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Thought I was looking at 2 pictures of the same 2 girls for a second

Dude, same lol, I was like which one is the new picture?

Wtf is an esky lid?

If you're a yank you would call an esky a 'cooler', i.e. a portable ice box for beers.

This kind of shit right here is why I need to get into better shape. If I had rushed in to help, we just all would have died.

This sounds like an ad for a new season of H2O

They're heros.

This happened to me when I was kid. Random stranger saved me from the crazy undertow as I was getting swept out to sea and intense waves almost making me drown.

Meanwhile my dad was laying in the sand soaking up the sun and has no idea if ever happened.

Thank you random stranger for pulling me ashore.

You can do it! Start small and work your way up. 👍

It starts in the kitchen.

Oh, probably from "Eskimo" brand, eh?

Esky is a brand, but it's such a dominant brand that everyone in Australia just refers to all coolers by that name. Kinda like Kleenex instead of tissue, etc. In this case, Esky is so common that it's basically replaced "cooler" or "ice box" completely, and most Aussies don't use or even recognize those terms anymore.

What a great story from down under! Congratulations, ladies, without your bravery in tackling this rip current, those gals would most likely have not survived. Awesome!

Met someone who’s husband died trying to save some drowning kids in Lake Michigan. Learned that often there are multiple drownings, where one person was drowning & then people who went to help drowned too.

I can’t imagine what it would be like not to help, but I know I’m not skilled enough to save a drowning person in rough conditions and won’t attempt to unless I have things like a life preserver, rope, etc.

Weight loss starts in the kitchen. Fitness is a different issue, although related.

The bit that goes on top of an esky to cover it up. ( ͡~ ͜ʖ ͡°)

Maybe off topic, but: they’re really damn beautiful, on top of being heroes!

no problem

We had a horrible event locally this winter when a child went through the ice on a lake and his friends tried to rescue him and went through too. Most of them drowned in the icy water.

Precisely why I love Reddit

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Definitely also starts in the kitchen. You’re pretty hard limited on your ability to get more fit by the amount of fat on your body

The women that rescued the 11 year olds are on the far left and far right according to the photo caption.

Ah yes, the five minute rule to take credit

How did she “race” to save the girl when she doesn’t have any legs?

When I was doing my cert to beccome a lifeguard, something that stood out to me was how dangerous people drowning are, and how in their survival mode they will grab their rescuers and drown them without a second thought. It was a big lesson on bringing a floatation device and throwing it to them while remaining a safe distance away. I don't think this could have been official training but I remember hearing that it's safer to knock a drowning person unconscious before trying to save them if you have nothing to throw to them. Not sure how you'd accomplish that but it just highlights how dangerous drowning people can be to those trying to save them.

They all look the same age. I would struggle to tell which ones are the "women" and which ones the "girls".

I guess it depends on the amount of fat but yeah if you push too hard exercising while carrying a lot of extra pounds you risk injury.

You can exercise for a full hour hard as you can, and burn the same amount of calories that can be eaten in a few seconds. I've seen people go workout then think it gives them an excuse to eat more. Been guilty of it myself to be honest. Like that old maxim you can't outrun a bad diet.

I must have missed a part. Where did the article say one had no legs?

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You hear similar things when going through rescue diver certification in the PADI system of scuba diving. Been several years since doing that, but from what I recall you’d throw a floatation device to / past them if you could.

If you had scuba gear on and had to approach in the water, you’d maintain a bit of distance to assess the situation before making any kind of approach. I think you were supposed to keep your regulator in your mouth when close in case they tried to climb on you, but I could be misremembering that.

I had a friend that died trying to save his drowning daughter. They both died.

This was actually in a lake, but the visibility was so poor that it took days to find their bodies. He was very athletic too.

Unfortunately people die trying to save others from drowning all the time.

As a former lifeguard, I would recommend that no untrained person try to save anyone over 50lbs without a very floaty object. You’ll probably both drown. Even with all my training I’d strongly hesitate to go in after an adult with no flotation device on me. (You’ll read in this article that the girls had a flotation object: smart as shit) They’ll flail and push you right under.

