Even someone who goes body surfing every morning can find themself needing help from the Apple Watch when something goes wrong in the ocean. Rick Shearman, a 49-year-old who lives in New South Wales, Australia, was at Tallow Beach for his daily body surf when he got caught up in an ocean current that was carrying him away from land and pushed him about 1 kilometer (.6 miles) offshore.
After twenty minutes of fighting the current, Shearman was experiencing cramps and starting to panic. He realized that he couldn’t make his way back to the shore and that his partner, who was on the beach, left to go shopping and could not be counted on to help. Luckily, he remembered that he was wearing his Apple Watch. Even though he was in the midst of treading water, Shearman was able to make an emergency call by pressing the button under the Digital Crown and dragging the Emergency Call slider to dial for help.
“I copped a couple of big ones on the head and was held under for a while, I started to panic a bit and cramp up underwater there. It became clear after about 20 minutes that I wasn’t going to make it back in and I needed some assistance.”-Rick Shearman
Rick was perplexed when asked whether he wanted police, fire, or ambulance. Not only did he not know how to respond, he had been pushed a long way out to sea. With the wind and the swells, he found it difficult to use the watch and had to hold it up to his ear to hear what was being said to him. Incredibly, Shearman stayed on the call for one hour directing emergency services to his location and he was finally winched out of the ocean to safety by a rescue helicopter.
A helicopter rescue. | Image credit Surf Life Saving NSW
“if it wasn’t for being able to access that service in my watch, I’d probably be bobbing out somewhere in international waters by now. It’s amazing that I was able to use that technology to save my life.”-Rick Shearman
One of the people involved in saving Shearman was Jimmy Keogh from Surf Life Saving Far North Coast. Keogh said that the Apple Watch definitely saved Rick’s life and called the device a game changer. Of course, many of you are already aware of the many times that the Apple Watch came to the rescue of someone with an abnormal heart rate or heart rhythm, or saved someone who was hurt in a car accident or who suffered a fall.
