I find my posts getting scattered to the 4 winds of the forum, so I've decided to make a home here for the epic adventures I find myself drawn to.

First post is a rescue I was involved in while on patrol at Soldiers Beach on the Central Coast of NSW on Easter Sunday, 29th March, 2005. I promised a long time ago to post this for Speedy...apologies for the delay!
Oh...and I guess it's important to note that this was on a cooked vegan diet, 6 months before going raw...consider it raw background.
There are a few accounts of the rescue...this one I wrote in the 3rd person at the time (a style I'm not fond of...oh well).

It was low tide with huge surf (consistent 10 foot+ waves) out the back. Most waves were dumping, with the waves curling several foot over the heads of the surfboard riders. Because of the large swell a lot of water was coming in with each set and combined with low tide, the depth of the water was continually changing. When the sets came in, the water rushed back out to sea along the rock platform forming a strong rip from the northern edge of the flagged area and along the rock platform which then proceeded out to sea, beyond the break and south past the line of the sewerage pipe several hundred metres south of the rocks.

People in the middle of the flagged area were generally in still water, not fighting any rip. In the morning, the beach was closed and the rip was strong on the southern side of the flags. Consequently the flags were set up 20-30m from the rocks. The flags were moved before the mass rescue but only about 5 metres south.

Around 2pm, no sets had come for a few minutes and the water had all drained out in the rip.
The swimmers all moved out about 15 metres to go back to waist depth. We noticed the swimmers had all moved out and were discussing how when another set comes in, they'll probably be swimming. Within minutes of discussing the possible scenario it had happened.   
As the sets came in, the water level rose and the 9 people (2 families with some friends) on the northern edge of the flags drifted off the sand bar and into the rip. They swam against the rip for a brief period, realised they were overpowered and a father got them all to hold hands. They floated as a group towards the rocks. In less than 30 seconds they had gone from standing safely on a sandbar to being dangerously close to the rocks. The father accounted later how helpless he felt. There was large wash from broken waves pushing them towards the rocks and a strong rip trying to take them out to sea.         

As the swimmers entered the rip, Grant ran out with a tube and fin, with Glen and Michael close behind each with a tube and fin. On the way out Grant passed one male teenager near the end of the channel swimming against the rip who looked strong enough that he may make it back to shore unassisted so Grant swam passed him to the group of 7. Four people grabbed hold of Grant's tube, two grabbed Glen's tube and one grabbed Michael's tube.

Meanwhile, back on the beach, Mick, the club captain, had called Warringah Surf with RESCUE RESCUE RESCUE. First time he's ever had to do that. He then gave Jay instructions which were carried out throughout the rescue to the letter. Mick then flew out in the IRB (inflatable rescue boat) with Amanda.

Jay sounded the shark alarm to remove all swimmers from the surf so all efforts could be focused on the rescue. Interestingly, none of the tube rescuers heard the shark alarm over the fury of the ocean but the alarm effectively removed all swimmers from the flagged area.

Swimming with one flipper while dragging 4 people seemed futile but Grant thinks it helped get them out of the critical zone next to the rocks. They were 2 metres from being smashed into the rocks and Grant was just on the verge of having to take the rescue tube off his shoulders, and attempt to swim out of there (not a cool situation!) There was enough tension on the rescue tube that 2 people were just holding the rope and had plenty of bouyancy. The father and his daughter were holding the back of the tube. A couple of young board riders went past them near the rocks but they couldn't really assist with the size of the wash and they paddled on by. A father of one of the 14 year old girls being rescued was about to dive in off the rocks, but fortunately one of the locals watching stopped him (would have pushed the rescue over the edge).

After about 5 minutes, it was a relief to start drifting away from the rocks out to sea, however Glen and Michael started drifting out a lot faster in the rip having less people on their tubes. At this point Grant's swimmers started panicing. They were concerned they would die from the size of the waves. Grant told them firmly that unless they relax they won't be able to breath properly. This put them all back into a more rational state. The 14 year old boy was asking if there were sharks where we were drifting.  He told him "There's no sharks here, you'll be right." Then they started asking where the IRB was and right on cue he was able to point to it heading out to sea on the southern side of the flags. At one point the daughter was washed off the back of the tube by one of the large broken waves, fortunately the father was able to put his arm out and grab her.

One problem with the tube was the 4 tugs on Grant's shoulder. As each wave hit he dove deep, then felt four tugs as the wave hit each swimmer, the fourth tug being quite powerful with four swimmers being pulled tight along the tube. He was surprised that the swimmers were able to hold onto the tube under the large waves breaking in front of them.

Again Grant’s group caught site of the IRB. It was right out the back behind the waves, but just sitting there. They didn't realise Mick was actually fixing it out there because the engine kept cutting in and out preventing him from performing the rescue in the big surf. With no radio in the IRB the situation couldn't be communicated back to the beach. By the time the IRB was operational again, the rip had split up the 3 groups on tubes and Mick couldn't see any of them hidden behind the big swells. Fortunately, Jay used the signal flags from the beach to let the IRB know which direction to pick up the swimmers.         

