Despite forecasts predicting rip currents and sneaker waves, people still headed to the beach as the summer winds down. Conditions are similar to what they were one week ago when a teenage lifeguard rushed into the pounding surf to rescue a 10-year-old boy.
His name is Ryder Williams, and he is just 16. This was his first season as a lifeguard, and his very first rescue.
Facing 8- to 10-foot-high pounding surf, sneaker waves and rip currents at Seabright Beach last week in Santa Cruz, Williams sprinted into the potentially deadly conditions.
“I look up and see a young boy get swept off his feet from a low point on the beach, and I started running up the beach as he gets pulled out,” Williams said.
He grabbed onto 10-year-old Nathaniel Rai and never let go, even as they were both slammed over and over again by unrelenting waves. Williams described what was going through his mind during his fight against the powerful surf.
“As I grab the child, he goes limp. I’m thinking is he unconscious or not … the whole time I just need to hold my position ’til my partner can get there,” Williams said.
Another lifeguard and others on the beach jumped in to help. Nathaniel’s father, Sumit Rai, said his son was unconscious during the rescue and that he is forever grateful for the young lifeguard’s courage and resilience.
“He risked his life to save my child going into that water and those tumultuous conditions and getting thrown under is incredibly dangerous,” Sumit Rai said.
Rai added that words cannot fully express his gratitude.
“It’s incredibly courageous, brave, heroic and resilient. Had he let go of him, this would have been a different outcome,” Rai said.
When Williams pulled Nathaniel onto the beach, he completed his first rescue as a lifeguard, but it was not his last that day.
“I returned to the tower and ended up making more rescues later that day,” Williams said.
He went on to make four additional rescues in conditions he said were even more challenging than the life-saving measures he took to save Nathaniel.
Video of the rescue captivated people around the nation and the world, including President Donald Trump, who called the young man “heroic.” On social media, the president said he plans to invite Williams and his family to the White House to receive a high civilian honor.
