A 13-year-old boy swam 4 kilometers through rough ocean for four hours after his mother and two siblings were swept out to sea near Dunsborough, Western Australia. He ran 2 kilometers barefoot to call for help. Rescuers found them clinging to paddleboards 14 km offshore after 10 hours.

[u/Electronic-Bus-3494]

Austin Appelbee was 13. His mother Joanne and two younger siblings were swept out to sea. He tried a kayak first, but it started filling with water, so he abandoned it and swam. Alone. Through choppy water. As daylight faded. Four kilometers. Nearly four hours.

He reached shore, ran another two kilometers barefoot to their accommodation, and used his mother's phone to call for help. A major marine rescue operation launched. Rescuers later found Joanne and the two younger children clinging to paddleboards about 14 kilometers offshore. They had been drifting for nearly 10 hours.

Authorities credited Austin's actions with bringing rescuers to them. A 13-year-old with nothing but willpower and bare feet.

[u/Little_Mog]

I couldn't swim until someone pushed me off a 30m pier. It's nowhere near what this kid did but adrenaline and the fear of drowning can take you far. Took me the best part of 5 minutes to get to shore and the entire time I was convinced I was going under the whole time

ETA: Friend was a lifeguard and knew i was panicking and not drowning, it was his way of showing me I could save myself so jumping off with friends was safe

[u/slenderchamp → u/Little_Mog]

https://giphy.com/gifs/j2PD2ZmCjSDzs8wUwL

[u/StormtrooperMJS → u/slenderchamp]

They killed 17 kids trying to get this scene done. /s

[u/Vilomoja → u/StormtrooperMJS]

It was actually the audition for the part.

[u/slenderchamp → u/StormtrooperMJS]

true thing that happened

[u/missoulamatt → u/slenderchamp]

Yup, my grandpappy's best friend's cousin knew a guy who did craft services on the movie being shot next door to this one, and he heard all about it.

[u/aiydee → u/StormtrooperMJS]

But it wasn't until Milo and Otis that animals and children got the protections they required.

[u/AutoModerator → u/[deleted]]

Your comment has been automatically removed.
As mentioned in our subreddit rules, your account needs to be at least 24 hours old before it can make comments in this subreddit.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/Unbelivabley_Smol → u/slenderchamp]

Turns out the kids Mom couldn’t swim either 😏

[u/Spectrum1523 → u/Little_Mog]

lol that's an absolutely thing for a lifeguard to do

[u/discostupid → u/Spectrum1523]

One of the lifeguard things of all time

[u/TorrenceMightingale → u/discostupid]

Yeah those guys really do do what they do.

[u/iruleatants → u/TorrenceMightingale]

Until the dark day that they don't.

[u/ashgs872tbhjs → u/iruleatants]

when they become the Deathguards.

[u/TorrenceMightingale → u/ashgs872tbhjs]

And they start chucking life preventers at their victims.

[u/ThepalehorseRiderr → u/Little_Mog]

Swimming is an odd activity. Sometimes you do it for fun. Sometimes you do it to not die.

[u/tttxgq → u/ThepalehorseRiderr]

You could say that about running, depends what you’re running from.

[u/ddouce → u/ThepalehorseRiderr]

• Demetri Martin

[u/ThepalehorseRiderr → u/ddouce]

Mitch Hedberg

[u/ddouce → u/ThepalehorseRiderr]

Martin tells that joke almost verbatim. The only swimming/drowning jokes I've heard from Hedberg were about above ground pools and another about people being 98% water.

[u/sands_of__time → u/ddouce]

You haven't heard his joke about being saved by the buoyancy of citrus?

[u/James-the-Bond-one → u/ThepalehorseRiderr]

Same as running. Or shooting.

[u/HannsGruber → u/Little_Mog]

My first ever memory of "swimming" was at a YMCA. I was in the line and the guards were asking each kid to jump in and demonstrate a swim, the doggy paddle I can remember now, to show they could at least tread water.

fuck if I knew what that was, but I was far enough back in the line to watch each kid ahead of me. Its my turn, I jump in, do exactly what I saw, and sure as shit, I tread water and got a pass lol. I couldn't put an age on the memory, but low single digits.

