At just 16-years-old, Elan Remnant thought he was going to die when he was overcome by waves while surfing on Boxing Day.
Enjoying the summer holidays, Elan, alongside his dad Dave, mum Esther, and older brother Idris, were spending time in Puponga, Golden Bay.
On Boxing Day, the family – minus Dave, headed to Fletchers Beach, just around the coast from Wharariki Beach so the boys could hit the water.
They knew the area, and had surfed it multiple times before without issue. They knew the dangers, including the safe points to enter and exit the water.
“Before we first went there we had talked to quite a few people to find out the risks and what to look for, so we were aware that there was a sideways current,” Esther says.
Elan recalls the surf being “pretty big”.
“I’ve never really had an issue getting out, I just paddle out, get into the lineup and yeah, get on the waves.” The water was busier than usual, the busiest he’d seen it, and some were stuggling to get out, so were heading in and reattempting the process.
When it was Elan’s turn, he says it was difficult.
“I was paddling and paddling and the waves just kept coming, and it just slowly pulls you right. I actually thought it might be good, because in the middle it looked a bit calmer, so I was fine with going right,” he recalls.
In hindsight, he says he was perhaps a little too focussed on getting out that he wasn’t really looking behind him. He began to tire and realised he should head back. But when he looked back, he saw rocks and realised he had drifted too far.
His mum was watching from the shallows and saw how fast Elan was moving, something that was not noticeable in the water. She ran down the beach screaming to Elan, but the sound of the waves deafened her warning.
“I could see he was going past the point of no return, and then that was it, he was gone.”
Up against rocks and cliff faces, the waves kept coming.
“I was getting smashed by the waves, smashed into the rocks then the wave would suck you back in,” he recalls.
“I’m not on my board at this point, I’m just swimming trying to help myself.
Eventually, I’m just running out of breath, I was just so tired I thought ‘this might be when I die’.”
It was at that moment he noticed the mouth of a cave, so he pulled himself back on his board and the water pulled him in.
It got shallower inside, but the tide was coming in, and the cave would be filled in a few hours.
Elan managed to find some rock to get out of the water. He slowly walked around in the dark, and at the other end, saw a patch of light and some sand, so headed towards it thinking he could climb the rocks and raise the alarm.
But a seal with two pups had other ideas, charging Elan repeatedly, refusing to allow him to pass. Despite using his surfboard, he couldn’t get past. He called for help, but nobody could hear him.
Back on the beach, Esther had raised the alarm.
“I knew he was gone and we were in big trouble.”
Zebedee Fersterer-Gawith (Zeb), who had also been surfing, saw what was happening.
Although he now lives in Wellington, Zeb grew up in Golden Bay, and learnt to surf on that very beach. He thought there was a strong chance Elan had gone into the cave. He and Esther made it to the mouth, calling and calling, but there was nothing.
They continued on to Pillar Point where Esther called emergency services and waited while Zeb continued through gorse and rock in bare feet to Fossil Point.
From there, it’s a bit of a blur for Esther. In the distance she could see vehicles coming and going. Unknown to her, police had arrived and a helicopter was on it’s way.
Back in the cave, Elan had tried to swim out the way he came, but the waves were too strong. After what felt like hours in the cave, he decided to give it one more go.
As he got in the water he saw four people standing above the cave entrance waving. They had lowered a rope down which Elan managed to swim to, and was pulled to safety up the rocks.
Esther got a phone call from emergency services: “he’s been pulled out of a cave, we don’t know what condition he’s in”. He had been missing for 1.5 hours.
“I didn’t want to make a decision, I just wanted to get back down there and see whether he was dead or really hurt... we had no idea.”
“He was lucky to get in the cave. If he’d gone around the corner, it’s just cliffs for a few kilometres,” Zeb says.
The Remnant family say there were a lot of people involved in the rescue, and they are thankful to each and every one of them.
“They were amazing, they were all really well prepared. This has made me realise I really need to up my game. We carry a Personal Locator Beacon when we’re tramping, but I’m going to get one for the car, because you just push the button and help comes.”
Although they don’t know everyone to thank for helping with the rescue, they want to thank Zeb and the other surfers, Jono from police, Lucas from Christchurch and the man from Wharariki Camp who had come down with rescue gear.
And will Elan head back into the surf soon?
“Well, it kind of broke my board, but it didn’t break me - so yeah, I’m just going to be more cautious.”
