Max and Ange were both off duty on Friday afternoon and helping to set up a friend’s wedding upstairs at the club when cafe staff at Surf Beach alerted them to two people in trouble in the water.

The two looked outside and saw the two people some 200 metres offshore.

They quickly raced downstairs and got the rubber duck.

They negotiated the waves to get out to rescue a woman believed to be in her 70s and her son in his 40s. Both of the swimmers went for a swim but became caught in a rip.

The two were a little shaken but okay when returned to the beach.

“It was very lucky the two club members were around, and it is another important reminder about the dangers of swimming at unpatrolled beaches and the dangers of rips,” club publicity officer Lin Wilton said.

“If you get caught in a rip, don’t panic and swim parallel to the beach. Swimming against the rip will only tire you. Rips will not pull you under, but they will take you out the back where the water is calmer.”

The rip was still present on Saturday and the patrol set up the flags on the far southern end of the beach.