Year 8 student Hannah Carmichael has had an eventful and successful start to 2021!  The Forster SLSC club member and Nipper conducted a rescue while surfing at an unpatrolled section of One Mile beach in Forster on Sunday.

Thirteen-year-old Hannah was surfing at around 4:30 pm Sunday when she spotted a man entering the water for a swim.  It was after the flags had been taken down and well north of the normally patrolled area.  Hannah said that she noticed that the man had entered the ocean directly in a rip so was “keeping an eye on him” whilst she surfed.  After a short while she realised that he was in trouble as he appeared to be stuck in the rip and, after few big waves had come through, he appeared to be struggling to keep his head above water.  The man began to try to swim against the rip and was becoming more and more exhausted.

Hannah waved to her mum, who was on the beach, to let her know that she was paddling over to assist.  She paddled her surfboard over to the swimmer and then helped him onto her board as some more large set waves came through.  With the swimmer still on her surfboard, Hannah then paddled out with the rip until she was clear of it and was then able to swim her board, and the swimmer, safely back to shore on a sandbank.

The swimmer was exhausted and had swallowed some water but was extremely grateful for Hannah’s help.  The incident was witnessed by several other people on shore who agreed that had Hannah not been there to implement her surf lifesaving skills the outcome could have been very different!

Well done Hannah, the entire St Clare’s community are very proud of your skill and bravery.

Hannah completed her SRC in October last year, is a patrolling member of Forster Surf Life Saving Club and has been a Nipper since the age of 5.

Hannah was also recently voted one of the Lower North Coast Branch Junior Lifesavers of the Year (JLOTY) and will be attending the JLOTY development camp in Sydney in April with 21 other young lifesavers from throughout the state.

Right:  Hannah’s interview with NBN news last month after receiving the Lower North Coast Branch Junior Lifesavers of the Year Award

Well done Hannah.

Jamie Collins
Year 8 Student Coordinator