Quick thinking saves the day in beach rescues

THERE were two rescues of people in trouble in the water off the Surf Coast over the weekend.

On Saturday, Sean Reilly, who is in the Nippers program at Torquay SLSC, had an eventful St Patrick’s Day, starting early for the beach patrol then paddling out to save a pair of boardriders in difficulty and towing them back into shore.

The rescue took place about 400 metres offshore at the back of the Drainos surf break.

Torquay SLSC president Tony White, who posted on social media about the rescue, said that the boardriders “probably weighed three times (Sean’s) own body weight but all those years of paddling in his young arms did the job!”

This newspaper also learned of another rescue on Saturday morning, when John Williams wrote in with details about how his son Anthony saved half a dozen people at Jan Juc beach.

Mr Williams said his son was fishing with a friend near the Jan Juc SLSC clubhouse, “when he noticed some people that were in some difficulty out in the water, hands in the air and crying out”.

He said there were no patrols on the beach at the time, so Anthony “gave his hat and sunglasses to his mate, asked a kid for his surfboard and went out to them”.

“He got six Chinese people to hang onto the surfboard and got them all back to the beach.

“Not many were there to see this, but it would have made the news if five or six had drowned.”