If you decide not to take my advice, keep as much distance from the person as you can and approach from the back, put your arms under theirs and swim backwards with them.

I think it's just a joke about how they are sat.

Not to mention the over calculation typically of all the smart watches and even heart rate is not that accurate. Was one of the nice things about getting power meter pedals on my bike, it's a pretty damn accurate calorie burn metric based on weight and power output.

Legs can be used as a flotation device.

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Went whitewater rafting with my wife a little while ago and we got tossed from the raft after going over a waterfall. It took every bit of my panicked strength to get up and grab the raft, and my first thought as soon as we got to shore was that thank god my wife is a strong swimmer and in good shape- because there’s no way I could save her and myself at the same time and that thought scared the shit out of me.

Once on a hike down a river we found a dog skull about a half mile from where we started. On the way back we found a plaque dedicated to a man who drowned trying to save his dog from drowning. Could have been a coyote skull, but still.

Fitness starts in the kitchen for me, too.

Fitness whole stack of pancakes in my mouth, that is.

The funny thing is that the two middle girls are preteens and the two others are adults. They all look like they could be in class together though.

Apparently it’s also slang for a boogie board. Not sure if they actually used a cooler lid or a boogie board.

One pair went back in time to save their younger selves

Someone buy those ladies a beer

It's the top of what kiwis call a chully bun.

You can normally see the difference in the details. The 2 girls in the middle have softer facial features while the women on the outer left and outer right have a more defined face.

Damn someone beat me to it 😂

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https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/H2O:_Just_Add_Water

Damn, that's scary. Glad you both are okay.

Just a reminder, if the ocean is pushing you out to sea, don’t swim against it. Swim sideways along the shore until you don’t feel that push out to sea and THEN swim in to the shore. It’s usually not further than 30-40 yards/meters before you’re out of that rip and usually much less.

It’s very common because the drowning person is often desperate and acts against their own benefit. They will grab onto their would-be savior and push them under. It’s why lifeguards will always try to approach from behind and with their can/floatation device between them and the drowning person. If you fight a lifeguard out there, they’re trained to back away. It’s easier to save an unconscious person than a flailing person.

Was that the three in England?

Save it for the judge handcuff-emoji

📸👮‍♂️

Same.

I used to be a great swimmer, and I’d swim in the ocean all the time. But as soon as I went under slammed my head into a rock (thank god for helmets) it became rrreeeaaaalll apparent how many years ago those beach days were.

I was drunk on a 10 dollar boogie board in Hawaii, getting sucked under fighting for my life, only to make it back to the surface to be laughed at by a bunch of locals watching. Good times.

>easier to save an unconscious person…

This was a solid reality check in rescue training. Every potential rescuer needs to first know that someone potentially drowning will try to climb whatever they get their hands on… including the rescuers head. If there is no floatation device, rescuers have to be insanely careful.

I'm in the kitchen, now what do i do?

Falling out of the raft during whitewater rafting is actually pretty normal; it's far from risk free, but as long as you curl up you're probably safe. The rapids come in waves, so in between sections of rapids there's plenty of calm water to get back in the raft.

A few of my friends in middle school actually had their raft guide fall out of the raft mid-rapid. He shouted "get down," but they thought he said "get out," so they all jumped out too. Imagining that poor raft guide's face as six 13 year-olds abandon ship for no reason never fails to crack me up. Everyone was fine haha.

Doing scuba certification, someone in my group went down to do the skill where you take off your mask and take out the reg and then put them back on. This was after like 2-3 hours in the water, but this guy just freaked out and started grabbing at the instructor’s reg. He’s got oxygen strapped to his own back and he still nearly drowned the person next to him.

Desperation is nuts.

That's only true in certain contexts, and doesn't necessarily make good general advice. Most people with low or normal body fat I know are terribly unhealthy, and I know plenty of people with plenty of body fat who run 5ks.

Why is the cop taking a picture?

Duke Nukem's Balls of Steel?

