Strong rips at Midway beach lead to two rescues by lifeguards

Two swimmers were rescued at Midway Beach last weekend after being caught in rips. Photo / Murray Robertson

Surf lifeguards at Midway carried out two rescues over the weekend after swimmers were caught in rips outside the flagged area.

Dawson Building Midway Club manager Gina Carroll said there were strong rips along the town beaches over the weekend.

“Neither of the people rescued on Sunday were swimming between the flags,” she said. “Both rescues highlight the importance of doing exactly that — swimming between the flags.”

City beaches remain patrolled by volunteer lifeguards on weekends until mid-March.

“We are immensely proud of our lifeguards involved in the two rescues,” Carroll said. “In one of them, they prevented certain tragedy.”

Midway director of lifeguarding John Cameron said the first rescue happened in front of the Churchill Park carpark.

“A man got into trouble in a rip. He was supported by a surfer who happened to be nearby until Jess Buscke and Jack Gavin went out in the inflatable rescue boat and picked him up.”

The second rescue took place west of the club’s flagged area, towards The Pipe surf break.

“The patrol spotted a couple of children who looked like they were in trouble in a rip but had managed to get onto a sandbank,” Cameron said.

“Patrol member Yahni Brown responded on a paddleboard to check on the kids — they were okay. While he was doing that, he heard their mother calling for help further out to sea in the rip. Yahni brought her safely to shore.”

Cameron said both the rescued man and the woman were checked by lifeguards.

Paid lifeguard patrols ended at Midway, Waikanae and Wainui beaches in late January.

Tyler Ranger, who supervised most of the programme in Gisborne, earlier told the Gisborne Herald there had only been one rescue over the summer period up to that point.

“We had only the one rescue out at Wainui, in which two children got into trouble in a rip just before Christmas,” Ranger said at the time.

“We did, however, carry out a lot of preventative actions.”