By Margaret Maccoll
A Noosa Heads Surf Club waitress ran from restaurant on Sunday 18 February to rescue a couple she saw being taken out in a rip in the surf below.
Jules Wieckhorst who is also a volunteer lifesaver said while she was working in the restaurant at the top floor of the surf club she glanced over at the surf and noticed a man and woman in some difficulty about 6.15pm after the patrols had shut down.
“They’d just gone in for a swim. It was still daylight but getting dark. They were in their 60s.
“I could see them trying to get back in. I just watched them from upstairs. They were just getting pushed out. I knew the patrol had finished.
“They put their hand up so I ran off.”
Jules ripped off her apron and shoes and bolted downstairs, grabbed a board and started heading into the surf.
She said one of the other lifesavers she knew was a good paddler ran after her. She threw the board over to him and he took over and with another lifesaver brought the couple to shore.
Jules said the rescued man told her he was so exhausted he could only have managed to keep swimming for another couple of minutes.
“They were very happy,” she said. “They said thank you and came back two or three days later.”
Jules gained her bronze medallion a year ago when she came to Noosa from Germany and while she has volunteered on patrol she didn’t expect her first official rescue to occur during her work hours.
“I’m from Germany. I’m not used to this lifesaving thing,” she said.
