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 In between serving meals and coffee in North
Cottesloe WA on a weekend in August last year,
Victoria Coleclough managed to squeeze a
lifesaving rescue into her shift.
When the waitress saw a man struggling in the
water on Saturday afternoon, she ran down to the
beach, ditched her apron and shoes, grabbed a
rescue board and ran into the water.
“I was upstairs working on the balcony at
Barchetta and two women I had been serving
alerted me to the man caught in the rip,” the 18
year old said.
When Victoria arrived at the beach, the
drowning man’s wife and children, who were
tourists from England, were standing on the
beach highly distressed knowing they could soon
lose their husband and father right in front of
their eyes.
With little time to think or hesitate, Victoria
spotted a surf rescue board and sprinted towards
the water with the board in hand.
Ms Coleclough, who completed her Bronze
Medallion at Cottesloe SLSC last year, said she
realised rescuing the 37 year old man was becoming
harder than she had originally anticipated.
“He was on the reef, there was a big swell and he
was getting dumped,” she said.“He had been caught for about 10 minutes and
was so exhausted that he was finding it hard to
get out.”
However, with strong persistence and the
rescue techniques she had learned during the
training in her bronze course, Victoria successfully
maneuvered through the strong waves and
managed to get to the man just in time.
“I pulled him into the shore and a doctor, who
had been walking by, was there to help.”
The rescued man was treated for hypothermia and shock and was taken
to Fremantle Hospital where he recovered completely and was reunited with
his grateful family.
Reflecting back on the rescue, Victoria said she didn’t have time to think
about what she was doing. “It just came naturally. I didn’t notice how cold the water was, I had so
much adrenalin,” she said.“Afterwards, it hit me and I was quite emotional about it. I had just saved a
life and prevented an awful tragedy.”
Ms Coleclough has been inspired to get back into her lifesaving training
for summer.
“You do these things, but you never really think you will use the skills you
learn,” she said. “I never thought I’d ever do something like this. It feels
good.”
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