Cape Town teen saves life while surfing

Jonah Lustig, 18, went for a quick surf in Camps Bay in Cape Town in an attempt to reduce his stress levels over his upcoming matric exams, and landed up saving the life of a man caught in a rip tide.

His “destressing” surf turned into such a life-saving, high-pressure moment, he didn’t even get the name of the man whose life he saved.

Lustig, who is writing matric at Herzlia High School, planned to go for a mere 45-minute surfing session on 9 October. As he returned to shore after surfing, two men pleaded with him to help save their friend, in his 20s, whom they said was drowning.

Lustig, a trained lifesaver, raced back into the water with his surfboard and GoPro to rescue the man. “I quickly realised that he was caught in a rip tide and was being taken out by the current on the right side of Camps Bay,” said Lustig.

“I rushed out to him, paddling on my surfboard. Just before I arrived, another lifesaver had also been trying to reach him, but wasn’t quite getting there,” he said. “Luckily, I was able to get to him with my board, and quickly put him on the board with me and brought him back to shore.”

While Lustig was in the water, the lifeguards on the beach had come in to help with their T-buoys as well, and another surfer had also come to the man’s aid.

“We were able to get him out of the situation and put him in the recovery position, and an ambulance was called to make sure that he was okay,” Lustig said.

He and his friends have been City of Cape Town lifesavers for the past five years, ever since they did an online lifesaving training course. He decided to do the initial course because, he said, “I thought being a lifeguard would be a radical experience. I wasn’t ever the greatest swimmer or runner, but I just wanted to do something new.”

Since completing the course online because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Lustig and his friends are regularly on duty at various beaches in Cape Town.

“In the summer season, there’s a roster for all the duties, so you would usually do, at minimum, one duty a month, but you can also substitute for people, and then you can do as many as you like.”

Lustig said that had he not got to the man in time, the man would probably have drowned because of the nature of the rip tide combined with the fact that he couldn’t swim.

“A rip takes you out to sea. It takes you further from land, and it’s hard to get back if you don’t know how to get out,” said Lustig. “You’re in a tricky situation.

“Even if I didn’t have my board or a T-buoy, I would have run in and tried to grab him, even though it’s kind of risky. Since he didn’t know how to swim, he could have tried to use me as a lifebuoy and maybe tried to drown me. So, it was just fortunate that I had my board with me.

“These things happen when you least expect them,” said Lustig, “Camps Bay has especially unpredictable conditions because it looks like it’s flat, but at any moment, the rip can take you out.

“I’ll always be humbled by the ocean. It’s the greatest power of all,” he said. “But I’m confident in my abilities. I just to try to remain calm, like everything’s going to be okay, and try to be as much in the present as possible. I wasn’t focused on myself, I was just focusing on the task at hand.”