On Sunday 21/1/2024 at 7.30pm, off duty lifeguard Mikey Waldegrave was alerted to 2 people caught in a rip North of the carpark at Sunset Beach. He saw a hand go up and heard a scream for help. Mikey grabbed two rescue tubes and ran down to the beach. He swam out and rescued the two swimmers.
On shore, he was assisted by two other lifeguards, Emily Tusa and Alex de Latour who had prepared the ATV and medical equipment. The patients were assessed. One patient was critical with exhaustion and breathing problems which required oxygen. She had also taken in some water. Lifeguards Emily Tusa and Carolyn Edwards assisted with medical care, surfcom was alerted and an ambulance dispatched.
While lifeguards attended the patients and waited for the ambulance, Mikey continued to warn people not to swim and said there were two more incidents where swimmers managed to get themselves out of trouble. People seemed unaware of the rips and were swimming in a dangerous area of the beach. Mikey said, ‘People had not left the beach for the day and there were swimmers right up till dark, some of them taking a big risk’. ‘At the time of the rescue there were about 25 swimmers in the water, 50-60 people on the beach and 40 in the carpark’.
Mikey had been on patrol all day and said it had been a tough day with lifeguards continually in the water keeping swimmers between the flags. Big thanks to lifeguards like Mikey and the call out squad who volunteer long hours to help keep our beach safe and go the extra mile to make sure families get to have their loved ones make it home.
Young junior lifeguard Cooper Timmerman-Friskney of the Sunset Beach lifeguard service and his friend Nico Dwen are aged 11 and 12. They have been involved in three after hours rescues. On the 9th of January they were out surfing when they assisted 3 people to safety using their surf boards while the father of one of the juniors helped a 4th to safety.
On the 10th January, Nico and Cooper were again surfing after lifeguards had gone off patrol when more swimmers and one on a boogie board needed to be rescued. This time they floated the patients with their surfboards and put up their hands for assistance. Two off duty lifeguards came to their assistance and helped the swimmers to shore.
The heat wave hitting New Zealand has driven people to the beach. Lifeguards are leaving for the day after warning swimmers they are going off duty and advising it not safe to continue swimming. On Saturday at 2pm there were 200 on the beach and 100 in the water. At 5pm closing for the lifeguards there were 150 on the beach and 50 still in the water. Today Sunday at 3pm there were 185 on the beach and 80 in the water. With outgoing afternoon tides and strong rips making it differcult for swimmers, lifeguards are continually active with preventative actions and rescues.
Last night (Saturday) at about 7pm, off duty Lifeguards were notified by Sunset Beach Juniors, Cooper Timmerman-Friskney and Indi Dwen (sister of Nico) of someone caught in a rip. 2 swimmers with tubes were sent out to search and 2 other lifeguards on knee boards. Swimmer was unable to be found so the IRB was launched while the lifeguards on boards searched for the swimmer. One Lifeguard on a board found the swimmer and assisted him until the IRB arrived. Swimmer was moved to IRB and taken back to beach. He was assessed by lifeguards, and no further action was required. Referred to doctor if condition declined. The patient was a 12-year-old boy from Tonga. He had only been in NZ for two weeks.
If it wasn’t for the quick thinking of these juniors, lives could have been lost. After hours swimmers at a dangerous surf beach should not expect these young ones to be putting their lives at risk to help them but that is what these Juniors only aged 11 and 12 have been doing. Maybe that is what they have been training for as juniors from age 8 but it is not till age 14 that they can become a lifeguard on patrol. These young junior lifeguards are heroes.
At 11.30am on Saturday 23/12/2023, Sunset Beach lifeguards received a call from Surf Com notifying them of a man in his 30’s with near fatal drowning and in a serious condition. He had been free diving along the coast south of Sunset Beach with two friends when two of the divers were caught out by a large set of waves which swept them off rocks. One man became tangled with his catch bag and struggled to swim. His friend tried to assist him to the boat offshore, but they were pummeled by more big sets of waves before they could get to the boat. On reaching the boat the man in his 30’s was in a critical condition, so they radioed coastguard/Ambulance for assistance. They planned to motor up to the Port Waikato Bar to cross and meet the ambulance, but his condition deteriorated rapidly. They headed back to Sunset Beach where lifeguards launched the inflatable rescue boat and met them 150m offshore where the patient was transferred to the IRB. On arrival back onshore, he was assisted by lifeguards, fire volunteers and a local doctor till ambulance and helicopter paramedics arrived. The man was very critical and had taken on a lot of water. He was airlifted to hospital.
Lifeguards say the divers made the right decision to offload the patient at Sunset Beach so he could get immediate attention. The patient was in danger of secondary drowning, a very critical condition.
Senior Lifeguard Mikey Waldergrave said it was a very tricky situation and his team handled the rescue really well. “It’s always great to see the Westpac Rescue Helicopter arrive with the paramedics to assist in these situations, you know they are going to get the best care and chance of survival.” A big thank you to the local doctor who attended and all emergency personal involved.
This was the second incident of the day, prior to this Mikey said they had already had a busy morning when they were tasked to the Port Waikato Bar at 10.30am after a fishing boat had rolled.
