It was just common sense to Noosa men Remy Roberts and Louie Greenland to go to the aid of a tour boat in trouble in July, 2024, but last week their efforts that may have saved the lives of two women, were recognised by the National Search and Rescue Council (NATSAR Council) at a ceremony at Queensland Parliament House.
The 19 year olds were among a small group of people across Australia, most of the others trained rescue officers, to be presented with Australian Search and Rescue Awards for “outstanding contributions to search and rescue“ at the ceremony hosted by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) and Queensland Police Service (QPS).
The teens told Noosa Today it had been windy day on 3 July, 2024, when about 9.30-10am, they took a break from “mucking about as we do“ on their jet skis in the rough conditions around the river mouth and were sitting on the beach at Noosa Spit, then they spotted a tour boat heading across the bar.
There were five customers and the skipper on board and it was heading out through the waves, they said.
“We watched it go out and we were like, this isn’t going to end well,“ Remy said.
“It caught a really big wave straight on the front of the boat. We were like, oh no.
“We zoomed straight over. We saw a bunch of safety gear fly off and went over, mainly to pick up the safety gear for them, to help the skipper out.
“We got over there, dropped the safety gear off. That’s when we saw everyone scattered around the boat. These two older ladies one was on either side of the console, were sort of wedged into the inflatable side of the boat,“ Louie said.
“The wave hit them so hard the back of their chairs fully bent back and they fell off their chairs and got wedged down the side. They were fully wedged down the side. They had to deflate the boat to get them out.“
“Louie straight away was in flight mode. He jumped into the boat, sort of took over the boat, barking orders,“ Remy said.
“We only saw one lady to begin with, then when I hopped in the boat I saw another one. I was like, oh no, this isn’t good,“ Louie said.
“We were still in the bar, there were still waves that were going to come through.
“I hopped on and I was like, to the skipper, you’ve got to keep going out. There’s going to be more waves coming in. So we went out a little bit. He was in shock. Then I was like we’ve got to go back in, do you think you can get us back in through the waves and he said, yeah I can do it.
“I was doing first aid, holding one of the ladies heads. She couldn’t move. They were both paralysed at the time.“
Louie instructed another customer on the other side of the boat to hold the other ladies head and someone else to ring Triple zero to meet them at the marina. “We were just trying to comfort them to get back through the waves,“ he said.
While Louie was in the boat Remy sprung into action to retrieve his jet ski.
“I said you stay here and I’ll get your jetski. I left my jetski on the beach, at the spit. There was another random out. I said I need to get my friends jetski, it’s going to get washed out, can you run me out. He quickly ran me out. I met them out there, drove Louis’s ski with them through the bar, to the marina,“ he said.
The boys said the women who were friends were in a “pretty bad state“ but each was asking after the welfare of the other.
“The skipper drove the boat back to Tewantin marina full steam,“ Louie said.
“I was telling him, you’ve got to go mate.
“Everyone was in shock and panic. There were young kids on the boat and they were bawling their eyes out.
“Their dad was panicking, just trying to get his kids to calm down.“
“When we first got there Louis said to them to call Triple Zero and they did. It was perfect because when we got to the marina they were there to meet us,“ Remy said.
“The firies (Queensland Fire and Rescue Service) had to deflate the boat to get them out. It took a long time. It was really tricky. We tried deflating it with the normal caps but it wasn’t going down quick enough so they cut it open. We finally got them out. It was such a struggle getting them out on stretchers.“
The women were taken by ambulance to Tewantin State School where a waiting helicopter airlifted them to hospital.
“We would like to see how they’re going, if they’re alright. We don’t want to be too intrusive. Just want to know what happened to them,“ they said.
The teenagers won praise at the awards event for their actions.
“Police were saying you guys don’t understand the impact you have in your society,“ Remy said.
“There are so many people of your generation who would just turn around and go, that’s not my problem and go the other way. Louie and I think it’s just common sense to help out. It feels good.“
NATSAR council chairman and AMSA executive director response Alex Barrell said the selection process for recipients was a challenge, with all nominations which come from the search and rescue community and members of the public, outstanding on their own merit.
“What sets these awards apart is that they are open to both the search and rescue community and the wider Australian public, to nominate and to recognise individuals or groups for their contribution to keeping people safe,“ he said.
The award recipients came from across Australia. Nominations for the 2026 awards are now open until early July next year.
