Warrnambool lifesaver Mick Slockwitch risks life to save family from rip

But the 20-year-old said the fact he was able to save lives is reward enough.

Mr Slockwitch was holidaying with his girlfriend Gabbi Pilon on NSW's central Coast in February.

The two headed to Spoon Bay beach for a day in the sun.

Mr Slockwitch, who is attending university at RMIT in Melbourne, said there were two-metre high waves that were lashing the shore.

The power of the waves was creating a bottleneck and Jennifer Fraser and her four children got pulled out to sea. Eve, 15, Ethan, 11, Sonny, 10 and Skye, 8, are all Nippers but the pull of the waves was too strong.

Mr Slockwitch, a member of the Warrnambool Life Saving Club, quickly swam out to help the family.

The oldest two children were able to swim to safety, but Mrs Fraser and the two youngest were being pulled further out to sea. "I grabbed Sonny and we started getting pulled out to the big wave zone," he said. In a stroke of luck, Mr Slockwitch felt something brush against his leg. He reached down to discover it was Skye, who was struggling to breathe.

"We would have lost her if she didn't brush up against my leg," he said.

"I held onto both of them and we got swept out the back. The boy was calling out for his mum and saying 'you have to save us'." Mr Slockwitch said he focused on pushing the two children up to let them get air. "I was exhausted and out of breath but I knew they needed it more than me," he said.

In another stroke of luck there was a lull in the waves and Mr Slockwitch was able to move closer to nearby rocks. He told Sonny to swim to the rocks and pushed him towards bystanders who pulled him to safety.

Mr Slockwitch swam to the rocks with Skye, who was also pulled to safety.

When he turned around he saw Mrs Fraser was still in trouble.

The waves had grown to three to four metres high by this point. "I grabbed the mum and I said to her 'we've got to go now or we'll drown."

He pushed her towards the rocks, which were then lashed with a massive powerful wave. "I grabbed her in a sort of bearhug and we both got cut up on the rocks," he said. But the two survived.

Mr Slockwitch is humble about his efforts and was stunned by this and the gift of a new surfboard from the Fraser family. "When they gave it to me I said 'no I can't take this, you didn't need to do that'," Mr Slockwitch said.

He has become firm friends with the family, going out to dinner with them and even teaching the younger kids to surf.

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