The ‘very smart advice’ that helped save surfer found on remote NSW island

A young surfer who was feared lost at sea off the NSW North Coast has miraculously survived after a small-town community mobilised and used a local’s weather knowledge to find him on a remote island 13 kilometres offshore.

Darcy Deefholts, 19, left his Wooli home about 2.30pm on Wednesday on a bicycle with a Malibu longboard under his arm and plans to go for a surf. He wouldn’t make it home for almost 18 hours.

After a desperate search, missing teen surfer Darcy Deefholts has been found.Credit: NSW Police

Deefholts’ father, Terry, told the ABC he was at the point of “thinking the absolute worst”.

“I didn’t give up hope, but jeez I was close,” he said. “It’s a one in a million. Who survives this?”

His family raised the alarm when Deefholts didn’t return home from his surf. The out-of-character disappearance prompted his family to contact police and report him missing.

When Deefholts couldn’t be found in an initial search after nightfall on Wednesday, hope was rapidly fading. One member from the rescue team said he “feared the worst” for Darcy, and worried the surfer had a potential run-in with a shark.

“The sea conditions weren’t that severe … I was worried about [his] interaction with a large predatory fish,” Matt McLennan from Marine Rescue told Ten News.

Terry Deefholts pleaded for his son’s safe return on social media, calling for anyone with a boat, drone, plane or four-wheel drive, as well as beach walkers on foot, to join the search first thing on Thursday morning.

“I am asking anyone with a seaworthy vessel to please meet me at the main Wooli boat ramp and take me to sea to help with the search,” his post read.

Terry shared advice from “a very smart friend” who looked at the wind direction to calculate where his son might have ended up.

North Solitary Island is part of the Solitary Islands Marine Park.Credit: Alamy Stock Photo

A person had been washed out to the Solitary Islands in similar conditions last year, he said.

“Boats need to go straight to [the islands],” he said.

The advice turned out to be spot-on. In a miracle, Deefholts was found alive and well on North Solitary Island. The search party that located him soon after 9am, roughly 18 hours after he left home, included his uncles, Mitch and Dave, the ABC reported.

It’s not yet clear whether Deefholts spent the night at sea or sheltering on the island, but either way, it would have been a long, cold night.

North Solitary Island is 13 kilometres south-east of Wooli, one of the largest off the NSW coast, and is part of the extensive Solitary Islands Marine Park. The rocky outcrop is home to a navigational beacon, but no other infrastructure.

Melissa Smith, a member of the extended Deefholts family, told the ABC that Darcy was a “survivor” and a “strong boy”.

“He’d obviously gone out too far on his long board and he couldn’t get back,” she said.

“He would have known that was a safe place, I guess.”

Deefholts is now with his family while he undergoes medical checks at Grafton Base Hospital, where he remains in a stable condition.

“The patient is in good spirits and is being supported by family,” a Northern NSW Local Health District spokesperson said.

“The patient and family have requested privacy while they recover from the ordeal.”

Wooli, a small fishing town east of Grafton that’s home to about 500 people, rallied together to help find the missing teen.

Signs around Wooli celebrating the rescue of Darcy Deefholts.Credit: Casey Meaker

“We’re all on cloud nine after a long, long and cold night,” said Casey Meaker, a Wooli local who joined in the search. “Everyone is really excited and can breathe again.”

Night had fallen by the time the Deefholts family realised Darcy wasn’t coming home, so volunteers grabbed their torches and hit the sand to start the search.

“There were lots of lights on the beach, and everyone was walking through the bushland and the beach line trying to find him,” Meaker said.

The search quickly found Deefholts’ bike, clothes and shoes at a spot known locally as One Tree.

Much of the search party included local fishermen, who were later joined by Marine Rescue and NSW Police. The search spanned waters and coastline from Bare Point to Pebbly Beach. It was eventually called off at 1am to resume at first light on Thursday.

“I’m incredibly proud of how everyone’s rallied together because we don’t have large resources here, so it really was everyone just coming together on their own,” Meaker said.

“It’s overwhelming, the amount of support. Even now, there are signs all along the road showing that Darcy has been found. It’s a great feeling in the town at the moment.”

McLennan said in all his years of experience searching for missing persons at sea, Darcy was the first missing person at this location who was later miraculously found.

“It is a miracle, he’s a very lucky boy, and I just hope that the community support buoys him up a little bit,” he said.

Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.