‘I’ve aged over the past two days but it’s great news’: Elliot’s dad

At home in Sydney, missing surfer Elliot Foote’s father Peter Foote received a text message on his Apple Watch about 12.30pm with news he had been desperate to hear. SEE THE VIDEO

Missing surfer Elliot Foote’s Sydney-based father Peter received a text message on his Apple Watch about 12.30pm with news he had been desperate to hear.
It read: “Hey Dad, Elliot here. I’m alive, safe now, love you. Chat later.”

At home in Bronte, in Sydney’s east, Mr Foote said it was great news.

“I still want to talk to him but I’m happy,” he said. “It’s all good now.”

“I don’t know if I can celebrate. He’s put me in too much pain to celebrate. I’ve aged over the past two days. It’s great news.”

The moment Peter Foote gets the precious text message from his son Elliot.

Mr Foote said it was his understanding that Elliot had paddled off to an island for help.

“He must’ve thought ‘you guys wait here, I’ll go get help.’ I’m sure he’ll be fine.”

Peter Foote gets vital text message from son Elliot.

“Steph’s father Wayne rang me. He was beside himself crying and said they found Steph,” he said.

“They were all just bobbing around on their surf boards. From what I’ve heard they’re alright. Probably a bit thinner, a bit water logged but they sound healthy.”

Mr Foote said his son’s friends on the other boat were “all ecstatic, they’ve got a result and are confident Elliot will be fine too.”

“They’re so stressed but they’re all good boys,” he said through tears. “They’re best mates and they will just be hugging each other.

“We’ve got calls from people on the ground saying three of them are safe. It turns out just a guy in a yacht has found them.

“I talked to all the other mums and dads and they’re in tears.”

Shortly after his son was rescued a video of him recalling the incredible moment he was saved was sent back to family and friends in Sydney.

It showed a shirtless Elliot sitting a table drinking a beer and eating what appeared to be an apple, telling those with him about the moment he saw his girlfriend and two other mates - who had also just been rescued - waving to him.

“I could see this little island and I go: ‘Oh there’s my mates, oh there’s Steph, Jordy and Will, sick!’,” Elliot recounted.

“They were like waving and they’re like ‘Footey!’... I’m paddling to that island, but I’m not making any ground on it, I’m like: ‘What the hell’ and then these guys (the rescuers) came back’.”