Rescue diver Trevor Cracknell nominated for Pride of Australia bravery medal
WHEN flailing fishermen are pummelled against jagged rocks by huge waves or disorientated scuba divers drift aimlessly into busy shipping channels, Trevor Cracknell comes from the clouds to save them.
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WHEN flailing rock fishermen are pummelled against jagged rocks by 2m waves or confused scuba divers drift into busy shipping channels and face being mown down by freighters, Trevor Cracknell comes from the clouds to save them.
Forty years after he swam for Australia in the Canadian Commonwealth Games, the Westpac Life Saver Helicopter rescue swimmer still suits up to save people from certain death in raging swells.
The rescuer’s courage hasn’t faltered in 32 years, even after going down in a violent chopper crash in 1992 at Blackheath in the Blue Mountains.
“We’d just taken off and reached 80 feet on our way to search for a missing hiker when the chopper lost power and altitude, then the rotor hit the National Parks and Wildlife compound at Govvetts Leap and the chopper did a couple of 360s before coming to a stop tangled in wire fencing,” Mr Cracknell said.
“It was harrowing. 30 seconds felt like 10 minutes but I was back flying without any qualms just a few days later when we got our hands on a spare helicopter.”
As one of just four full-time rescuers who mans the Sydney-based rescue service, Mr Cracknell regularly descends from a hovering chopper 90m above sea-level buffeted by wild winds, under the cover of darkness, or both.
Mr Cracknell has been nominated for the Pride of Australia medal, which recognises courage, overwhelming community spirit and lifesaving actions.
On his way to save a surfer in trouble off Cronulla’s Wanda Beach in 1996, the helicopter flew into a freak storm front and was thrown around by 112km/h winds that had forced rescue boats to turn back.
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If just one of the three men aboard voiced doubt about their own safety, protocol dictated the mission would have to be aborted and the surfer would have been left to his own devices, but they ploughed on.
“The guy was hypothermic and couldn’t paddle but we got him out of the water and on to the beach, where paramedics were clinging to a fence so they weren’t blown away,” he said.
While Mr Cracknell described saving people as “the best feeling imaginable”, the job also comes with the grim task of fishing bodies from the water, such as kindergarten teacher Paul Lukasiewicz, and Gavin Zimmerman, 19, who both fell to their death while admiring the view at Cape Solander, near Kurnell, earlier this year.
Mr Cracknell manned the winch for Mr Zimmerman’s recovery and took solace in being able to help return the Mormon missionary’s body to his family.
“We do a lot of recovery missions, mainly rock fishermen without life jackets, and they’re the really horrible jobs but it’s important for the families so they don’t have to wonder what happened to their loved ones,” he said.
Mr Cracknell turned 59 on Wednesday but doesn’t show any signs of slowing down and is confident he has at least another eight years before he’s not fit and strong enough for the arduous job.
* Nominations for Pride of Australia are open and everyone is able to nominate. For more information visit prideofaustralia.com.au