Ryder Williams spoke publicly for the first time on Aug. 1 about the July 25 rescue at Seabright State Beach in Santa Cruz, where the 16-year-old lifeguard pulled 10-year-old Nathaniel Rai from dangerous surf after a bystander video of the save spread widely online. Williams said he radioed the rescue in, threw his radio and sunglasses at the base of his tower and ran for the child as huge waves rolled over both of them.
The video is drawing fresh attention because it captures the kind of beach emergency that can turn in seconds. Williams said he put his fins on his wrist, popped his buoy and entered the water to reach Nathaniel, then waved away bystanders who tried to come in because the surf was too dangerous. Aaron Bohnen jumped in and helped pull both of them safely to shore. Williams returned to his tower and finished the rest of his shift, a reminder that the rescue was only one call in a day when lifeguards still had work to do.
Williams said he was grateful to bring the child back to his family safely, and Nathaniel's father, Sumit Rai, said the boy was vacationing in California with his mother and sister when the rescue happened. Rai said Nathaniel lost consciousness during the incident and later said that another two or three seconds, he did not think his son would have made it. He also said that if he had watched the video without seeing the end, he was not sure Nathaniel would make it or whether the lifeguard would make it out in those conditions.
That account matches the wider pattern on the coast this week. The National Weather Service warned beachgoers on the West Coast to be on high alert for life-threatening rip currents and hazardous ocean conditions, and nearly 2,000 water rescues were carried out in Los Angeles County alone on July 25 and 26. Nathaniel is still in California and recovering, but no further medical update has been confirmed, leaving the recovery timeline the one part of this viral rescue that is still not resolved.
Williams said, simply, that saving swimmers is the job and that he loves what he does. For Nathaniel's family, the story already has its answer: the boy is alive because the lifeguard reached him when the water was still allowing only one more chance.
