Mike Randall’s pilot boat crew saves mum off Point Lonsdale in remarkable Rip rescue

The crew made the life-saving decision to take a different route to shore before coming across a swimmer stranded in one of the most treacherous stretches of ocean in the world.

The remarkable moment the PV Torquay came to the rescue of Melbourne mum of two Sarah one and a half miles off shore. Coxswain Mike Randall is behind the wheel.

The driver of a pilot boat has recalled the moment his crew saved a swimmer swept more than 2km out into one of the most treacherous stretches of water in the world.

The woman was one of 17 swimmers who found themselves in trouble on Saturday after a training session off Point Lonsdale went wrong and the group were swept away by a surging tidal waters near Port Phillip Bay’s notorious and deadly Rip.

Coxswain of the Port Philip Sea Pilots vessel PV Torquay, Mike Randall, was 8km out to shore from Point Lonsdale dropping off a pilot on Saturday afternoon when word came through that the group of swimmers had hit trouble.

Before heading back to shore, Mr Randall and his three-man crew made the decision to head further east than usual, taking on wild conditions to see if they could see any of the swimmers.

“We normally come in on the western side of The Heads, out of the wash,” Mr Randall said.

“Over in the shipping lanes the waves stand up and it’s big, but over west towards Ocean Grove the ocean is normal.

“We thought ‘righto, if someone’s gone out, they’re going to get sucked across towards the southeast,’ so we put our boat in the wash, and we came back through the heavy weather.”

The crew began cruising through the wash – an area of sea where the tide meets the swell, whipping the water into challenging conditions.

The crew kept their eyes on the swimmer, Sarah, until they could get her onboard.

A short time later, one of the men on the ship, John, saw a pair of hands reaching skywards from the peak of a wave more than 2km out to sea.

“We came up on a wave and then someone on board spotted a woman with her hands up,” Mr Randall said.

The crew, which undertakes weekly man overboard drills, sprang into action, throwing Sarah – who had been in the water for 45 minutes without a wetsuit – a life-ring.

“We weren’t in a smooth part of the ocean,” Mr Randall said.

“We were miles out, she was pretty lucky.

Pt Lonsdale on Saturday following the rescue.

Emergency services parked near the Point Lonsdale lighthouse.

“If we had come in on our normal route, we would not have seen her at all.

The crew worked to get Sarah, a mother of two from Melbourne, onboard.

“She was pretty hypothermic, she was in shock,” Mr Randall said.

“We wrapped her in a woollen blanket and got her warm.”

According to Mr Randall, just 10 minutes later a large ship was set to come through within 100m of where they found Sarah.

Swimmers are brought to shore by lifesavers after being swept away at Point Lonsdale.

“We were so lucky,” he said.

“But I think at this stage there might have been 12 more in the water, so we thought, ‘well there’s one, there’s going to be more to get out’.”

They soon received confirmation that all 17 swimmers were accounted for, something they found hard to believe given how far out they had found Sarah, and the fact the current was sitting at over six knots.

“Everyone was spammed out around the place so we didn’t actually trust it,” Mr Randall said.

“Seventeen people to be lost and found in those conditions, is a miracle.

“There’s a monument in Queenscliff where the commandos lost seven doing the same thing.

Emergency responders rush to the aid of swimmers caught in a rip on Saturday afternoon.

“You don’t normally find people that go out there, you know, Harold Holt went for a swim, he was never seen again.”

It’s understood the group of swimmers were part of a weekend cold-swimming boot camp held in the area.

It was reported on Saturday that six members of the nearby Pt Lonsdale Surf Lifesaving Club, who were teaching trainees how to use inflatable rescue boats, were able to come to the rescue.

Rip Swim, the group behind the training session on Saturday, posted on social media that only five swimmers were caught in the outgoing tide at the end of the swim, while the remaining 12 swam to shore.

The group thanked rescue services for assisting them throughout a “confronting and extremely challenging situation”.

Originally published as Mike Randall’s pilot boat crew saves mum off Point Lonsdale in remarkable Rip rescue