Pro Surfer Captured On Tape Rescuing Swimmer Caught In Ocean Current
Jan 09, 2021 by apost team
Australian professional surfer, Mikey Wright, 24, is being hailed a hero for rescuing a struggling swimmer in Oahu, Hawaii. The Culburra, New South Wales native posted an Instagram video of the incident on New Year’s Day this year with the caption, “Hold my beer.” Wright had been in Hawaii for The Billabong Pipeline Masters event back in December where he placed 17th in the men’s competition.
The currents of the sea can be very unpredictable. You could be a seasoned surfer or swimmer and you still would not be able to overpower the turbulence of harsh waters. One woman in Oahu, Hawaii, last December found herself in danger when she swam out too far and was struggling to fight against the strong currents to get herself back to shore. Luckily for her, Mikey Wright was there to save the day.
Mikey Wright is being hailed a hero
Mikey Wright is 24 years old and a professional surfer from Culburra, New South Wales, Australia. He made headlines after he shared video footage of him rescuing a person from drowning in powerful currents at the beach in Oahu’s north shore. According to Insider, Wright had been in Oahu, Hawaii to compete in The Billabong Pipeline Masters (where he placed 17th in the men’s competition) back in December. In the video footage, other beachgoers can be seen trying to help the person who was in danger, but the waves were too strong for them to get close.
Wright had been filming the incident when he decided to step in. In the footage, he can be heard saying that the person in the water is “going to need to get saved” before giving his phone to an unidentified person who he asks to keep filming. Wright is seen jumping over a fence and sprinting to the sea. He battles through the massive waves that kept crashing on him and the person, who looked to be female, struggling in the water. Finally, after multiple attempts at trying to get her back to shore, he succeeds. Once they were away from the water, five other beachgoers came to their aid and carried the woman to safety.
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Hold Mikey’s beer
The complete footage, which is about two minutes in length, is captioned with "Hold my beer.” The phrase is a popular Internet slang. Dictionary.com explains that the expression is used before an intoxicated person does something dangerous or not so smart.
Feeling proud of her younger brother’s heroic act, Tyler Wright shared the video with the caption: “Closing out 2020 with some hero s--- by @mikeywright69.” Speaking with Channel Nine's Today show, the 26-year-old said that the situation was “intense.” "Look, it was an intense situation, but he is a water man. This is what we have been doing since we were kids. We have surf life-saving skills,” she explained. "At that point, the concern was for the woman and how long she had left before she would really start to struggle." His sister, Tyler Wright, is also a professional surfer who was in Oahu for the same competition where she won the first women’s tour title, according to Insider.
Wright’s has gained widespread praise online from both fellow professional surfers and fans. “Who needs a cape when you have a mullet,” commented Jessi Miley-Dyer, a First World Junior Champ, in reference to Wright’s hairstyle. Wright was even noticed by former World Surf League champion and fellow Australian, Mick Fanning who wrote: "Wow that could of [sic] ended really bad! Well done."
In an interview with ABC News, Wright told the news outlet that he did not pause to think if his own safety would be jeopardized. “I didn’t question if I was in danger. I just knew that she needed help. This lady was in a very tricky situation. Even for a confident person in the water, that’s not somewhere you want to be,” he said.
ABC News reported that the waves had reached up to 15-feet in height and that they were breaking so close together that it was generating the force of two waves being crashed onto whoever was in the water. There were also sharp volcanic rocks in the seabed. Wright added that he and Tyler checked to make sure the woman was doing alright after she was brought out of the water, saying that they got “pretty, pretty lucky.” The woman got a graze on her wrist, while Wright had gotten some scratches on his back.
"She was just very thankful,” Wright told ABC. "I think she knew she was in a bad situation," he added.
Both Wright and his sister Tyler are the younger siblings of surfing icon Owen Wright. According to Insider, he was the first ever surfer in the world to earn two perfect scores in a single event.
There had been a handful of noteworthy water rescue stories from last year. Back in August 2020, an Australian man Mark Rapley, saved his wife Chantelle Doyle from a Great White Shark attack at Shelly Beach in southeastern Australia. After leaping onto the shark's back and punching it until it let go, Rapley swam his wife back to shore and administered first aid until medics arrived.
According to BBC, Doyle was surfing off the coast of Port Macquarie, New South Wales when a juvenile Great White Shark bit into her right leg. The shark was approximately three meters (10 feet) in length. The Sydney Morning Herald reported that in the moment Doyle's husband, Mark Rapley, leaped off of his surfboard and jumped on the shark's back. He then repeatedly punched the shark until it released his wife's leg from its jaws.
In the same month, Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa helped rescue two women struggling in the water at an Algarve beach when their kayak capsized. The president, 71, was pictured swimming over to the kayakers who were having difficulty getting back to shore. Video footage caught the moment he swam into the sea to assist them. Another man had already been with the women, trying to help turn the kayak over while a person on a jet ski also approached to offer help. The man on the jet ski then managed to tow the kayak back to the shore.
What did you think of Mikey Wright’s heroic act? What would you have done? Tell us in the comments if you have ever witnessed or experienced something similar while you were at the beach and be sure to show this story to your friends and family to remind them to be careful about swimming in the ocean when the current is too strong.