'Panicked' swimmers rescued at Northland beach by off-duty lifeguards

Thursday, 22 October 2020

Six swimmers were saved over a three-week spell as lifeguards prepare for a busy season.

Six people have been rescued by off-duty lifeguards at a Northland beach over the last three weeks.

Exhausted swimmers, including an 8-year-old girl, were pulled from the water at Ocean Beach on three occasions.

Lifeguards will be back on patrol this Saturday, and are bracing for what could be the busiest season on record as Covid-19 travel restrictions keep Kiwis at home.

Six people have been saved at Ocean Beach in Northland by off-duty members of the Whangārei Heads Surf Lifesaving Club.

Whangārei Heads Surf Lifesaving Club captain Josh Maxwell rescued an 11-year-old boy and his 8-year-old sister from a rip in the middle of the beach on October 3.

“I was heading out for a surf when I came across them in the rip, they were climbing the ladder and very panicked, so I pulled them onto my surfboard and paddled them to shore,” he said.

Surf lifesavers are expecting a busy summer season as Covid-19 prevents Kiwis from leaving the country.

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The following week Maxwell came across twin brothers in their 20s who were caught in the same rip.

“One of them had almost given up by the time I got to them, I had to pull him up from underwater onto my surfboard and paddle him back to shore,” he said.

Then just this weekend, Maxwell spotted two scuba divers being sucked out to sea.

'As I was doing my usual paddle around Jump Rock [Tarakanahi Island] I noticed them getting sucked north toward Proctors Beach,” he said.

“By the time I got to them they would have been about a kilometre offshore and were both exhausted,” he said.

Maxwell let them hold on to his board while he paddled closer to the shore, but couldn’t get them through the large surf and strong currents.

“Luckily Ben and Daniel Akroyd were training in the IRB [Inflatable Rescue Boat] and I managed to signal for them to come out and help. They pulled the two into the boat and got them back to shore,” he said.

“It’s just so lucky I was doing my usual paddle at that time because there was a surfing competition on and everything and no-one could see them from the shore. Like I keep thinking about if I hadn’t been there and spotted them they likely would have died.”

Surf Lifeguards around the country are bracing themselves for what could be the busiest lifesaving season on record.

Covid-19 travel restrictions mean New Zealanders face a summer without the option of overseas holidays, and many are expected to take 'staycations”.

Surf Life Saving New Zealand chief executive Paul Dalton is reminding people it’s not possible for lifeguards to be everywhere at once.

“Our lifeguards do an extraordinary job, but we’re anticipating this summer to be incredibly busy,” he said.

“We’re asking New Zealanders to do their part by choosing to go to lifeguarded beaches, and always swim between the red and yellow flags.”