Central Coast surfer Josh Roden had no idea who he was rescuing when he pulled former Liberal Party deputy leader Bruce Baird from the water last weekend — simple instinct kicked in.
The extended Baird family, including Australian author and journalist Julia Baird, was holidaying on the New South Wales Central Coast when a dip at Spoon Bay left Mr Baird, his son Steve and daughter Ms Baird fighting for survival.
Mr Roden, 30, responded to their cries for help and grabbed a beach rescue tube, using it to save the 82-year-old Mr Baird, who was being swept out to sea after his children had managed to climb onto nearby rocks.
"He was exhausted," Mr Roden said.
"The rip just sucked him right back out to sea and I was like, far out, I'm going to have to jump in here.
"[So] I swam out to him and chucked him the tube."
Thirty-five rescue tube boxes were installed at high-risk locations on the Central Coast this year.
Mr Roden said without the rescue tube, "we would have been screwed".
"After I completed that rescue, a few people have got in contact with me and said there's been a lot of people that have come from different places around Australia that have been rescued there because they don't know how bad it is," he said.
A rip like no other
Going for a swim is a daily ritual for Ms Baird, but she said the experience had left her overwhelmed.
She has written about the experience in an ABC News story this morning.
"Everything slowed for me, and became very, very clear," she said.
"I was like this is it, this is how people drown."
The experienced ocean swimmer has been caught in rips before, but nothing like this.
"Suddenly, 'whoosh', I was pulled to the side, like really fast," she said on the ABC podcast Not Stupid.
"I found myself in the middle of a churn. It felt like a whirlpool, it was all kind of turmoil around me."
Ms Baird said she was shocked by the lack of information available for tourists about the risk of swimming at the beach.
"It really has raised a bunch of questions for me," she said.
"[About] how we sign unpatrolled beaches and how we better protect people there."
Beach known locally for boundary rips
University of NSW beach safety researcher Rob Brander said the Spoon Bay beach, located within the Wamberal Lagoon Nature Reserve, was renowned for boundary rips, which were often found against headlands and other hard structures.
"Basically water gets pushed in amongst the rocks and forced out against the side of the rocks," Dr Brander said.
"You just get stuck in this vortex and that is a very scary feeling."
Central Coast Council's tourism page describes Spoon Bay as a "calm bay ... ideal for swimming and relaxing beach walks".
However, it does warn the beach is not patrolled by lifeguards.
According to Surf Life Saving NSW, all 14 coastal drownings across NSW last summer occurred at unpatrolled beaches.
'More specific signage' needed
Wamberal Surf Life Saving Club director of life saving, Craig Adams, said the small beach was deceptive and there needed to be more specific signage.
"Under calm conditions ... it's a beautiful spot to swim, but once the swell starts to pick up it becomes deadly," he said.
"It doesn't matter how good a swimmer you are, you can very easily get into trouble."
A Central Coast Council spokesperson said while conditions at the beach could appear calm, they were susceptible to change.
The spokesperson urged beachgoers to swim at places with a lifeguard present.
"Always swim at one of the patrolled beaches, and between the flags," the spokesperson said.
"During the winter months, council recommends that residents and visitors to the coast swim at council's ocean baths or pools, as they have lifeguards."