"Cheers and tears. He saved their lives plain and simple."
One of the most remarkable weaknesses of the human animal is our inability to handle even the lightest adversity in the ocean. Throw most of us just out of depth or in a riptide and we panic and die.
Of course, your and I, as masters of the ocean, are relatively immune and, when you’ve been around the beach your whole life, you’ll have enough rescues to give you an acute idea of how fast a person will drain once panic hits.
My fav rescue, btw, was a drunk amputee who lost his prosthetic just before dark when he and a pal went for a swim in four-foot rippy closeouts at a beach bookended by a rock shelf at one end and cliffs at the other. I found him screaming, figured it’d been a shark attack although no blood (Clean, must be a Great White, I thought), until he pointed to the cliffs, “My leg, my leg.”
Gave ol one-leg to a bodyboarder to drag in, rescued the bulky prosthetic – it resembled a human leg and wasn’t one of those pretty graphic prongs used by Kai McKenzie etc – only to lose it navigating the shorebreak.
My least fav was retrieving a board a leashless longboarding gal had lost in a wild ol rip. I love a rescue on a hot day and did a little forward roll down the bank and into the water, sprint-paddled to the longboard, paddled it over, accepted the gracioous thank you, and started diving down the bottom, foolin around, doin’ hits of butterfly, living the waterboy dream.
And then I sucked in some water. Heart started racing. Felt how gassed I was.
Uh oh.
Is this…panic?
As the kid sings below,
I had to shake my head, have a little word to myself, like, brother, and swam to shore quite shaken.
Anyway.
In this clip, we see the surf coach Lucas Taub jump into the drink at Oceanside there, clothes on, to save a daddy and his daughter drowning maybe thirty feet offshore.
“Lucas showed what it means to be a hero… He was sitting on the jetty coaching one of his kids in the WSA Oceanside Harbor South jetty surf contest.. He saw this dad and daughter in trouble, not just in trouble, but struggling to stay above water.
“He jumped into action with all his clothes on. He didn’t have to, his instincts kicked in that someone was in trouble. He saved their lives…. Plain and simple. Whether he liked it or not he was the first responder. He stepped up when he needed to.
“Lucas coaches a lot of people, both kids and young adults, he is a huge part of the surfing community and a coach for the Westcliff College surf team. He showed what it means to step up and to be the example of helping others in a do or die moment. He practiced what he preaches.
“Being a surfer doesn’t just mean going to the beach and riding waves, it doesn’t just mean you’re part of a beach community either. It means you keep an eye out for each other in the water, friend or not, knowing them or not. As a surfer, a member of his community, and overall good human, Lucas did what needed to be done in that moment. He should be really proud of the example he set to all his students and fellow humans.”
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Hebrews or not to Hebrews , i seemed to have missed the jewish stalinist undertones in this one.
Very cool rescue, etc. Props to that guy for actually doing something… As opposed to the person who pulls their phone out to video the whole thing.
Lot of phone-pulling out there.
The child rescued is currently an 85 year old grandmother with 8 grandchildren.
Not reported by Chas!
Would have bet money your fav rescue story would involve a Jewish tranny. Occasionally, you surprise me.
If I could’ve…
Started doing this very unclever thing in French shories where I would exhale completely before resurfacing from a duck dive. Works amazingly efficiently until shit goes wrong. But it is muscle memory for now and hopefully I don’t die before I rid myself of it.
Xox
Yeah, me too, did you do the breath-holding course?
I haven’t but Hof daily! And quit durries.
Xox
Is this story recent or 22 years ago like other articles here?
Brand new news!
Personally, I save all the recyclabable cans and bottles in the office and heroically push them into The Machine wot gives me 10c a pop and I got $5 last week which bought most of piece of chicken for my din-dins.
Not all heros wear capers.
I’m not find of the taste TBH.
Olives. Yup good to go.
‘fond’
I save all my change. Got a big coffee can full to the brim.
It would been better if you’d belted the cripple over the head with his own leg while berating him for poor water safety.
Far better…
Or put the toes of it in his bumhole!
Xox
You ever heard of Long Jeanne Silver?
If you haven’t, well, now you have.
Legend. Every surfer ends up saving someone from a potential drowning, if you stick around long enough. Likely not his first; or last.
As for the kid huffing the gas at the dentist. They wonder why we like drugs so much. Kid is having a blast. I coulda used more nitrous myself, seeing how much fun he’s having.
Been following some of the recent Aussie politics and, oooh boy, you’ll have a full plate on your hands. Likely, until the end of this version of civilisation. Can’t see how the divide ever ends; seeing as it’s only getting worse. At least you’ll got to see the gits tear themselves apart. (And the end of Kyle and Jackie, all within 12 months of each other).
Also, Nate Florence podcast with Jamie Brisick just dropped. I don’t watch Nate’s stuff , so I’ll give it a listen
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-surfers-journal-presents-soundings-with-jamie-brisick/id1611406270?i=1000755763977