Photo: ABC 10 // YouTube
After ignoring warnings from lifeguards, two La Jolla, California spearfishermen became trapped in life-threatening surf on Friday. Luckily, the same lifeguards managed to save the pair in a daring rescue.
The incident occurred near the Children’s Pool in La Jolla at Wipeout Beach. A mixed six to eight-foot-plus combination swell combined with the building tide created hazardous conditions that went from 4-6 feet to 6-8 feet over the course of three and a half hours.
Despite the conditions, three spearfishermen decided to venture out into the water, prompting lifeguards Patrick McVan and Austin Mathis to warn them against it. However, only one man heeded the warning.
Things went south very quickly. “They took a couple waves on the head,” McVan told ABC 10. “It really yard-saled all their gear.”
Despite the fact that the whole situation could have been prevented if the men had listened to their warning in the first place, McVan and Mathis sprang into action.
One of the men emerged on his own, but the third was slammed against the rocks and dragged back out to sea. As the lifeguards worked to get him ashore, they realized that the man was seriously injured. Even still, McVan and Mathis managed to swim the victim in and hand him off to medics.
“At the end of the day, when lifeguards come up to you and have that conversation, it’s not because we’re trying to be the fun police. It’s just because we have been watching the conditions, we see the change over the course of the day. If we’re saying, ‘Today’s probably not the day,’ we’re being very serious.”
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