Rescuers save three from drowning in two days

LifesaverJames Coombes said people needed to have an understanding of surf conditions, and swim between the flags.Photo / Doug Sherring

Lifeguards call for care after pulling duo and 21-year-old from same rip.

Off-duty lifeguards have saved two teenage girls caught in a rip and screaming for help.

And yesterday - less than a day after that rescue - surf lifesaver James Rolfe, 21, was at it again, this time rescuing an Australian tourist caught in the same rip off St Clair beach, near Dunedin.

He and fellow lifeguard James Coombes, 31, were enjoying a barbecue at the St Clair Surf Life Saving Club with other volunteers when they noticed the struggling teens about 7.30pm on Saturday.

"We saw them go under and they took a couple of waves to the head," Mr Rolfe said.

The pair - who had finished the beach patrol two hours earlier - grabbed some rescue boards to reach the teens, who had been carried about 200m offshore.

"They were screaming for help, panicking and obviously needed help," he said.

Mr Coombes said the pair were very tired, and "I doubt they could have got back themselves".

"They were in the rip trying to swim back through it and they weren't going anywhere."

The Wellington girls - aged 13 and 14 - were cold and had taken on a lot of water, but did not need medical attention.

At 11.30am yesterday, Mr Rolfe was again at the scene of another rescue - this time an Australian caught in the same rip and who "panicked in the cold water".

Mr Coombes said people needed to have an understanding of surf conditions, and swim between the flags.

Warm weather meant it had been the busiest weekend for Dunedin beaches since the start of the lifesaving season on October 25.

The holiday period has seen a string of water tragedies up and down the country.

On Christmas Day, a man died while setting crab pots at Northland's Uretiti Beach and a 1-year-old girl drowned in a temporary pool at her Manurewa home. A surfer died at Karioitahi Beach on Boxing Day.