"Don’t swim in rips, I guess," surfer Sam Mccullough said after coming to the rescue when the students were pulled out to sea at Smails Beach just after 3pm yesterday.
The rescue unfolded after Dunedin man Ryan Craig, an ex-water rescue squad member, saw the two swimmers caught in a rip near Bird Island.
"There was no way they were going to get back in," he said.
Mr Craig called police and yelled to a couple of nearby surfers: "Oi, go get those two guys."
Mr McCullough, a forensics student, and friend Jack Von Engelbrechten, a marine science student, were checking the surf when they heard Mr Craig’s call.
Mr Von Engelbrechten said they swam out and used their surfboards to move the two young men sideways out of the rip.
It was was quite tricky to bring the swimmers to safety because one of them could not swim very well, he said.
The two second-year students who were saved said they were grateful for the help.
Jamie Roberts said they had been swimming and had been swept across the beach by the current.
He remembered looking at his friend Cooper Vincent and thinking "We should try and make it back in".
They quickly realised they were not making any progress but fortunately Mr Von Engelbrechten and Mr McCullough arrived soon after.
Mr Vincent said they offered their rescuers a box of beer for their troubles but they were kindly rebuffed.
"If you see us again, buy us a drink," they were told.
A police spokesman said police responded to a report and there were no injuries.
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Comments
About time to close the beaches until the DCC come up with a plan ... one that may actually work ... to solve the sand erosion and clean up the old tip under the Kettle Park playing fields, the scum, and no, not just usual seawater froth, but black oily stuff that often appears off St Kilda and Middle beaches.
Even my dog won't swim at those beaches at times and the rips are, as proved by the number of rescues of late, are just far too dangerous for inexperienced swimmers / body boarders / surfers ... out past Brighton, no worries !! ... but hat's off to the rescuers and they should be recognised for their efforts in saving lives.
Maybe time the council thought about giving up on the green paint and start thinking green on the ecological side of things.