Heroes save golfers, caddy at sea
Restaurant owner, his manager, ‘a lifeguard’ and NSRI brave rip current
BRITISH professional golfer Charlotte Austwick, a Norwegian golfer and their caddy nearly drowned during a night swim in the sea on Monday night.
The golfers were swimming off Marina Beach, close to San Lameer Country Club, where they are participating in the Sunshine Ladies Tour.
Austwick, 27, from York, escaped death thanks to the owner and the manager of Mariners Seafood Restaurant, who heard frantic screams for help. At the time the golfers and the caddy were fighting for their lives in a rip current.
At first, restaurant owner Jon Caple, 53, his manager Bruce Simpson, 55, and others who ran on to the beach struggled to ascertain exactly where the screams were coming from in the dark. “We could hear they were frantic but we couldn’t see a thing until we got a torch from a security guard,” said Caple.
Once he and Simpson located the three distressed swimmers about 80m from the beach, a bystander, believed to be an off-duty lifeguard named Prince, grabbed the pink National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) rescue buoy permanently stationed on the beach, and swam out to the Norwegian, who kept disappearing beneath the water.
Caple hesitated before swimming out to Austwick without a rescue buoy. “I’m not that fit, or that good a swimmer. But I could hear Charlotte screaming and screaming for help, and knew that she was panicking and would die within minutes if I didn’t get out there.”
A lifeguard in his youth, Caple flung himself into the rip current and reached Austwick quickly.
“I grabbed her hand and told her not to fight the current and to try and stay afloat, because it’s exhaustion that drowns you. I could see then that if I hadn’t reached her she would have drowned, without a doubt. She was really struggling. She must have been in the water for at least 10 minutes before I got to her.”
Knowing he could not bring Austwick to safety on his own, Caple remained calm, ever wary that she might panic again and drag him under with her. “All I could see were the torches on the beach. There was nothing else to do but to tread water, keep her calm and hope and pray that help would arrive.”
A restaurant diner eventually swam out to them with the NSRI rescue buoy. “We were treading water for about five minutes but it felt like an hour,” said Caple. “Once we got Charlotte on to the buoy I told her to hang on to it for dear life, and kick like hell every time the swell came through.”
Austwick reached the beach while her South African caddy was being rescued by NSRI rescue swimmers who had arrived on the scene.
“It was a scary situation,” said Caple. “Looking back, if we hadn’t jumped in when we did there would have been three dead tourists on the beach. Charlotte was so exhausted by the time she landed on the beach that she couldn’t talk.”
The NSRI confirmed that all three victims were treated for drowning symptoms and later evacuated by ambulance to hospital, where they later made a full recovery. A tour spokesperson declined requests to interview the stricken golfers. “I’m sure you can understand that it was a traumatic experience for them and perhaps they would prefer to move on.”
But a day after her brush with death, following her discharge from hospital, Austwick reflected on Twitter: “When you sit alone and think… and realise just how fortunate you’ve been! @NSRI and the other guys who helped us, you are amazing people #thankyou.”
Later, British pro Adam Walker teased her, tweeting: “After the ordeal @Caustwick has been through in SA recently, if we play together and she ends up in a water hazard, I’d like to apologise in advance for my jokes/ actions!”