St Kilda volunteer surf life-saver Rob Ratten rescued the trio with the help of a group of boogie boarders about 2.30pm yesterday.
After spending "about an hour in the shower warming up" and rehydrating himself following the rescue, Mr Ratten told the Otago Daily Times he just happened to be at the Dunedin beach on his day off.
He had just finished eating his lunch and was planning to leave in about 10 minutes, but could see two people coming close to the rip and decided to keep his eye on them.
Soon a group of people were sucked in and he leapt to his feet, grabbing the board closest to him, which turned out to be a kneeboard designed for racing.
While running to the water he noticed a third person was caught in the rip.
Fortunately, a group of boogie boarders was nearby and they were helping, giving the group and Mr Ratten something to hold on to if they needed it.
He got in the water and tried to pull the man who looked the most tired on to the board, but could not get him up so had to swim the man back to shore.
He returned to the water and rescued the second man on the board, then went back for the third.
"I was pretty tired by then."
The final man was too tired to climb on to the board and had to be swum back to shore as well.
Mr Ratten said had been a surf life-saver for almost 20 years, but had never been a situation where he had to bring three people back to shore on his own, let alone in board shorts.
The boogie boarders had been "a huge help", he said.
If he and they had not been there the end result for the people stuck in the rip "wouldn’t have been very good at all".
One of the boogie boarders, Andrew Douglas, said he was out for a day at the beach with his family when his 9-year-old son pointed out the swimmers in trouble.
Another man who had a boogie board and flippers was watching as well and Mr Douglas told him they needed to get out there together to help.
They tried to pull the people on to their boards, but the boards did not hold up well carrying two people.
Mr Douglas did not have any flippers and struggled to hold the men up, but as the rescue commenced two more men with boards and flippers joined and helped out, which made a big difference, he said.
Otago Surf Life Saving search and rescue co-ordinator Max Corboy said surf life-saving patrols only went out at weekends at this time of year, which meant there were no flags out on the beach and no rostered lifeguards.
Those looking to enjoy the water outside of weekends needed to be mindful of the conditions and their own capabilities.
The conditions were "gnarly" yesterday.
Those who were not confident should not be out on the water, he said.
A police spokesman said they received a report about 2pm of several people in trouble in the surf at St Kilda Beach.
Police attended, but all the people had been assisted safely back to shore.
