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Pals Gabe Vidler and Monty Greeslade reportedly got into difficulty in a three meter (10ft) swell at Lennox Head beach, an area popular with surfers south of Brisbane, on Thursday. In a fortunate coincidence, lifeguards at the the beach were just then preparing for a training mission in the use of drones for rescuing stranded swimmers.
At about 11:30am local time, a beachgoer noticed that the two 17 year olds were in trouble in the water and alerted lifeguards, who put their training into practice. Within minutes, they located the pair with the UAV and deployed the drone's rescue pod.
The pair clung onto the pod and made their way to shore where they were met by lifeguards. The duo were exhausted but didn't suffer any injuries as a result of their ordeal.
"The Little Ripper UAV certainly proved itself today," Sheridan said. "I was able to launch it, fly it to the location, and drop the pod all in about one to two minutes. On a normal day that would have taken our lifeguards a few minutes longer to reach the members of the public," he added.
"Never before has a drone fitted with a flotation device been used to rescue swimmers like this," New South Wales deputy premier, John Barilaro said.
However,
As I do love stories of rescue, I do not think this was an actual rescue, but a staged rescue. There is nothing to indicate they were in distress. Furthermore both of the swimmers in the water are wearing a pair of body boarding fins, which ease your swimming by a considerable amount. Also, if you focus on the tide[Link] and the motion of the sand the waves are churning, it seems to me to be coming in, and not going out.