeling of immense love and blessing.

The family moved together through the circles as they opened to let them pass. They walked across the sand on to Moturiki Island, with everyone who knew Hamish following, to go and sit, stand, reflect, remember Hamish and his irrepressible spirit, and have their own private moments. I didn't go. I just felt that this moment was not something that I should be a part of. Ellis too stayed back.

'Now is not the time to be sad,” said Ellis to me afterwards. 'Of course everyone is going to be sad. But that's not what I thought today was about. It was about a blessing today with the circle, to help everyone move on.”

The Mount Maunganui Lifeguard Service posted this message to their Facebook page: 'Today is a great day to take stock, hug a loved one, go for a run, eat a massive ice cream and be irrepressibly cheeky to as many people as possible. Feel the wind in your hair and the sun on your face and know that some sparks just can't be doused.”

Hamish Rieger, cheeky as, lived doing what he loved. Today, let us all, the wider circle of Tauranga community surrounding the Rieger family, take a moment to also hold their pain and love for Hamish.

The blessing of his life will always remain and the love for him will never be forgotten. Manaaki tomu mai te aroha.