Panicking surfer pulled from rip

By NATASHA HARRIS

An experienced surfer had to be rescued from a treacherous rip at Piha after the current sucked him in front of Lion Rock yesterday.

Aucklander David O'Connor was surfing just outside the flags at South Piha when the rip dragged him in front of the rock at 11.30am.

The 28-year-old frantically paddled against the rip for a few minutes until a rescue boat and a lifeguard on a knee-board reached him.

"He was panicking and out of breath and just exhausted," said Piha Surf Lifesaving Club captain Dave Wood. "We calmed him down and took him to the beach in the boat.

"It was pretty bad. If we hadn't gone out to him Dave would have got washed up on the rocks or panicked to the point where he would have taken on water."

Two other people were rescued from the rip-prone beach - a teenage girl swimming between the flags who got sucked out 20m to a deep hole with a rip in it, and a 16-year-old youth dragged into the same hole.

Lifeguards said clouds and smaller surf halved the number of visitors from the previous day.

Monday was a busy day for South Piha lifeguards, who rescued 34 people, eight of them after the lifeguards had finished for the day.

Muriwai lifeguards rescued four people, including two who got stuck in a rip, and treated seven others for jellyfish stings.

* YOU CAN HELP

More than 1000 lifeguards performed over 60,000 voluntary hours patrolling northern region beaches last summer and saved the lives of 789 people. Donations help their work.

Contributions can be made online at Surf Life Saving Northern Region or by post to Box 2195, Auckland.