A young surfer was pulled unconscious from the waves at Muizenberg on Saturday after competition organisers and lifeguards allegedly failed to notice that he had been hit by a surfboard during the Western Province development trials.

Quick action by a surfer on the shore who noticed him and rushed into the sea almost certainly saved his life.

Kevan Wright had been heading to the showers after a surf when he noticed 11-year-old Lyle Carelse “rolling around in the shore-break” at Surfer’s Corner.

“I heard one of the organisers over the PA system say ‘you in the white, are you okay?’ But when the boy didn’t respond he just carried on with his announcements.”

Wright dashed into the water, pulled Lyle on to his board and took him ashore. “He was still unconscious, and then he went into shock and started shaking.”

Wright said he went to the organisers to ask if anyone had called an ambulance. “But they just looked at me blankly.”

An ambulance arrived about 20 minutes later and Lyle was put on a drip and into a neck brace before being taken to False Bay Hospital. He was discharged later with a minor neck injury.

Wright said that Muizenberg was supposed to be a Blue Flag beach but could lose its status over incidents like this. “Accidents do happen but this was nearly a disaster.”

He said some people had done their best to help, like shark spotter Patrick Davids.

Davids, who accompanied the boy back from the hospital, told Weekend Argus that Lyle had been unconscious for about 10 minutes.

He said the lifesavers had not been at Surfers’ Corner but were further down the beach.

Lyle, from Mitchells Plain, who is a member of the C-Dogs surf club, said he’d been on a wave when he fell. As he came up he saw someone’s board coming towards him before it smacked him in the neck.

He said he blacked out and when he opened his eyes he was on the beach with paramedics around him.

Reza Denicker, a member of the WP Surfing committee and an organiser of the trials, blamed the lifeguards for their “shocking” response.

Denicker said he had run into the water in his jeans and shoes to help Lyle but said the lifeguards took as long as the ambulance to get to the scene, arriving from the sea on an inflatable boat.

WP Lifesaving spokesperson Colleen Saunders said Muizenberg was a Blue Flag beach but that did not include Surfers’ Corner. The duty squad was based at the bathing boxes further down the beach. Once they were alerted they responded.
Sourced via TheStar

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