Grant (who asked that his surname not be published) said he had arrived at the beach for a surf when a man pointed out that someone had not come up after a wave.
‘I chucked my surf board over the fence, jumped over the fence, ran down the dune and called out to a couple of guys as I was paddling out,’ he said.
‘He still hadn’t surfaced, so as I got to his board, I pulled him up by his leg rope and got his head above the water, stuck his head on his board and tried to keep him there, and another guy swam over and gave us a hand.
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READ NOW‘We swam him to shore and he spewed up a fair bit of salt water and had a few nasty knocks on his head,’ Grant said.
He said an ambulance was called and the man was taken to hospital. Playing down any idea of heroism, he said he had since spoken to the man and he was thankful for his help.
‘He said ‘I can’t really say much more than thanks, thanks for what you’ve done, it’s made a difference in my life’,’ Grant said. ‘I didn’t put my life at risk or anything, I just happened to be the guy who reacted and got there first.’
Proving no good deed goes unpunished, Grant, feeling ‘gun shy’, paddled out for the surf he had come to the beach for, and before he was able to catch a wave, he was struck in the head by a rogue surfboard, leaving him needing four stitches.
‘All in all, it finished all right,’ he said.