Gold Coast’s most dramatic volunteer surf lifesaving club rescues
They are the unsung saviours on the sand – donating their time to keep a watchful eye over our beaches. Some rescues have been successful but tragically – others have not. SEE THE LIST
Gold Coast
Don't miss out on the headlines from Gold Coast. Followed categories will be added to My News.
NOT all heroes wear capes.
But some wear bold shades of red and yellow.
They are the unsung saviours on the sand – donating what little spare time they have away from families and careers to keep a watchful eye over our beaches.
They are our city’s volunteer surf lifesavers – or ‘clubbies’ as they are colloquially known.
Sadly, not every rescue has been successful, but the majority have.
“For every failed rescue – there are hundreds of successful ones,” says Currumbin Surf Lifesaving Club volunteer Grant Harrison.
According to Surf Lifesaving Queensland, last year’s beach season from July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022, there have been 435 rescues – 74 of those being children under the age of 12.
There were seven beach-related drownings.
There has also been 59,576 preventive actions performed and 3,123 first aid treatments administered.
Read on for some of the Gold Coast’s most dramatic clubbie rescues in recent memory.
Teen’s heroics reminder of beach safety
April 2020: Gold Coast volunteer lifesaver Will Prentice was just 15-years-old when four years of training kicked in during a dramatic ocean rescue.
The Year 10 student at Elanora State High at the time became an instant hero when he rescued a fellow surfer in out of control cyclone swells.
Mr Prentice was enjoying a weekend filled with surfing and fun in the sun when disaster struck while he was waiting on the sand for his mum to pick him up.
He had just come in to shore after surfing in huge two metre swells.
The volunteer clubbie was off-duty at the time.
“A few minutes before mum got there, I saw a woman running up and down the beach,” Mr Prentice said.
The woman, surfing moments earlier with her partner, had made her way back to shore but had lost her board.
She was in a panic looking for someone to help her husband, who was struggling in the rough swell.
“I took my board in and paddled through the surf. It was pretty big,” Mr Prentice said.
“I got to a man who had lost his board and gave him mine. I swam next to him as we tried to get back to shore. He got hit hard by some big sets, but he was eventually able to get in.”
Mr Prentice described his training kicking in as “second nature”.
Triple fatality in horror 48 hours of massive surf
February 2021: A 38-year-old Victorian man was the third to drown in a string of fatalities during 48 hours of massive swells on the Gold Coast in early 2021.
The tourist had gotten into trouble in the water across the road from the Mermaid Beach Surf Lifesaving Club.
Two 16-year-old female lifesavers were among eight Mermaid Beach SLSC clubbies who rushed to the man’s rescue.
Critical care paramedics desperately worked on the tourist on the sand, near Hedges Ave, after being called to the scene but were unable to revive him.
In a tragic twist, the Victorian man’s girlfriend frantically scoured the beach about two hours after his death, looking for her partner.
Less than two days earlier and just a few kilometres up the road at Broadbeach, gym manager Jake Jacobs, 32, and his female companion Julia Boika, 29, died in a double drowning after a late-night swim.
Ms Boika washed up dead on the beach an hour after entering the water but Mr Jacobs was not found until nearly 24 hours later, spotted floating in swells off Main Beach.
In the wake of the drownings, Surf Life Saving Queensland Gold Coast co-ordinator Nathan Fife warned of the dangers of swimming outside of patrol hours or at closed beaches.
“Our lifesavers do such a great job but we can’t save people when they’re swimming outside patrols times or at night. Sometimes it’s hard to get a message out there,” he said.
“We want people to listen to our lifesavers and lifeguards and do the right thing - set an example for your friends and family.”
Gold Coast volunteer lifesavers kept on toes over holiday period as eight rescued
January 2018: Two popular Gold Coast estuaries – usually known for gentle swimming – became the scene of eight dramatic rescues in the one day.
Three of the eight people were rescued outside the flags in Southport’s Broadwater and the southern Gold Coast’s Tallebudgera Creek.
A 65-year-old woman was helped to shore at the Broadwater by volunteer lifesavers shortly after a three-year-old was rescued from the same spot.
Less than an hour later lifesavers responded to three 20-year-old males who were swimming in the Broadwater swimming enclosure. The young men had to be rescued after struggling to swim.
On the same day, three young girls were rescued at swimming hotspot Tallebudgera Creek, when they found themselves struggling outside of the flags.
