Drones for GoodOn 18 January 2018 two swimmers got into difficulty in 3-metre surf about a kilometre north of the patrolled area at Lennox Head, on the New South Wales Far North Coast. Lifeguards from the Australian Lifeguard Service, part of Surf Life Saving NSW, launched a Westpac Little Ripper Lifesaver drone, located the swimmers within minutes and dropped a rescue pod to them.
According to Surf Life Saving, the pair held on to the pod and made their own way to shore, where lifeguards met them; they were unharmed apart from fatigue. The drone programme was part of a partnership between Surf Life Saving NSW and the NSW Department of Primary Industries, funded under the NSW Government’s shark mitigation strategy.