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They used a cooler lid. That website will include a term if its been used more than twice in all of human history.

My good friend is a highly experienced waterman and lifeguard and said the same thing, that even he wouldn’t attempt a rescue without a flotation device unless he outweighed/overpowered them by a LARGE margin. He was basically saying he’d let someone like me drown but would save a kid or a woman <140lbs. He said if you do find yourself in that situation then dive DOWN and they’ll let go, someone drowning doesn’t want to go deeper they want to stay on the surface.

I was cliff diving in hawaii with a friend and his teenager just a few months ago, his kid started seriously struggling on the swim back in and needed help… That advice above kept going through my head as I approached him. He’s 16 years old but plays football and is pretty fucking strong for a kid, probably a solid 170lbs+, Thankfully he wasn’t in full panic mode yet and he listened to me while I put him in an assisted backfloat to rest while I swam him in… But if he had panicked and grabbed me I was fully ready to dive down and swim away. I don’t know if I would’ve just let him drown as I don’t think I could live with the guilt just watching from a short distance, but fuck what else can you do?? Just glad he worked with me and didn’t fight me and I didn’t have to make that decision.

Slow and steady, mate. Slow and steady.

Because the 'women' are children.

My dad was drinking beers on the beach and didn't want to go out while the tide was down.

Me (10-12), another young girl (9-10), and her mom ventured out. My dad came down to tell us were too far out and we need to come in because the tide was coming in. None of us wanted to come back in and the the tide came in on all 4 of us and we got caught in one of these. I almost watched my dad and her mom die. They told us to leave them and go back to shore while they were basically drowning.

We almost died and we got saved by a dude on the beach named Brian with an air mattress.

I don't fuck with water much anymore. That was some scary shit.

The article puts the rescuers at 20 and "now 19" - not that the original comment was very relevant or helpful.

I’m talking about the average American who is pushing 30%. Likewise, terribly unhealthy rail thin people are also limited by their body fat and need to make dietary changes.

Right, it's an "arresting you for pedophilia" joke, but what's the camera for?

Ah. Fair, I didn't look that closely at the pic. Lol

Agreed with all points and neglected to mention if you do find yourself saving someone, you did the exact right thing. Communicate with the person you intend to help. Talk to them, tell them you’re here to help and to let you take control. Though this won’t work a lot of the time but still.

I think they might have been saved by themselves from the future

The pair on the left are the ones depicting them in the docu-drama, the pair on the right are the real people involved. /s

I’m currently going through this course now. Yesterday we did panicked diver rescue skills, in which we were instructed to dive beneath them, surface behind them, and straddle their tank with our knees while we inflate their BCD and then ours. We haven’t gone over rescuing a non-diver yet, but I think that the going under / resurfacing behind them would be a good way to avoid them hanging on to you and would make it easier to knock them out if necessary.

> They told us to leave them and go back to shore while they were basically drowning.

Jesus christ

Not eat a bunch of shit. Re-educate yourself on nutrition.

People hating on that comment that getting in better shape starts in kitchen is hilarious to me. Upset the eaters I guess. Each their own

You know it really is them because they're always watching over the OP.

> Weight loss starts in the kitchen. Fitness is a different issue, although related.

Totally disagree. Nutrition and your diet have everything to do with your overall fitness level not just some related piece. This is why so many yo yo over and over and over again. They never figure out their eating.

It’s true. I was the undertow.

Nearly the same except it was my oldest sister who was rescuing me... Right up until my panicking caused me to start choking her out, thus causing some random dude to help save both of us.

Also, my dad watched as I thought I was gonna drown in my neighborhood pool after my overconfident 6 year old ass jumped into the deep end. While he was probably slightly drunk, not much he could've done given he was disabled. When I climbed out of the pool, he just looked at me, smirked, and said "Bet you're not gonna try that again, huh?"

ETA: Should've pointed out, the reason he was smirking is because he realized I (probably) be all right for the same reason I figured out a couple weeks later: I was over 4' tall while the pool was only 5' deep, so I could stand flat footed in the deep end and have most my forearm above water. Dad saw in my panic was bouncing to safety.