Teen girl, man and woman saved from rip at Surfers Paradise after lifeguards close beach
April 2022: A group of club boardriders and bystanders helped save a trio of tourists caught in a dangerous rip at a Gold Coast beach half an hour after a resident complained swimmers had “ignored” lifeguards.
Paramedics were called to The Esplanade at Surfers Paradise just before 6pm.
When they arrived they found a 17-year-old girl being retrieved from the water.
A number of other people were retrieved from the water including a 42-year-old male and a 60-year-old female.
The three people were treated and taken to Gold Coast University Hospital in a stable condition.
“My advice would be to swim between the flags, make sure you swim in patrolled sections of the beach and stay out of the water especially at low light and of a night-time,” Queensland Ambulance Service Gold Coast senior operations supervisor Adam Flory said in the aftermath.
Young Gold Coast lifesaver honoured with national award at Parliament House
March 2017: Kurrawa clubbie Rachel Eddy rescued two swimmers in the dark while she was working a shift at her club’s bistro.
Her heroic efforts in saving the two men from a rip earned her a national award at Parliament House.
“Funnily enough I was on patrol all afternoon and I just signed off to start my shift at the restaurant at my surf club,” she said.
“I was working behind the bar and about 6.30pm my manager called me downstairs (where) there were some quite distressed family members at reception.
“They were saying their family members were in trouble in the ocean. I didn’t really think twice about it, I just followed them to where they were.”
The Kurrawa surf club member paddled out on a board and grabbed the first man before swimming back out to grab the second.
“Now I look back on it, it’s pretty crazy I went out there when it was almost dark,” she said, adding regular patrols had helped to cement her training and allow her to rescue the men without hesitation,” she said.
“I didn’t even think twice, just let my training kick in, yeah, it’s pretty cool.”
Ironwoman Maddy Dunn saves tourist from drowning at Surfers Paradise
March 2019: A Nutri-Grain ironwoman and Northcliffe surf lifesaver leapt from behind her club’s reception desk to save a drowning tourist.
Maddy Dunn received a frantic phone call to the club in relation to a swimmer caught in a rip and ran into the water in her work uniform without hesitation.
Ms Dunn, who was 24-years-old at the time, said the rip was “big”.
“He was slowly being swept out to sea but lucky enough the waves were big enough that he was staying around the same spot for a while. He was probably halfway out to the break,” she said.
“He was bigger than me so I tried to swim with one arm and get him in.
“We got in and he had swallowed a heap of water and was struggling. I sat with him for a bit to make sure he was OK. There were a few other people helping so I left because I needed to go back to work.”
Visiting gold medallist rescues family from near drowning
Sydney volunteer lifesaver Gerard Robb was basking in the glory of a gold medal win at this year’s Australian Surf Lifesaving Championships on the Gold Coast when a family became caught in a rip metres from the event area.
The Tamarama clubbie was having a cool down swim when he was alerted to cries for help from people on the beach.
A father and daughter were caught in a rip. The beach was unpatrolled at the time.
Mr Robb sprung into action and saved the swimmers, where they were treated onshore by paramedics.
Former Wallabies player and respected Coast surgeon drowns at Currumbin Beach
November 2020: 77-year-old Mick Barry drowned after going swimming with his local group, “the dingoes”, at Currumbin Beach.
The former football star and respected Gold Coast doctor got into difficulties in the water, when his friends managed to pull him ashore.
Currumbin Surf Lifesaving Club volunteer Grant Harrison was not on duty that day, but heard frantic screams from up the beach.
The clubbie of 20 years rushed to the scene and with others, made desperate attempts to save Mr Barry before sadly, he was pronounced dead at the scene by the time paramedics arrived.
Queensland Police confirmed he suffered a medical episode in the surf and tragically passed away at the scene.
Mr Harrison told the Bulletin in recent weeks the fatality still affects him, and he is still reminded of Mr Barry when he sees ‘the dingoes’ taking their daily swim.
More Coverage
Disappearing act: Cash gone as magician’s company in liquidation
A company directed by a veteran Gold Coast magician and entertainer has gone into liquidation, with the performer unable to pull any money out of his hat for the tax office.
Massive blaze engulfs home on Gold Coast
Fire crews have battled a massive house fire on the Gold Coast that sent a large plume of black smoke into the air which was visible from a wide area.