Photo: Frances Mocnik
Australian Geographic
Issue 100, Oct-Dec 2010
T’S 9.15 ON a mid-summer Sunday morning and 800
children are wriggling on Coogee Beach. Coogee Minnows captain Tass Karozis
is recounting a story of how two Nippers – budding surf
lifesavers – saved a man’s life in northern NSW during the
recent school holidays.
“I emerged face down and began to go under again,” Tass
reads from an email over the loudspeaker. “Jackson and Lachlan
swam to my aid, lifted my head out of the water and swam me
towards the rock ledge. I was unconscious at the time.”
It’s an inspiring tale of courage and quick thinking.
“I’ve got goosebumps,” says father-of-two Gareth Jones. “What a fantastic thing to have done.”
The weather is overcast and inky seaweed is clumped along
the high-tide line, but the crush of tourists won’t be deterred.
Neither will the volunteer surf patrol assigned to duty from the
local Surf Life Saving Australia (SLSA) club grown-up ranks.
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