Jersey Shore surfer who defied death in viral wipe-out saves life of man drowning
NY Post
A Jersey Shore surfer who survived a fall from a 20-foot wave in a wipe-out that went viral in December saved the life of another man struggling to swim in the same waters last week.
Brendan Tighe — who previously made headlines for the death-defying free fall captured on video — was surfing the waves off Belmar last Monday when he heard a person yelling out.
He turned and saw a man struggling to swim in the 50-degree water and paddled over to him, video of the rescue shows.
“Today, 3 minutes into my session at a [beach] I never surf, I heard someone screaming for help significantly far from me,” Tighe wrote in an April 29 Instagram post intended to spread awareness on rescue techniques.
“I paddled 200 yards out and over from the jetty I was surfing to a nearly unconscious/hypothermic man floating on his back,” he said. “He was drifting out to sea without a wetsuit and not swimming.”
Tighe, 33, described how he pushed his surfboard into the man’s arms to avoid being pushed underwater himself as distressed swimmers often unintentionally pull their rescuers under in an adrenaline-fueled panic.
