Vital skills save lives in dramatic Avoca Beach rescue

It was just after sunrise on Good Friday morning, the start to the Easter long weekend. A group of people stood on the sand at Avoca Beach watching the ocean heave and roar. The swell was enormous, the kind of surf that draws a crowd to the headland just to watch the spectacle. 

Long-time mates, Jackson English, Chris Parker, and Nigel Tebb had come down early hoping to catch a few waves. With decades of experience between them, even they hesitated - the swell was building and the rip was out of control. 

As they stood there talking and instinctively keeping an eye on the water – a call came through that switched them from mates about to head out for a surf, to volunteer surf lifesavers on a rescue mission.

Two young men had been swept into the powerful rip and dragged around the rocks. They were being pulled rapidly out to sea. It was well before patrol hours, and in that moment, the three friends from Avoca Beach SLSC, didn’t hesitate.

“You just go,” Jackson said. “We started thinking about what we could do to get these people out of the water safely. 

“All the years of being with the surf club, being in the water, and doing patrols – all the instincts kicked in.”

Nigel grabbed a rescue tube and ran around the rocks to try and get a visual on the distressed surfers, while Jackson and Chris raced to the Inflatable Rescue Boat (IRB) and prepared to launch. Waves of up to 10 feet were coming through, but they bravely faced the ocean knowing these two young men might not survive without them.

Last year, volunteer surf lifesavers saved the precious lives of 8,207 people – including the two surfers off Avoca Beach. Tragically however, 154 people did lose their lives to coastal drownings.

As you read this story, remember - without the IRB, without the training of the volunteers involved, and without YOUR support – it could have been these two young men who never have made it home safely to their loved ones.

This was a rescue fought against the full force of the ocean by highly trained volunteers on a mission to save two lives. The waves were huge, hammering the IRB as they tried to punch through the sets. 

“We looped around a few times and had to wait for an opening in the surf, and finally we got out through the break,” Jackson said.

Once they were beyond the break, they set up a search pattern and found the two men about 250 meters around the headland - exhausted, frightened, and being dragged further around by the relentless rip. One was an experienced waterman who had gone to the aid of his mate, but even he was struggling.

“At one point, they were considering paddling around to the next beach south,” Jackson said. “It’s two or three kilometres around the headland. It’s dangerous, the surf was huge. They were just going to let the rip take them and see where they ended up.”

Jackson and Chris pulled the two men into the IRB, but the danger wasn’t over yet. With some of the biggest swells of the morning, well over 10 foot, rolling under the IRB, getting back to shore was just as dangerous.

“With the four of us in the IRB and the two surfboards, it was really hard,” Jackson explained. “We waited for a set to pass, and then as soon as we felt like it was safe enough, we just gunned it.”

It was close – but they made it.

Back on shore, the young men were shaken but alive. They thanked the lifesavers repeatedly - grateful, relieved, and very lucky.

“This rescue was a huge team effort,” Jackson said.

“We had the support of everyone else who was around that morning from the surf club to get the IRB in the water. We had someone on the rocks with a radio, someone coordinating, and people on hand when we got back to help ensure the men were okay.

 

A surf lifesaver for nearly 40 years, when asked why he volunteers, Jackson didn’t hesitate:

“The drive comes from being able to give back to the community that’s given me so much,” he said. “Avoca is where I’ve spent most of my life. When you’re a lifesaver, you’re always making sure people are safe. Helping others is just part of who we are.

“It’s an honour to be part of a community that is all about helping others.”

This is Surf Life Saving - a community of people who show up, work together, and put themselves on the line for strangers. All because they believe that every single person who visits our Australian coastline should be protected and should return home safely.

And YOU are part of this community. Because it is your generosity that makes rescues like this possible and helped ensure these two young men were part of the 8207 people given a second chance at life last year, and not a heartbreakingly tragic story of two loved ones who never came home.

Jackson also spoke about the trust that underpins every rescue – trust built through years of training, teamwork, and shared experience.

“We’ve been mates for over 30 years,” he said of Chris and Nigel. “We surf together, patrol together, train together. We trust each other implicitly in and around the water.”