The first incident occurred just before 2pm on Saturday at Saltwater Beach, 18 kilometres south-east of Taree on the Mid North Coast. Three brothers believed to be in their twenties were pulled from the water, but one could not be revived.
Hours later, at the northern end of Stockton Beach near Newcastle, another three men in their twenties were rescued by members of the public after being caught in a rip. Despite a rescue helicopter and an on-call lifesaving team being dispatched to the remote location, one man died.
A third man in his fifties was pulled from the water at Cabarita Beach on the state's Far North Coast on Saturday and later died in hospital.
NSW Police Acting Inspector Wes Taylor described the situation as "confronting for all involved", adding that it affected the community, emergency services, and people frequenting those areas.
The drownings bring the total number of drowning deaths across NSW since July to eight. They occurred a week before the official surf lifesaving patrol season is scheduled to begin on September 26.
Surf Lifesaving NSW chief executive Steven Pearce called the weekend's incidents an "unprecedented spike" and warned of a dangerous summer ahead. "This is indicative of what we're going to see this summer, which is forecast to be extremely hot," he said. "I can't remember a time when we've had this many drownings before we get into summer."
According to the National Drowning Report compiled by Royal Life Saving and Surf Life Saving Australia, drowning deaths in NSW declined during the 2025-26 reporting period but remained 9 per cent above the ten-year average. Men accounted for about eight out of every ten drownings.
Mr Pearce stressed the importance of swimming at patrolled areas. "These three tragedies, which will now ripple across so many families, [are] a message to others that there is a big danger in swimming at locations where there [are] no lifesavers or lifeguards on duty," he said.