Three men caught in a rip at Byron Bay will be thanking a woman who was kite-surfing in the area for rescuing them yesterday afternoon.
Onlooker Darren Bell told Echonetdaily the incident happened at about 2.45pm near the Wreck.
‘This quite petite young kite-surfer spotted these guys in trouble,’ said Darren, who was looking on from the sand.
‘So she left her board out there with two guys and used the kite to help drag in one of the guys. Then she went out and got a second guy. In the meantime another guy with a surfboard went out and got the third guy.’
Darren said that the rescue was no mean feat and the woman was to be congratulated on her quick and clever response.
‘There wasn’t much of her. One of these guys would have made three of her.’
Darren said police turned up while the rescue was in progress. They contacted surf rescue but no-one turned up in the time that it took to rescue all three.
He said it took about 15–20 minutes to get all three men in.
‘It was about the same sort of rip as everyone gets caught in out there. It was very choppy actually,’ he said.
Byron Bay police told Echonetdaily that the rescue was well underway by the time they arrived, that the swimmers were all safe and well and there was no need for police to intervene.
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