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Three teenagers are lucky to be alive after being caught in a rip on a Wellington beach and have an off-duty junior lifeguard to thank.
On Sunday, the 12- and 13-year-old girls went swimming dressed in Titahi Bay and were quickly swept out to sea in one of the most notorious rips on the beach.
The story could have ended in tragedy, but luckily for them, a group of surf lifeguards had been on a refresher course before the summer.
They had almost packed for the day the real-life emergency situation began to unfold.
Mac Van Den Heuvel, 16, and another guard, J’Adoube Elkington, were the last to go into the water in the rescue boat.
Van Den Heuvel said they were pulling buoys out of the sea when a member of the public ran down the beach pointing to the North End rip.
“We started riding some challenging waves.
“We could see some members of the public pointing towards the North End break, which is a permanent break.
“It’s pretty notorious for catching swimmers and it’s where a lot of our rescues happen.”
Van Den Heuvel said he could see three people in the water.
One was floating on his back, the other two hugging each other screaming for help, he said.
“I started pulling one and looked over my shoulder and saw the third girl … I knew she was in really bad shape.”
He said the girl seemed to be sinking underwater, so he started swimming towards her.
He managed to reach her in time, pulling his unconscious body out of the water.
Van Den Heuvel said he held her on top of him as he kicked against the rip that now pulled them both out to sea.
Ground first aid checks
Once everyone was safely in the boat, he called the club for urgent help, and they were met ashore for first aid checks.
The teenager had only been a lifeguard for a couple of years and said it was his first serious rescue.
He usually pulls weary pincers out of the water during training, but the real thing was quite shocking to him, he said.
“It really took me by surprise how quickly all that happens.”
Van Den Heuvel said with adrenaline “through the roof” that his instincts kicked in when he jumped from the front of the boat, but he was a bit worried about ending up in trouble himself.
“Then for the next several hours I was shaking like I couldn’t stop shaking from adrenaline.”
He said IRBs (inflatable rescue boats) are crucial for surf clubs and without one on Sunday, it would have been a very different outcome.
Lifeguards look forward to one of New Zealand’s biggest summers with everyone traveling in their own backyards.
Titahi Bay Rescue Coordinator Georgia McLaren said the girls were extremely lucky, because if it weren’t for the refresher course, there would be no one there to help with the patrols that didn’t start until December.
She said that if Mac hadn’t made the split-second decision to dive into the water, the third girl would have drowned.
“She had given up, she had no energy left and she was underwater.
“Mac was really scared, but she acted on that adrenaline and thought ‘I have to go do this’ and saw that she was in serious trouble.”
McLaren said this could have been a tragedy serving as a reminder about beach safety.
“When you have children with you, keep an eye on them, keep them close at hand, and don’t overestimate their ability in the water to cope with the conditions.
“In this case they did not know their limits … but the key message is that they did not know how to recognize the tear either, and that was the reason they were swept away.”
Remember these beach basics
- Choose a beach with a lifeguard and swim between the red and yellow flags.
- If you get caught in a tear, remember the 3R’s survival plan: relax and float to conserve energy; raise your hand for help and ride the rip until it stops and you can swim back to shore or help arrives
- Look for, read and understand the safety signs – ask a surf lifeguard for advice as beach conditions change
- Always closely monitor young children in or near water. Keep children within easy reach at all times
- Know your limits. Don’t overestimate your ability in the water or your children’s ability to cope with the conditions.
- Never swim, fish or surf alone
- When in doubt, stay out of the water.
- When fishing from rocks, always wear a life jacket and grippy shoes and do not turn your back on the sea.
- If you see someone in trouble, call 111 and ask for the police as they have a direct line for navigating lifeguards.
Information courtesy of Surf Lifesaving Association