When one bodyboarding Kowie Granny Grommet’s morning adventures led her into a rip current, a man who attempted to rescue her soon found himself being pulled out to sea with her. Luckily for both the Granny Grommets, help in the nick of time was on their 2025 bingo cards.
Port Alfred, South Africa (15 April 2025) — A Friday morning dip and dive at Port Alfred’s East Beach quickly turned into something more dire after two Kowie Granny Grommets found themselves caught up in a rip current.
It’s believed that the female Kowie Granny Grommet (the Granny Grommets are a fun-loving community in which more mature folk partake in surfing activities), had ended up in the rip current first while she was bodyboarding. As for the 67-year-old man who was pulled out to sea alongside her, well, he’d initially gone out with good intentions to rescue his bodyboarding pal (something you should never do without a pink rescue buoy handy or without experience).
At around 9 am that morning, eyewitnesses became concerned that there was a drowning in progress, leading a fellow Granny Grommet to alert the NSRI Port Alfred and its corresponding duty crew to help.
The NSRI’s station 11 rescue base quickly fell into form and immediately launched their rescue craft, Rescue Alpha, whilst rescue swimmers made their way to East Beach with haste.
In mere minutes, the rescue swimmers were ready to assist, and could see the pair caught up in the surf zone as the rip currents pulled them out to sea.
Acting quickly, the NSRI crew pulled both parties out of their plight in record speed, bringing them back to shore to medically assess them.
While everyone breathed a big sigh of relief to see the duo find their land legs again, the NSRI made sure to let the larger group of Grommets know that they were actually at a part of the beach where rip currents are prevalent. The Grommets group made a small move to a safer spot and continued their activities.
Life Hacks: Handling a Rip Current
As shared by the NSRI:
- The first thing to do is to understand if you’re actually in the presence of a rip current.
- These currents are often a different colour to the surrounding sea, and tend to have choppy waters in their channels.
- If you’ve found yourself caught up, don’t desperately race against the current no matter how much of a Chad Le Clos you think you are. Either swim slowly or let the current carry you past the breakers. The good news? The current won’t pull you under its grasp if you’re able to keep yourself afloat.
- Remember, life is like a river, and that sentiment holds a lot of weight if you’re ever in a rip current:
“Take note from looking at the beach of the direction that the current is pulling you, think of it like a river and remember to get out of a river you would swim to the river bank. This means that in a rip current you should swim at 90 degrees to the direction that you are being pulled and then use the waves to help you get back to the beach.”—NSRI.
- Wave for help so that lifeguards can see you’re in trouble.
Helping Someone Else
- If you see someone struggling and there are no professional helpers nearby, look out for the NSRI Pink Rescue Buoy, or something that can float. In some cases, these can float out to the struggle area.
- Still, getting help from a lifeguard or calling the NSRI is always a safer bet.
- Pro tip: The Pink Rescue Buoy signs have emergency numbers on them for you to call for help!
- Extra pro tip: Once again, don’t attempt any Olympic swimmer stunts in trying to rescue someone else if you have no training or a Pink Rescue Buoy at hand. This could mean two people in danger and one less to call for help if you venture in untrained.
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