Because they need to collect evidence, what else would it be for?

It was quite traumatic watching her panic and basically try to drown my dad while he was trying to get them to swim into shore. She was kicking and flailing under water and hitting him because she was freaking out.

0/10 do not recommend

A few years ago in NY a couple of people got trapped in a weir and died. Then the professionally trained rescuers came in a boat to get the bodies, they got too close, capsized, and died too. The water doesn't give a fuck.

Yes, it's one of the ways people actually told to getting drowning people to stop grabbing on to you is to dive down below. They don't want to be underwater so you dragging them down freaking out even more and they let go.

The big thing they did here that helped was bring a floating object. That's extremely important to improve the survival outcomes of everyone involved. People often rush in without anything (understandable) but it's very common for the rescuer to drown.

What the hell. So 2 of those are "women" and 2 are 11?? tfff

Yea that’s where the name came from. Many Australians have no idea of its origins and that it could be considered derogatory. It definitely shouldn’t be used as a product name but the brand is ubiquitous here - there would have to be a big push for them to change.

Nah it's not

And that’s WHY he wants to get in shape

>We almost died and we got saved by a dude on the beach named Brian with an air mattress.

Tell me more about this "Brian with an air mattress". Was he using the air mattress as a floaty? Was he camping on the beach? I'm intrigued.

I don't know what his circumstances were to have an air mattress at the beach but thinking about it now I think he or his party were using it as a float.

We were screaming for help and the crowd on the beach thought it was kids playing but he happened to have been in the area the whole time and saw us go out and he sprung into action.

This was in Rocky Point Mexico and I am 34 now. This was 20 something years ago. We were from Phoenix and he was from Tucson.

Rescuing someone in rough surf takes WAY more than being in good shape. Tons of people who can run a marathon wouldn't be able to pull a limp (or even worse fighting back) person in the conditions that caused the potential drowning to begin with.

I'd much rather someone in not peak shape but who knows how to move in the ocean, vs an elite athlete who occasionally goes for a swim in a private pool

That was an angel no doubt

redditors really don't understand satire sorry about the downvotes

This is obviously two women who travelled back in time to save their younger selves.

As a lifeguard of 12 years, one thing we were trained the most on was danger recognition. I’ve had many people I’ve had to save from drowning situations and the entire pool was like “ meh” to the whole scenario. The true scary part for me was how quickly a drowning situation could occur and anyone without a trained eye could be none the wiser. I salute these women for seeing the danger and acting quickly!

Me too in Brasil. Except no dad part. 😢

An American Edward William Coon made some cheese, 100 years later the brand name was changed after being bought out because it was seen as derogatory.

The brand name "esky" was purchased by United States firm Coleman Company, (a subsidiary of Newell Brands) in 2009, so who knows.

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Getting pulled under and tossed around like you’re in a washing machine is no joke. Same thing happened to me in Cape Cod when I was a kid. It probably only lasted 5-10 seconds but it felt like 3-5 minutes and you have no idea which way is up or down. Fucking terrifying.

It's a play on the phrase, "This comment right here officer," which people often use when someone says something creepy online. The taking a picture is the "this right here" part.

>Maybe off topic

Next time you think to yourself that what you're about to say isn't really appropriate, you should listen to your intuition.

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It’s insane that they all look like the same age, even though the two rescuers (on the sides) are 19-20, while the girls (in the middle) are 11.

Only after knowing whose who can you kind of see the age differences. The two woman have more makeup on compared to the two 11 year olds.

Are you really apologizing on leddit's behave for downvotes? Maybe you should take a break from this website.

That's because it's them from the future

I have the same problem with being able to tell these days, but for me it just means that people between 18-23ish look like high schoolers to me now.

Thankfully that is a turn off. I don't get why people fetishize youth so much. My ideal age for attraction has so far been heavily based on a range around my own age. As I have gotten older the range has expanded, but it is always trending older.

