Year 12 student Xavier Murphy has won a New Zealand Surf Lifesaving Award for Coromandel Rescue of the Year.
On January 22 Xavier and another school-age lifeguard, Jamie Lock, saved five teenagers from rough surf at Pauanui Beach, and then pulled a jet-ski rider to safety after he flipped on the Pauanui bar.
Xavier, a qualified Senior Lifeguard and Patrol Captain, was off-duty after hours at his home club of Pauanui when a phone call came through asking for help for the teenagers. No sooner had he and Jamie pulled them to safety in an IRB boat than they were called to the opposite end of the beach to rescue the jet-ski rider. The jet-skier had to be rushed to Thames Hospital but made a full recovery – if Xavier and Jamie had not done such a good job the outcome could have been much worse.
Xavier has been a surf-lifesaver for three years and is on the Pauanui Club committee as the IRB officer. He is now paid to patrol Coromandel beaches during summer.