A Wellington man is being hailed for his quick thinking and bravery after paddling into a dangerous rip to rescue a woman who was swept hundreds of metres offshore at Pāpāmoa Beach earlier this month.

Dan Holland, a young father in the process of moving his family from Wellington to Pāpāmoa, had just arrived at the beach on November 8 with his 3-year-old son and a friend when he noticed swimmers unusually far from shore.

“We just went there to play with the kids’ diggers,” he said. “As I got there I sat down and was like: ‘Whoa, those people are a long way out’. It looked like a worry.”

Concern to crisis

Within minutes, the scene shifted from concern to crisis. Holland saw a man in the water waving frantically for help. Realising the woman he’d been trying to reach was in serious trouble, the man was signalling that he could not make it to her.

“I ran up to the house, which is about 100 metres off the beach, grabbed the lifejackets off my boat, grabbed my surfboard and ran back down,” Holland said.

When he headed for the house, he estimated the swimmer was about 100 metres offshore. By the time he returned – two or three minutes later – she was almost 400 metres out.

“You could barely see her head,” he said. “Everyone was panicking, it was pretty crazy.”

Surf lifeguards in an IRB at Pāpāmoa Beach. Photo / Jamie Troughton, Dscribe Media

Despite briefly questioning whether it was safe to go into such a strong rip, the voices around him made the stakes clear. “Everyone was saying: ‘She’s dying, someone’s got to go’.”

Holland left his son in the care of a friend, strapped on a lifejacket, secured another for the swimmer, and paddled out.

“It was quite an easy paddle – I only needed to duck-dive two waves,” he said. “I got out there quickly because the rip was so strong.”

When he reached the woman, it was immediately obvious how dire her condition had become.

“I’ve never seen anything like it – her eyes had gone all milky, cloudy. I thought she was on the verge of dying.”

Difficulty

He held her on his surfboard and managed, with difficulty, to fasten the second lifejacket around her in the choppy water. She was cold, in deep shock and barely able to speak.

Holland reassured her that help was coming, but the pair continued to drift. The rip was so wide that paddling out of it would have meant an 80-metre slog sideways – nearly impossible while supporting another person. Lifeguards later estimated they had reached about 500 metres offshore.

Still, Holland remained calm.

“I said: ‘We’re sweet and floating. Whether I can get you in or not, there’s someone coming to get us’.”

The beach near Coast Boulevard has a powerful rip. Photo / David Hall

Onshore, police had arrived, with the Aerocool Rescue Helicopter on standby due to the distance involved. Pāpāmoa lifeguards launched their Inflatable Rescue Boat (IRB), guided into position by lifeguard Poppy Crouch in the club’s ATV.

The IRB – crewed by patrol captain Marama Mateparae and lifeguard Sean Leach – appeared suddenly through the chop.

“Out of nowhere the IRB was 20 metres away,” Holland said. “Sean did a good job, got her in real quick, and got me afterwards. As soon as she got in the boat, you could tell she was going to be all right.”

Never imagined

Surf Lifesaving NZ eastern region manager Chaz Gibbons-Campbell said the woman, a regular swimmer, had been caught by a powerful outgoing tide near FreshChoice on Coast Boulevard.

“A member of the public heard her yelling and tried to swim out but couldn’t reach her,” he said. “Dan put a lifejacket on her and stayed with her until help arrived, which was just awesome.”

Services Patrol Captain Marama Mateparae. Photo / Jamie Troughton, Dscribe Media

Mateparae said the first swimmer made “a fantastic judgement call” in turning back when he realised the rip was too strong. By the time the IRB reached Holland and the woman “they were floating out, but they were safe and not going under”.

The woman, assessed by Hato Hone St John, later told Holland she had only recently returned to swimming after winter and never imagined she might drown.

“I even feel bad because I waited like two minutes on the beach deciding whether to go,” he said.

Same rip

Just a day later, a 4-year-old and a 41-year-old were rescued from the same rip.

Gibbons-Campbell said rips can form anywhere along the beach and are often disguised by deceptively calm patches of water. “There’s a lot of water movement out there, especially around the change of tides,” he said.

Holland, who’d like to meet the woman again, still can’t shake how close the rescue came.

“I was just so lucky I had the right gear.” He’s certain of one thing: “If I hadn’t gone, she would’ve died.”