“We are exhausted, very shaken and feel so lucky we were able to stay together … The decisive and quick action led not only to our rescue, but our survival. Thank you so much.”
Their unexpected trip coincided with the coldest Christmas Day in Melbourne since 2006, as the city reached a top of just 14.5 degrees.
Peter, a skipper with Queenscliff Coast Guard who declined to share his surname, said the paddleboarding trip was made hazardous due to windy conditions on the bay.
“They paddled and all of a sudden, the wind and the … tide got them and next minute they couldn’t make it back to shore,” he said.
“The key to this is just having a look at the conditions that you’re going to be dealing with.”
Peter said the search ended on a positive, “but at the end of the day, it’s something on Christmas Day you don’t think you’re going to be doing”.
In a separate rescue on Thursday, Life Saving Victoria winched three kayakers – a mother and her two teenage daughters – from the open sea as they drifted out to sea near Corinella, near French Island, 123 kilometres south-east of Melbourne.
Police said emergency services were called to Western Port Bay about 2.10pm after the trio tried to retrieve a kayak that was adrift when they were swept up in the current, ending up about 1 kilometre from the shore.
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“The Westpac Rescue Lifesaver Helicopter was dispatched and winched three women from choppy waters and returned them to shore,” a spokesperson said. “All three people were conscious and breathing and were wearing lifejackets.
“Kayaking requires constant awareness and good decision-making. Conditions can change quickly, so it is vital kayakers prepare for the environment they are operating in.”
Earlier on Christmas Day, police were called to Lake King in Paynesville, Gippsland, almost 300 kilometres south-east of Melbourne, after reports of a kayaker in trouble. At 1.30pm, officers arrived at the scene and were told the man had not been seen for about two hours, but that his kayak had rolled.
Water police, along with the air wing and coast guard, searched for the man before he was found about 3pm. The man, from Hoppers Crossing in Melbourne’s west, was picked up by the coast guard and returned unharmed to shore.
In 2022, four teenage paddleboarders were swept more than 20 kilometres across Port Phillip Bay and lost at sea overnight, before landing at an island reserved for military training and eventually being saved.
