Boy Swims 2.5 Miles to Save His Family

Just one week ago, on Friday, January 30th, 2026, a mother and her three children were swept out to sea.

The family was on a vacation in Western Australia and rented kayaks and paddleboards from their hotel around noon.

Shortly after they set out, the rough ocean and high winds swept them out to sea. The mother, Joanne Appelbee, was accompanied by children under the age of 13 years old. She made the difficult decision to send her eldest son out to get help, so she could stay behind with the two younger children. In a later interview, she expresses the difficulty of the decision, “One of the hardest decisions I ever had to make was to say to Austin: 'Try and get to shore and get some help.’” Austin Appelbee swam for nearly four hours and over two and a half miles to reach shore. On average, a person can only tolerate 15-30 minutes of continuous swimming before needing a break.

Austin's Journey

For the first two hours, Austin made his way with an inflatable kayak and a lifejacket. He soon figured he was not going to make it quickly enough, with too much water getting into the kayak.

Thus, for the last two hours, he decided to ditch the kayak and swim without a lifejacket, says Naturaliste Marine Rescue commander Paul Bresland. Austin stated in an interview with CBS News, “[t]he waves are massive and I have no life jacket on. … I just kept thinking 'just keep swimming, just keep swimming,’” Austin decided to use an energy-conserving swim technique of breaststroke, freestyle, and survival backstroke, stated The Washington P. To also help him persevere, he tried to keep his thoughts happy and of his family and friends. 

The Rescue

He reached the shore around 6 p.m., and he had to run another mile to find a phone to call emergency services. Around 8:30 p.m., the family was found 9 miles from Quindalup after a search helicopter and marine sea rescue services were sent to look for them. By the time they were rescued, they had spent nearly 10 hours in the water. Due to the cold temperature of the water and how long they had been stranded for, Austin's younger brother, Beau, had lost feeling in his legs. 

Praise and Social Media

On Facebook, Naturaliste Volunteer Marine Rescue Group mentioned the family and gave Austin much praise for the rescue. Mike Tipton, a survival expert and professor of human and applied physiology at Britain’s University of Portsmouth, praised on social media how great Austin's rescue was. Via email, he told The Post, “[h]e must be an accomplished swimmer, but even then, the water was cold enough to incapacitate him without unrelenting effort,” further noting how “[h]e was clearly driven on by the desire to save his family — this is a common and critical factor in such survival scenarios.” Austin also received further praise for his efforts from Marine Rescue Busselton, who mentioned the remarkable outcome and told readers to be aware of the strong winds this time of year.

Works Cited

“Boy Swims 2.5 Miles to Save Mom, Siblings Swept out to Sea: “Superhuman.”” Cbsnews.com, 3 Feb. 2026, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/boy-swims-hours-save-mom-siblings-swept-out-sea-superhuman/.

MCGUIRK, ROD. “13-Year-Old Swims for Hours to Save Family Swept out to Sea.” ABC News, 3 Feb. 2026, https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/13-year-swims-hours-save-family-swept-sea-129806433. Accessed 4 Feb. 2026.

Suliman, Adela. “When His Family Was Swept out to Sea, Boy Swam and Ran Miles to Save Them.” The Washington Post, 3 Feb. 2026, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2026/02/03/australia-teen-sea-swimming-rescue/.