Caught in the teeth of a rip: everyday heroes tell us what it's really like

Every one of the 10 drownings on NSW beaches this summer is a tragedy, but the three fathers who lost their own lives trying to rescue their children are the most harrowing.

NSW surf life savers and volunteers have conducted 1760 rescues this season, but outside the red and yellow flags, many more go unreported.

Known as "bystander rescuers", these quiet heroes are often locals; regular surfers and ocean swimmers who know every hidden rip, shore dump, hole and sand bar in their local beach.

Up and down the NSW coastline throughout this dangerous Summer, ACM reporters sought out and spoke to some of these unsung heroes.

The tag of 'hero' is not one any of them wanted, but rather, they hoped their stories would offer a glimpse into the danger and terror involved in these rescues - even for young, fit and strong swimmers.

Nicholas Beames once swam for his home state of Victoria, but when he dived into the surf near Batemans Bay, on NSW's South Coast, to help four people who had been washed 40 metres out to sea in a rip, he soon found himself in trouble.

While he was ultimately able to help the group to shore, he told our reporter, "It felt like something out of a war movie. I was really spent. The whole thing felt like it went for five minutes - it is hard to say. I battled."

His message to would-be rescuers; "It doesn't matter what level of swimming you've done. Things turn bad very quickly.

"These rips - they don't care you're on holidays, that you just want a quick dip. They have other plans. That's why they are so deadly."

At Tathra on the NSW Far South Coast, Ty Dowdel watched as his friends Hayden Whitton and Dylan Shaw responded to a young girl's screams.

"We were probably 50 metres off the beach," Ty said. "She'd been dragged a fair way out. She was just like getting dragged under the waves and stuff and couldn't really hold herself up.

"Hayden and Dylan swam over and Dossy [Hayden] grabbed her and she was stressing and she grabbed him and then they pulled her across the rip and over to the sand bar."

At nearby Narooma, holidaymaker Kyle Able stunned onlookers who watched him dive from a breakwall to save a fisherman who had come off a trawler and was now struggling in mountainous seas.

An experienced surfer, Kyle felt confident he could help, and did one of the single most important things - he took a flotation device with him, grabbing a bodyboard, wetsuit and flippers from his car.

Despite his experience, he was under no illusions about what he was facing.

"I was hesitant. I didn't want to need to be rescued myself or drown in front of my kids," he said.

He was able to reach the panicked fisherman.

"He went to clamber on to me, but I told him to hold his vest and keep breathing. I had to let go of him at times, and go back under because we were getting hit by massive waves."

Kyle finally managed to tow the man towards the shore, pulling him behind him on the bodyboard. He said if he hadn't have had flotation devices to hand, there's no way he would have gone out.

"You wouldn't have the strength to swim against a surf that big," he said.

Off duty lifeguard Nick Rickwood was taking a run at a Port Macquarie beach on NSW's North Coast when he saw trouble unfolding at a notorious rip he knew well.

"I was running down to the breakwall, just doing a lap of the beach, and noticed four heads bobbing out," he said.

Two children on bodyboards had been swept out, with two mothers now in trouble having gone after them.

Nick called to a nearby surfer, and together the pair helped the four to safety.

Nick's mate, Mitch Atherton, was finishing his shift as a lifeguard at nearby Lighthouse Beach when he saw two people in trouble some distance away.

He quickly drove closer to the swimmers, and went into the water with a board to rescue them. The thankful pair told him they had been caught in a strong rip, but had been able to cling to rocks which probably saved them.

"It was very fortunate that the two patients grabbed hold of the rocks," Mitch said.

"If they had been swept out in that rip, it could've been a very different situation."

It's telling that none of this summer's fatalities occurred in patrolled areas between the flags, and sadly it's often inexperienced swimmers who head to unpatrolled beaches to escape the crowds.

Rescues are not always straightforward when there are multiple people involved, and everyone is panicking.

Academics Amy Peden and Rob Brander from UNSW Sydney say their research shows those who drown while performing a rescue on the coast usually do not take a flotation device with them.

"When adrenaline wears off and exhaustion kicks in, or if you need to support the weight of another person, having added buoyancy is vital," they told ACM.

"If you have a traditional flotation device such as a life jacket or boogie or surfboard, that's great. If not, the humble esky or cooler, a pool noodle or even an empty soft drink bottle can provide some flotation assistance."

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