Lifeguard rescues father and son with Restube

Lifeguard Roland Dongmann from Neuss:

“I was on the Stand-Up Paddle with my two boys when I suddenly noticed screams for help.”

I scanned the lake and saw that a small child with only one inflated swimming wing tried to hold on to his father’s neck, which obviously caused panic. The father now went under water several times with his head, obviously trying to hold on to his own child.

The original plan to drive directly with the SUP to the father and the child was rejected, because I had to fear through the uncontrolled panic of the father that my own children would come into considerable danger with the action. I decided to leave the board at a distance of about 10-15 m and swim up to the victims. Once there, the father tried to use me as a buoy. I had already inflated the child on the hook and the remaining room, but the father had not understood that the tube was his “way to happiness” and not me. So, I had to clear the situation up and keep things calm that I could use to place the Restube-buoy under his arms.

I arrived completely exhausted at the shore with both of them and my boys were still sitting on the SUP with an open mouth and could not believe what they had just seen. Later, when we were back in and told the “story” my wife and daughter, we still couldn’t understand what had just happened.

My conclusion:

If I hadn’t had the Restube, I would have had to choose between father and son. This process would probably have taken 2-3 minutes. With an adjacent probability of 100% the father would have perished by then – what would have happened then..
Every one of our family carries the Restube now as soon as it goes into the water.”

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