An empty Heads of Noosa beer keg has aided the rescue of a father and his young son caught in a dangerous rip on the Sunshine Coast.
Local man Matthew Neale was at Marcoola beach early Friday morning, 29 November, when he noticed a the pair caught in a rip.
The quick-thinking life-saver-in-training grabbed an empty Heads of Noosa beer keg that was sitting outside the Marcoola Surf Club and raced into the surf.
Matthew is six weeks into his Bronze Medallion Certification and had arrived at the beach for a training session but was a day early.
Rather than waste the trip, he decided to go for a walk along the beach when he noticed the pair in distress.
Running back to the clubhouse he looked for a rescue board but to no avail, at 7am the clubhouse was still locked up.
He grabbed the next best thing, an empty Heads of Noosa beer keg. He sprinted back to the beach and swam out to the pair. He called out to the father and told him to hang in there and was eventually able to bring them back to shore safely and unharmed.
Matt said it was a very emotional experience, “we’re both big ocker guys but I think we realised how close it was to a very different ending. Once we’d got over the shock, we shared a hug and both shed a tear.”
Brothers, Lance and Craig from Heads Of Noosa heard about the story and wanted to meet the hero who used one of their empty kegs to save two lives.
“Our kegs have been used for a lot of things over the years – barstools, makeshift weights, but never a floatation device,” Lance Masterton said, co-founder and head brewer.
“We were absolutely stoked that one of our kegs played a part in this rescue. Matt is an absolute legend, so we wanted to come down to Marcoola and thank him personally.
“We’re also giving him a couple of cartons of Heads of Noosa for his trouble.”
With the summer season just weeks away, this heartwarming story certainly serves as a timely reminder to only swim between the red and yellow flags.
