Tori Cooper grew up as lifesaver in Apollo Bay, but she was not expecting to have to put her skills to use while taking her horse for a relaxing beach ride last week.
The 21-year-old saved two teenage girls and their father from drowning in a rip at Marengo Beach on Easter Sunday, two weeks after a tragic fatality on the same stretch of notoriously dangerous coastline.
“It’s a dangerous little nook,” Ms Cooper told Victorian Statewide Drive.
“It’s not a good swimming beach.”
The beach has been the site of numerous drownings or close calls.
On March 17, a group of three men in their 20s got into trouble swimming at the same beach.
Despite a woman pulling the men from the water, a 26-year-old man died at the scene.
‘Screaming for help’
Ms Cooper was riding her horse, Martin, along the beach on Sunday morning when she passed two girls who were swimming in shallow water while their parents sat on the beach.
When she turned around to loop back the same way, she saw the father, who was fully clothed, sprinting down to the shoreline.
“The dad jumped up and ran down to the beach in his socks on,” Ms Cooper said.
“He was still wearing his T-shirt and shorts.
“I was watching from 100 metres away and I was wondering what was going on.”
She rode over and saw that the teenage girls had been caught in a rip.
“The mum was on the beach and she was screaming for help,” Ms Cooper said.
“She said her husband can’t swim and he’s gone in.
“I said, ‘I can swim, but someone needs to hold my horse'”.
‘Very horrible moment’
Ms Cooper removed unnecessary clothing and her boots and jumped in the water, swimming 50 metres off the coast to where the girls were struggling to stay afloat.
“They were very exhausted,” she said.
“They were already swallowing and choking on water.”
Ms Cooper said she felt calm at the time and reassured the girls they would be alright, but it was tricky to help them without a flotation device.
She told the girls to lie on their backs so they could take big breaths and then she began to lead parallel to the shoreline and out of the rip.
Once they were free of the current they swam towards the shore and the waves helped push them to safety.
“[The push from the waves] was helping, but it wasn’t helping the girls not swallow water,” Ms Cooper said.
She told the girls to hold their breath as the crashing waves rolled in behind them.
“They were very brave and they didn’t give up,” Ms Cooper said.
“I was very worried they were going to give up, because they kept asking me if they were going to die.
“They said they couldn’t breathe and I said they have to breathe and they have to hold their breath.
“I lost one of the girls under a big wave for a moment.
“It was a very horrible moment — as soon as she popped back up, I grabbed her and I did not let her go.”
‘Still clutching his socks’
Meanwhile, the father was about 20 metres behind Ms Cooper and the two girls, following them out of the rip.
Back at shore a passer-by helped bring the girls onto the beach and another person entered the water to help the father.
“He was blue when we dragged him up on the beach,” Ms Cooper said.
“He was still clutching his socks in his hands.
“He obviously look them off when he got into the water and he’s been holding them.”
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A group of people had gathered at the shore and lifesavers and an ambulance arrived to provide the girls and man with oxygen and treat them for shock.
After the girls and their father were taken to Geelong hospital Ms Cooper jumped back on her horse and rode home.
“I was very high on adrenaline,” she said.
“I was really glad I was there so I could help — it could have been so bad if there was no-one there that was able to help.”
The trio have since been released from care.