A teenage boy jumping off the cliff at the Warriewood Blowhole. A mistimed jump. Then, terror, as his body hits the water and his back spasms in pain…

4 January 2025: The golden sands of Warriewood Beach on Sydney’s Northern Beaches were busy with people enjoying the first Saturday of the new year. Families and friends soaked up the hot summer sun, children splashed about in the shallows, and swimmers cooled off in the glistening ocean.  

Around the southern headland, about 600 metres from the beach by foot and out of sight of the red and yellow of the Warriewood SLSC patrol, a group of teenagers were enjoying their long summer break, as they gathered at the edge of the Warriewood Blowhole – a notoriously dangerous jump spot accessed by ropes below the 40-metre cliff.  

Last summer, volunteer surf lifesavers saved the lives of 5,522 people 

Last summer was an extremely busy time across our nation’s beaches. The hot weather and the allure of fun in the sun and the surf, meant millions of people took to our coastlines to enjoy that great Aussie tradition of a day spent at the beach. 

Watching over the public on weekends and holidays, alert even outside of patrol hours, were our heroes in red and yellow – our volunteer surf lifesavers – who performed an incredible 5,522 rescues over those hot summer months.  

That is 5,522 people given a second chance at life.  

Standing united with our volunteer surf lifesavers were our supporters, whose generosity helped protect hundreds of thousands of beachgoers across Australia, and helped make every rescue possible. 

As we enter the summer months again, we ask you to stand tall and proud next to us, united and ready to help those who find themselves in perilous danger and at the mercy of the ocean.  

Fuelled by adrenaline and enticed by the risk-taking thrill of the 13-metre jump into the dark blue water below, the teenagers egged each other on, ignoring the warning signs, and laughing and cheering as they jumped off the cliff – carefree of the fact just one slightly mistimed jump into the narrow entry point surrounded by sharp rocks, could end in disaster.  

A boy stood on the edge looking down into the water below. The 17-year-old was enjoying the hot Saturday with his friends. His turn to jump. His body tensed. His feet left the cliff. Nothing but air, down, down, a 13-metre freefall.  

A mistimed jump. 

He felt his body hit a rock. The next moment, he entered the shallow water with a smack. 

Shock and fear hit him as he floated helplessly in the water, the laughter dying out above him as his friends watched on in terror.  

A lifesaving rescue at the Warriewood Blowhole 

People like the teenage boy, helplessly lying in the water below the cliff at the Warriewood Blowhole – terrified, his back in spasms of pain, his frightened friends watching on in horror. 

It was about 3.30pm, and John Dulieu was stationed down the south end of Warriewood Beach. Warriewood SLSC’s President at the time, Vice Patrol Captain, and a highly experienced trainer across all areas of Surf Life Saving – the veteran volunteer surf lifesaver immediately knew something was wrong when a group of teenage girls came running towards him, panic on their faces. 

“They said their friends had jumped off the blowhole. They thought that one of them had hit some rocks on the way down, and he was in the water complaining of severe back pain, that he'd injured himself,” John said. 

When John heard it was the blowhole and that a teenage boy might be injured, his heart sank.  

“Until you get eyes on the scene, your mind races. Is it spinal? Trauma? Head injury? Bleeding? We prepare for everything, we’ve got trauma kits, oxygen, spinal gear, but that moment before you know is always the hardest,” he said. 

By the time the girls had run around for help, the boy had been in the water for around ten minutes. John went straight to the patrol tent to notify the Inflatable Rescue Boat (IRB) crew, the IRB being the fastest way to access the blowhole in a situation where mere seconds could mean the difference between life and tragedy. 

Experienced IRB driver, Mark White, and crewman, Trent Langley, sprang to action. They immediately launched the IRB, heading to what they thought would be a straightforward pickup. But then the patrol crew back on the beach got the alarming news from them over the radio - they’d need help, the boy was in severe backpain. 

The IRB crew assessed the injured teen who was thankfully floating on his back, and while barely moving, was able to tread water and move his limbs. However, spinal precautions were still necessary as they didn’t know the damage the teen had suffered.  

The patrol crew faced a huge dilemma - there’s no standard training in the manual for lifting a suspected spinal injury into an IRB. It wasn’t something they had trained for and doing so risked worsening his condition. The crew had to quickly assess the tools available to them to protect the boy and bring him back to Warriewood Beach safely, where an ambulance would be waiting. 

Patrol Captain, Maxwell (Max) Taproom, was back on the beach coordinating the rescue, including calling SurfCom, urgently getting the ambulance on route, coordinating the beach and IRB teams, and preparing for a spinal board extraction, when they heard the news from the IRB.  

Max is a highly capable board paddler, and a decision was made quickly; he and fellow rescuer, James, would go out on their rescue boards to bring the boy in and minimise further injury.  

The paddle to the blowhole was around 500 metres, and they quickly reached the injured teen and the IRB. Working together, they carefully supported him, before paddling him the half a kilometre back to shore, an incredibly difficult task requiring skill, strength, and coordination. 

Thankfully, paramedics were already on scene by the time the group reached the beach. The team moved swiftly but carefully, stabilising the boy’s neck, placing him on a spinal board, and transferring him to the ambulance. The paramedics applied a neck brace, assessed him for potential spinal and internal injuries, and transported him to hospital. 

“It was a big, coordinated effort,” John said. “There was a lot of rescue equipment and a lot of people with different roles to get him to safety. In the end, it comes down to training, teamwork, equipment, and managing risk with common sense.” 

A calling to volunteer and protect those in need 

For Max, his surf lifesaving journey started as a young nipper, and over the years, it’s become something far deeper – a way to give back to the community.  

“Australia’s a volunteering society,” he said.  “My dad volunteers. I volunteer. John does. And it’s good to have something that’s not about you. You want people in your community to be safe, to enjoy the ocean and come home alive, whether it’s a teenage boy or a 75-year-old guy. That’s why I do it.”  

Max has missed just one summer of patrols since he was 16, only because he was on exchange overseas. And he still felt guilty about it. 

“I just felt like, ‘That’s selfish. I need to get back to lifesaving and do something for others.’ Most of us don’t want credit for it. We just turn up, do our bit, and it’s good knowing we made a difference.” 

That kind of dedication is common at Warriewood SLSC and across the Surf Life Saving community, where volunteers like Max and John give hundreds of hours of their own personal time every year, not just on the beach, but behind the scenes training new volunteer surf lifesavers, maintaining equipment, and preparing for emergency situations and after-patrol hours callouts. 

But none of it happens without the generous support from people like you. 

Support our Surf Life Saving mission, and be a lifesaver too 

 
*Please note the language regarding the jump has been dramatised for effect