Gold Coast’s Peter Wilson has saved 10 people from drowning in surf

Peter Wilson knows the drill. He dives in the water, pulls out a stranger and brings them to life. And he’s done it more times than most. This is his incredible story.

PETER Wilson knows the drill. He dives in the water, pulls out a stranger and brings them to life.

In past 33 years, the Bundall composite engineer has saved the lives of 10 people caught either floundering or unconscious in the sea.

The 55-year-old’s first rescue was “back in the 1980s” when he grabbed a surfer’s board at Broadbeach and saved two people. The latest was last Wednesday when Mr Wilson and his friend Dan Osgathorpe spotted a woman floating lifelessly in the surf at Main Beach.

The woman, aged in her mid-30s, had gone for a swim at Narrowneck about 3pm, got into trouble and almost drowned.

WOMAN PULLED FROM WATER AT MAIN BEACH AFTER NEAR-DROWNING

Peter Wilson, 55 has rescued 10 people in past decades. Picture: Lawrence Pinder

“She was laying down, drifting,” Mr Wilson said. “You could see her foot moving so we didn’t think anything.

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“Then she went out near the whitewash and drifted back in. Not many people can hold their breath for three minutes so we thought we better jump in.”

Mr Wilson and Mr Osgathorpe were standing on the footpath about 100m away and rushed down to recover the woman from waist-deep water.

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Peter Wilson, 55, and his mate Dan Osgathorpe. Picture: Lawrence Pinder

It is understood she could have been submerged for as long as 10 minutes.

“She was totally unconscious. She was like a big bit of jelly,” Mr Wilson said.

“We dragged her up on the beach and laid her down on her side because we needed to drain the water out of her mouth. I couldn’t give her mouth to mouth as there was too much water, so I started applying compression.

“There was nothing there. She was dying. She was pretty well there. There was no register in her eyes. She was cold.”

The men performed CPR for three-four minutes before surf lifesavers rushed down to help.

“Lifeguards put a (defibrillator) on her. I was trying to find a pulse. She wasn’t breathing at all at that stage. But then some warmth came back to her,” Mr Wilson said.

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This is the 10th person Peter has saved in his life. Picture: Lawrence Pinder

Paramedics arrived shortly after and took the women to Gold Coast University Hospital in a critical condition.

The hospital said the woman was still recovering but had been taken out of the intensive care unit.

Over time, Mr Wilson, whose only lifesaving experience was Royal Life Saving training when he was young, says he has saved nine others.

Last year he said he was kitesurfing at Miami when two English people got caught in a rip.

“They had their boogie boards but they were pretty well flogged. I got the girl in first. Then there was a young boy I dragged in.”

While living in New Zealand for a short period, he said he pulled out two teenage girls on boogie boards from eight-foot surf.

He said his first rescue was in the 1980s when he pulled two people from big swell at Broadbeach.

“There was a young guy sitting there with his surfboard and I said ‘can I borrow your board?’. I went in and rescued them.

“Over the years I have lived in Nobby Beach, there would be young kids who I would drag out of the back of the surf.

“I’ve just always been a water person. I’m always there.”

Originally published as Gold Coast’s Peter Wilson has saved 10 people from drowning in surf