Most excellent! Guitar rift

"Darwin awards wrongfully taken from young girls by older, stronger bullies"

The only time I ever rescued anyone I grabbed a random styrofoam floatie board without asking. My daughters friend had an asthma attack while swimming in a lake. Maybe 200 feet from shore. I paddled as fast as I could and got her on the floatie until a boat got to us. It happened so fast. If there's kids or even young teenagers in deeper water having a floatie and constant vigilance is a must. I was the adult in charge and to this day it gives me the willies. What if I didnt have a floatie? Or was distracted? It could have been very bad. I dont think it would have ended well without the floatie.

Okay. That’s it. I am checking IDs from now on. And I don’t sell liquor.

You used the correct form of they’re. You’re an internet hero.

A mother who can't swim brought her two daughters to a beach known for surfing (aka big waves) that has no lifeguard.

When the girls began to drown she asked these teenagers to step in.

That mom is a piece of shit.

Although they spelt heroes wrong.

Maybe if you can't swim you should take your kids to a patrolled beach?

Ah yeah that’s it! It has been several years since I have even gotten the chance to dive.

Hope things go well for your course, they are useful skills that can certainly make you more confident when diving in a variety of situations.

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Don't know why you're being down voted there mate. I prefer the term shark biscuit.

I just googled it because I didn’t know what it was. That’s what came up.

Shark biscuit it hilarious.

>She was kicking and flailing under water and hitting him because she was freaking out.

Not humblebragging, but when I was about 13 I saved a drowning kid (couldn't have been over 7) who swam out too far.

Kid did the same thing and almost brought me under with him, it's a miracle we even made it back to shore, especially considering the amount of times he kicked me in sensitive areas, but the adrenaline rush of almost drowning kinda muted the pain from those.

Definitely do not recommend.

Edit: To note, I didn't know what I was doing, I had no training, I just reacted, and honestly, that was the biggest mistake. I should've grabbed a floatie or something.

The icon for this sub, at a glance, looks similar to the icon for r/nottheonion and I was sitting here for a good minute thinking "what's so funny about that???" lol

Lifeguard training teaches you to avoid direct contact with a drowning victim. This is why.

The article isn't that clear, but I think this incident happened two years ago in 2021 and the photo is recent. So the two girls in the middle were 11 at the time but are ~13 now, and the rescuers are now 19 and 20 but would've been 17 and 18 at the time.

The article doesn't make it that clear but I think the rescuees were 11 at the time of the incident, which was two years ago, so they're ~13 now.

I believe so too!!!

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My sister did this to me in a pool, I ended up holding my breath long enough to sort of… shuttle her crazy ass to the edge. Fast forward twenty years later we’re at a family thing and she says, “remember that time you almost drowned me?”. Little shit freaked out so bad she rewrote her memory.

Yup, and at the time I knew nothing of that. Honestly it was a miracle we both survived. When I finally got to shore I just laid on my back unable to even move for a good few minutes.

LOL, sounds about typical :D

Experience is never a bad thing. You're a good person.

Pastor says women shouldn’t wear things around their neck

That actually happened to me and I almost killed my baby brother because of it. We were 3 and 7 at the time. I saw my brother fall in a pond in a neighbours yard, I dove in after him forgetting I couldn't swim. The neighbour saw me drowning and safed me, but he didn't know my brother was in there too. I swallowed water so couldn't speak coherently for a few seconds but eventually managed to say my brother was in there, he dove immediately and saved him as well. That was more than 30 years ago and I remember it like it was yesterday.

Damn these two girls are brave af and was smart enough to grab whatever floatation device they could find.

They had to save their past selves from dying or it would have created a paradox

"Armed with the makeshift flotation device"

this is so important - anything that floats will make it heaps less likely that the rescuer will drown in this situation

Enough time underwater and you see some scary moments.

I won't buddy up with strangers on a dive. I have seen the full range of people that manage panic very well and very poorly... and it is valuable to truly understand a dive partner before dropping 60ft with them.

I hope the diver you saw found some inner calm along the way or chose to quit diving.

