Christine Logan saves woman from rip at Sunshine Beach

A business owner has relived the “traumatic” rescue of a woman stuck in a rip and said she “honestly thought I wasn’t going to make it”.

Christine Logan, 55, rescued a woman from a really bad rip at Sunshine Beach on Saturday morning. Picture: Patrick Woods.

When Christine Logan arrived at the beach Saturday morning to walk her dog, she didn’t think she’d be leaving thankful to still be alive.

The Sunshine Beach resident went to her local waterfront around 10am when her plans for a leisurely stroll quickly changed.

Ms Logan said a few minutes into the walk a group of people pointed out a woman stuck in a swirling rip at the northern end of the beach.

“No one else was going to go in, so I went in and went out to her,” Ms Logan said.

“I got to her and she was a bit panicked. I made sure she was okay and wasn’t going to drag me down if made contact with her.

“I took her hand and placed her on her back and tried to calm her. A wave came through and it pushed us a bit closer to shore.

Christine Logan at Sunshine Beach. Picture: Patrick Woods.

“Another guy then came in as well as my friend Jim.

“Jim got caught in the rip and was washed up over onto the rocks.”

While the other man managed took control of the woman and got her to safety, Ms Logan, who owns ice cream shop The Scoop @4567, was stuck in the rip’s grip.

The 55-year-old said it was “really scary”.

“Nobody came to save me. I couldn’t swim out of it, couldn’t go to the left or right. I was in a whirlpool, just going in circles.

“I honestly thought I wasn’t going to make it, I was screaming for help.

“I kicked and kicked and kicked, and somehow managed to get a wave that pushed me in a little bit. I got another wave and managed to grab onto a rock.

“I don’t even know how I did, I thought I was going to go down.

“Nobody came onto the rocks to throw me something, I guess people have fight or flight. The only person who came out to the rocks to help me was the woman I saved.

“Jim said ‘I thought I was going to lose you’ because he couldn’t get to me. It was very traumatic.”

Ms Logan said she was shocked the woman, who is a swim instructor, was in the water that morning, describing the conditions as “treacherous”.

“It was really rough, it was very scary.

Ms Logan said the experience was traumatic. Picture: Patrick Woods.

“I didn’t even want to go in and I’m a strong swimmer. She wouldn’t have made it if I didn’t, she would have drowned for sure.

“She was not in a good way.”

The business owner said she intends to donate a life ring for the northern end of Sunshine Beach.

“If I had something like that it would have saved her and it would have turned out a lot different.

“Something needs to be there, it’s notoriously a bad area of the beach and it’s not patrolled.

“There is always a rip there, it’s how the surfers get out. There were no surfers that day, it was too rough.

“People just need to be aware of the water before they go in.”

As for what she did for the remainder of her Saturday.

“I was drinking gin and tonics by 11am.”