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Getting lost at sea is one of the more terrifying prospects for any ocean user. For 19-year-old Australian surfer Darcy Deefholts, that fear nearly became a reality last week. However, disaster was narrowly averted through the efforts of Deefholts’ hometown, which banded together to bring him home.
Deefholts, who hails from Wooli, a small fishing town with a population of around 500, left his home at 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday to go surfing, as ABC News reports. However, when he failed to return home and his bike, clothing and shoes were found at a spot about three miles north of the breakwall, the alarm was raised.
After Darcy was reported missing, Wooli Marine Rescue launched a search around 10:00 p.m. that night. They searched the waters along the coastline until 1:00 a.m., then resumed again at first light the following day. That next morning, though, they were also joined by a host of locals, after Deefholts’ father, Terry, pleaded for aid on social media. Six private vessels joined the search effort at sea and a host of community members combed the beach on foot.
Deefholts was eventually found at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, around 18 hours after he first left home. The site of his rescue was an island eight miles off the New South Wales coast, a spot so remote that the name of the piece of land is literally “North Solitary Island.” According to the Sydney Morning Herald, it is unclear whether the boy spent the night on the water, or at the island – an outcropping of rock with a navigational beacon, but no other infrastructure. Rescue skipper Matthew McLennan told ABC that he was found “cold and suffering from a bit of exposure,” but otherwise unharmed.
“It’s rare that we ever get to participate in a search with an outcome such as this,” added McLennan. “It was really heartwarming to see how many community members jumped to the call.”
