Aimee Carlin receives bravery award for dramatic 2018 beach rescue

One of our swim instructors, Aimee Carlin, this week received the society certificate of commendation from Royal Surf Life Saving NSW for her rescue of Jai Darr at Tuncurry last year! The award was presented to Aimee by Margaret Beazley, Governor of NSW at Government House, in the beautiful Sydney Botanic Gardens. Well done Aimee, we are all extremely proud of you!
Original article below!
January 2018: One of our learn to swim instructors saves man caught in rip at the beach!
One of our Learn To Swim teachers, Aimee Carlin, 19 years old, was involved in a dramatic rescue over the weekend while on holiday with her family in Tuncurry on the NSW Mid North Coast.
On Sunday January 7th, in extreme hot weather, Aimee, who is a learn to swim instructor and triathlete, along with off-duty junior surf life saver Lucas Kloosterhof, 14, rushed to the aid of 19-year-old Jai Darr who was struggling to stay above the water at the beach. The pair managed to reach Mr Darr, pull him out of the rip and bring him back to shore.
Ms Carlin said she was going for a walk with her cousins when she saw the man’s arm shoot up in the air and then he started calling for help.
“He was out there he wasn’t kicking, wasn’t paddling – he was just going under and getting taken by the rip so we knew we had to get him,” she said. “We put our towels and clothes on him and made sure he was warm until emergency services came.”
“It was very intense, but I’m just happy that that everyone was ok in the end. I’m glad that I was able to apply my swimming and safety training to help in that moment”. When asked if she feared for her own safety during the incident, Mrs Carlin said “I kind of know that beach, but I had to read the water and knew it wasn’t too deep and that I could nearly touch the bottom. My biggest worry was that the swimmer might pull us under in panic”.
Mr Darr was swimming with two friends when they got caught in a rip near the Tuncurry Rock Pool. The 19-year-old dairy farmer said he is a strong swimmer but was no match for the current forcing him out to sea.
He told Nine News “I just got stuck in the rip. It took me out to sea and I couldn’t get myself back in,” he explained. “Big waves, one after another, just pushed me underwater. I’m amazed, I couldn’t thank them enough for helping me save my life.”
Mr Darr was treated at the scene by paramedics before being taken to Manning Base Hospital where he remains in a stable condition.
Ms Carlin is a Penrith local and Learn To Swim instructor at Nepean Aquatic Centre. Terry Spinks, Operations Manager at Nepean Aquatic Centre and Eva Borys Swim School said “Safety is at the centre of everything we do, and we could not be more proud of Aimee for acting as she did to save the drowning man. It was extremely brave and a testament to the safety training she has undertaken to work in the swim industry”.