By now the IRB had picked up 3 of the 9 swimmers.
The 2 swimmers from Glen's tube were left with a surfboard rider out beyond the break. Glen started swimming back to try and help take some swimmers from Grant but given how far he had drifted it wasn't an option. Glen turned back and stayed with his 2 swimmers and waited for the IRB.The IRB had dropped the 3 swimmers back to shore, grabbed a radio and went out to pick up the swimmers out the back. By the time the IRB got out there, Glen, the board rider and 2 swimmers were nowhere to be seen. Unknown to Mick, they had drifted down past the pipe in the rip, several hundred metres south of the rocks.

At this point, the rip hadn't taken Grant's group out too far due to the number of swimmers on the tube and a consistent battering of big waves pushing them back. The result was that they had actually drifted into the back of the flagged area and managed to stand up. They waded quickly expecting the swell to come in and put them afloat again. Grant was getting concerned they would end up back in the rip they started in, but fortunately, 15 to 20 minutes after having been swept into the rip, they were able to wade all the way into shore to a deftly silent gathering of about 200 people watching from the beach and 100 people standing on the rocks for a birdseye view.

The four people rescued were very appreciative and happy to be ashore. They went to their families. Within minutes of being back on the beach two mothers came up asking where their daughters were. Everyone else had been returned safely to shore. Grant reassured them saying the IRB was out there, Brady was heading back up to the tower with a radio and Glen wasn't in yet on the tube, so he must still be with them. Mick got on the radio back to the beach to get assistance in locating the remaining swimmers and Jay told him they had drift down towards sunset, the surfing area at the far south end of the beach. All Mick heard was "squawk squawk squawk SUNSET squawk squawk". Luckily he heard the key word and shortly afterwards located the 2 girls bringing them back safely to the beach.

About 10 minutes later the father of the 14 year old girl Grant had brought in, came over and said she was having difficulty breathing. She was fine when she was returned to shore with Grant but apparently she had gone into shock upon hearing her friend was still out in the surf. She was hyperventilating and after being on oxygen for about 15 minutes still showed no sign of calming down. An ambulance was called and she was taken to the first aid room on a stretcher. The ambo's eventually managed to calm her down using the mask with the oxygen turned off. Quite a memorable 14th birthday for her…

All ended well. The families were very appreciative, even going so far as wanting to donate money directly to the club. Richard Field commented that he thinks this was only the 3rd mass rescue of this size in 50 years at Soldiers Beach.

Grant was grateful he has had the opportunity over the last couple of years to spend a lot of time in the water training with his surf coach Steve Lentin along with doing Sunday pointscore, competing and listening to experiences of senior members. Collectively these  provided the confidence and surf skills required for the rescue. Things could have finished up a lot worse. A mass rescue at Bondi on the same day ended with a missing person. The entire patrol performed an excellent job stretched to the limit with 4 people in the water, 2 in the IRB and only 1 left on the beach.

After the mass rescue the flags were moved about 20m south which kept the people in the water a little further from danger. Although, further tube rescue's were still performed before patrol was over. A total of 14 rescues were performed during the patrol.

Four of the 7 patrol members were only 15 or 16 years old!

great to read these real life adventures Kanyow....

Hi Jen, Thanks for dropping by
Yeah Jim's been in touch. We'll definitely be catching up!

Suay, Oh yeah, Life Is Real...I've no doubt about that, even though so many things seem too good to be true.
It's time to drop "too good to be true" from the expressions I use. It's such a "cooked" expression to justify the mediocrities of a compromised life. What do you think?

Great answer...keep it real...keep it NOW!

Hi Jen, Don't stand on formalities...please call me Eckhart 

Started a run this morning in Cook, Canberra at 6:30am in the dark...
Thermal top, running shorts, light cycling gloves (full fingers) and a beanie.
10 minutes into the run I realised how cold it was...my upper and lower lips were slightly numb...what the hell is with that!
My hands were ok for now in the gloves.
Ran all the way around Black Mountain...which sounds flat...but it aint!
It has huge climbs and at least as much altitude changes (when you add up all the ups and downs) as going up and over the mountain...lots of gullies and spurs...
The sun had been up for about 30 mins and my hands were getting colder...running through a gully with the cold air rising up, the hands get frozen...I mean really cold!
My fingers stayed pink, but frost bite was coming to mind.
Tapping my wrist felt like a jolt...there was so little blood flow to my hands.
Putting gloves on and off my hands were SOOO numb. I had to be careful not to gouge holes in myself with my fingernails, as I just couldn't feel anything.
And at the same time my head and torso were sweating in the beanie and thermal top...crazy feelings.
My beanie had frost on it for the last 30 minutes of the run! What the!!!
The run took 1hr 37mins to return to Cook and the last 30 minutes was by far the coldest part of the run!
That morning frost after sun-up is a killer!
I can't be completely mad as 2 friends, Nick and Anton joined me for the early morning madness.
Felt awesome at the end of it :-)

Don't you just love Canberra in the winter!!