[u/nekonight → u/HannsGruber]

Showing someone what to do is often the best. Also showing someone what not to do. The best example i have as a swim instructor is teaching kids diving off the edge of a pool. Often they will just belly flop into the water and most of the time its because they are trying to keep their head up to look at where they are going. Showing them the difference of keeping their head up and down is usually gets the point across, unless they are scared of the water.

[u/grimacedia → u/Little_Mog]

My uncle tried to do that when I was a kid, I sank like a stone! Managed to grab onto someone already under water (they did not appreciate that but I was small at least).

[u/Little_Mog → u/grimacedia]

I was like, 15. My dad tried it when I was about 3 and it ended up with him bribing me with a McDonald's breakfast to not tell my mam. I got 2 pancakes, 2 hash browns and a slice of bacon and didn't tell my mam until I was 16

[u/Edin2015 → u/Little_Mog]

Hahahaha i love this...

[u/ours → u/grimacedia]

Ah, the "old school" of "teaching kids to swim". Dad did the same shit to me: throwing me in the deep end.

Then he was surprised it was very effective and paid a professional to teach me to swim...

I did not pass this family tradition. Taught kids, gradually getting them comfortable with water, showing them the moves until they had the confidence to swim on their own.

It's funny how siblings teach each other when they were very young, sharing bathtub time. The little one copying the other one and learning to hold their breath underwater.

Due to COVID, the youngest one didn't get the chance to go to a swimming course but had zero fear of water (to a fault). It was complicated, as a very young kid, none of the age-appropriate flotation aids were to his liking. Until I got some arm floaters (not recommended for those ages). The kid just wanted his freedom to move around, dunk underwater, and such.

[u/VexedForest → u/grimacedia]

I was the only kid my swim teacher failed to teach how to swim. Her final attempt was throwing me in the deep end. It didn't work 😂 and then made me afraid to swim for a few years

[u/ashgs872tbhjs → u/VexedForest]

wdym failed to teach how to swim? were you just unable to move your limbs in concert? do you fall down a lot?

[u/ContinuingAnyway → u/grimacedia]

When I was a kid my dad did the same, good times lol

[u/Vyebrows → u/Little_Mog]

My mind went to height because length seemed to be irrelevant to mention so i though a 8-10 story high pier which sounded preposterous

[u/EwePhemism → u/Little_Mog]

I learned to swim quick, fast, and in a hurry after I fell into the pool while my mom was vacuuming it.

[u/tvosss → u/Little_Mog]

The whole time I’d be thinking about sharks … 🫣

[u/Acey_BW → u/Little_Mog]

30m? Sure buddy.

[u/Little_Mog → u/Acey_BW]

30m long, not high

[u/MoonlitMermaid- → u/Little_Mog]

The 30m of fear before you hit the water omg lol. Same thing happened with my dad. Minus the 30m pier! As a child, his friends father pushed him into the river to learn how to swim. Dangerous as heck

[u/Little_Mog → u/MoonlitMermaid-]

30m long, not high. If it was 30m high I'm pretty sure I'd've died

[u/Mountain-climber-181 → u/Little_Mog]

Why wouldn't this "friend," who is a lifeguard, just teach you to swim? Also, why does it matter how long the pier is?

[u/Equivalent-Fan3365 → u/Little_Mog]

Anyone know why one of the parents couldn't do the swim?

[u/FalxIdol → u/Equivalent-Fan3365]

Dad wasn’t there. If mum attempted to swim back then it would be three kids left out at sea.

[u/Equivalent-Fan3365 → u/FalxIdol]

Ah ok, thank you!

[u/PhotojournalistOnly → u/Equivalent-Fan3365]

How about telling a child they were they're only hope? What if they'd died?

[u/James-the-Bond-one → u/PhotojournalistOnly]

Life is hard.

[u/Equivalent-Fan3365 → u/PhotojournalistOnly]

See, I would have thought that would be shitty parenting, but it was only a single parent there and that parent had to stay and look after the other children. At that point, that kid is their only hope. Absolute chad.

[u/PhotojournalistOnly → u/Equivalent-Fan3365]

Agreed that was the reality of the situation. And i would've done the same in the situation. Except the telling him he was their only hope. They were lucky to survive, and had they not, the kid would already feel immense guilt, but remembering those words from your parent 😬