Two boys rescued by 11-year-old surf club member

An 11-year-old Umina surf club member has rescued two boys struggling to swim at the southern end of Umina Beach last Tuesday morning.

Lachie Muldbrock was out for a morning surf at 8:15am when he noticed the two boys moving 150 metres out to sea in a significant rip.

Lachie was with his father and uncle.

Father Reuben Muldbrock said they had heard the two children crying about 20 metres away from them.

He said that, as soon as his son had heard their distress, he took control and went into rescue mode.

"Lachie was very brave.

"He took it all in his stride, and I couldn't be prouder," Mr Muldbrock said.

"I followed Lachie in and told him to follow his training and he grabbed pulled one of the kids onto the rescue board, put him in position, grabbed a good wave and paddled back to shore.

"He's a very special kid."

Lachie said, ever since he had become a nipper at six-years-old, he had been training for this scenario and so he felt prepared.

"I wasn't too scared when I took them in.

"It wasn't too rough," Lachie said.

"We have done some rescue training at carnivals where we go out and 'rescue' our friends and bring them in.

"If people ever get caught in a rip, they should swim diagonally out and stay calm."

Mr Muldrock said there was also a number of surfers around, along with a stand-up paddle boarder also trying to help the children.

"Both of these kids were gone," said Mr Muldbrock.

"They were pale, shaking, it was horrible to see.

"These boys' parents were nowhere to be seen."

Mr Muldbrock said that, after having saved the boys, Lachie went back out to have surf before returning home to help out their elderly neighbour.

Central Coast surf life saving director Mr Simon Cusack said the incident was sadly all too common.

"When children are left on the beach unattended, they can end up in real danger in the water," Mr Cusack said.

"The heroic effort and instinctive reactions of Lachie Muldbrock demonstrates the valuable lifesaving skills our young members learn as part of the nipper programs."

Tuesday's rescue comes just after surf life saving clubs marked the beginning of the 2020/21 patrol season with flag-raising ceremonies.

Last season, volunteers from Central Coast surf life saving performed seven rescues each at Killcare and Ocean Beach, and 113 rescues at Umina.

With 496 rescues performed across the Central Coast last year, the Umina rescues represented almost one in five of all reported rescues.

SOURCE:

Media release, 30 Sep 2020

Jon Harkness, Surf Life Saving Central Coast

Interview (Maisy Rae), 30 Sep 2020

Lachlan and Rueben Muldbrock, Umina