We recently reported that a new study found surfers to be “largely overlooked guardians of the beach.”
Particularly, it found that acts of heroism are “surprisingly common” among surfers, and most conduct “an average of three rescues across their surfing career.”
The SoCal surf community proved that to be true recently during a group effort to save a man who suffered a heart attack while surfing Huntington Beach.
The story above was written by Surfers’ Hall of Fame inductee Laylan Connelly for the O.C. Register.
In mid-January, friends Jeffrey Weber, Shayla Bauer, and Chris Wessels, paddled out in Huntington Beach.
The session quickly took a turn for the worst, “when 26-year-old Wessels’ tone turned.”
“I feel like I’m going to faint,” he said, and slumped onto his surfboard.
His heart had stopped.
Weber and Bauer managed to paddle him in and get him onto the beach while begging passersby to call 911.
Weber, who’d taken a CPR class in high school, immediately tried to revive his friend.