It’s true what they say, nothing gets by Cunt_Bag

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> Jesus Christ

... was clearly absent, it was Brian with an air mattress

Thank you for your service.

I thought these were before after transformations, after breast reduction surgeries on both of them

When I was about 10 I saved a kid who fell down a sewer and into the pipe after a heavy rain. My friends and I took off the lid and I climbed in. Then I dropped a rope down the 20' pipe and pulled the kid out. The kid didn't speak English and as soon as he got out him and his brother ran away. The cops stopped by later and patted me on the back.

Next day another kid did the same thing and he was on the news and the mayor of Los Angeles gave him a fucking medal.

Spent my high school summers as a lifeguard. I was at a local reservoir at the end of my senior year and swam out to the bouy with some friends. We passed by some acquaintances on the way back to shore attempting the same thing. I watched them from shore and could tell they were struggling so I swam back out to help. By the time I got out there, one of the guys had ditched his friend to drown. I swam over to him and grabbed him from behind and dragged him back to shore. Apparently he was chewing tobacco because his mouth and teeth were plastered with it. This was 16 years ago.. I ran into him and his daughter a few years ago and he told her that I was the guy that saved his life. I’m glad he still remembers and acknowledges it.

Yeah, I’m always nervous going solo on a trip and partnering up with a rando.

He obviously failed out of that dive and I don’t know if he ever went back to finish. Crazy because he had been totally fine on every skill we’d done in the pool and the first couple of open water dives. But when panic comes, it’s not easy to swallow it down.

Lol, and are we brothers? You just described my dad perfectly 🤣!

Right it’s like their future selves travelled back in time to save their past selves

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Oh man, I wasn't able to grab my regulator a few times (I was able to collect it in my arm, but I didn't realise I did), panicked and after a minute shot up to the surface. This was in a diving pool at just a couple of meters so that was fine, but obviously wouldn't have worked in the ocean once I was at any real depth. I'm very glad I didn't try to touch the instructor, but that moment of sheer panic is real, and it's hard to control your response. It was embarrassing, and I was surprised by my response to it.

There's not many places on the internet you'll find such touching reunions 🥲

I almost died one time in a similar circumstance as your second story.

I must have been like 4 or something, and we were hanging out at my mom's friend's pool. Her daughter was probably around 12 or 13, standing in the water and catching me when I jumped in - there was no deep end, but it was still over my head. After a bit she decided to get out, but I still wanted to swim so I jumped again and immediately started sinking.

I remember thrashing around a lot, but quickly realized it didn't matter. My mom and her friend were sitting on the deck chatting and didn't see me jump I guess - in reality it was probably less than 10 seconds til my mom noticed I was missing, but it felt way longer. Right as I'd literally accepted I was about to die, I saw the shadow of my mom stand up very suddenly and jump into the water. She must have pulled me out of the pool, but that's what I remember most vividly - a snapshot of her shadow against the sun, seen through the surface of the water.

I'm extremely lucky my mom was always so vigilant - lots of children die every year from drowning in pools while literally surrounded by adults. My sister and I started taking swim lessons right after that incident. Sorry to ramble, I'm a bit high and you just reminded me

Lid off a chilly bin

Is it bad that my first instinct was to look at their fingers to make sure the picture isn't AI generated?

Bro literally I did this to a kid on a vacation one time and still think about it from time to time. The kids dad didn’t even seem concerned but the kid I grabbed was super panicked and I could see him getting dragged further and further out until I got him on my back and we swam with the waves back into shore.

Glad it was appreciated

It also teaches you to kick or punch them in the gut to regain some distance.

We had that last summer in a nearby lake. A young teen was drowning, 2 different friends tried to help, in the end all 3 teenagers drowned. I think the oldest one was only 15. I get numb to all the horrible news, but that made me feel sick to my stomach for days.

Also, lifejackets are super sexy everybody, I promise. Please wear your lifejacket.

Why do people fetishize anything though, human sexuality is still such a mystery lol

Well that's a terrible way to get it, that sounds like a pretty awesome mental picture to have.