- The daredevil was caught in a vortex at Llandudno beach near Cape Town
This incredible footage shows a thrill seeker as close as he will ever want to get to drowning – saved only when a crashing wave washes him to safety on a rock.
The mystery man was coasteering – moving along a rocky coastline by jumping off high cliffs into the sea and swimming then climbing up again – in South Africa.
But here at Llandudno beach near Cape Town he leapt 35-feet off a granite boulder into calmish but icy seas but within seconds they turned into a near-lethal swell.
As the adrenaline junkie heads into what he thought was a rock enclosed exit point he found himself battered with 4-foot-tall huge waves smashing in from all sides.
The daredevil quickly realises he’s in trouble as he is pummelled forward by powerful breaker then sucked back out again in rip currents as the pummel him like a cork.
He can be seen being swirled round in a vortex caused by currents coming from all directions in what is known as a ‘washing machine’ threatening to pull him under.
Video showed the man leaping into the calm ocean at Llandudno beach near Cape Town, SA
The man caused a large splash after jumping into the sea, before being pulled into a vortex
Suddenly he was dragged along by the foaming sea, through dangerous rocks
At the last moment he gets a brief respite as the waters rush out and his bare feet touch the razor-sharp reefs below and he tries to scramble up a sheer rock wall.
Then 2 large foaming breakers hit hard from behind and the side in a pincer movement plucking him off the rocks and sucking him underwater through a jagged gully.
The tombstoner is dragged out helplessly into deep water and dropped into a 6-to-8-foot-high swell as he swims for his life helped by the buoyancy in his wet suit.
He can be seen by his friends filming the drama on a mobile phone trying to make it back to the safety of the rocks against the merciless Llandudno sea currents.
In the last year a 17-year-old boy, a 15-year-old girl and a 9-year-old boy have all drowned along that rocky strip of shoreline infamous for their strong rip currents.
However this cliff jumper who can be clearly seen tiring fast as the freezing water saps his energy finally gets a stroke of luck when a wave helps push him shorewards.
As he is washed onto the barnacle encrusted granite he falls to his hands and knees but thankfully another large wave does not crash forward and drag him back out.
The 2min 29 second video will have seen like a lifetime to the fortunate cliff jumper.
A National Sea Rescue Institution lifeboatman who watched the video said: ‘Well that was his lucky day as most swimmers would not have got out of that situation alive.
‘He is clearly a strong and powerful swimmer and does not make the mistake of fighting the waves but goes where they take him and that is what saved him drowning.
‘But he was still helpless to the force of the waves and was fortunate that he was not dashed against the rocks because if he had hit his head then it was game over.
‘That is a dangerous stretch of coast and many lives have been lost along it over the years as people underestimate the cold and the power of the rip currents’ he said.
The video has gone viral on Twitter with over 6.6m views and comments almost all agreeing the swimmer was extremely lucky not to have become ‘a statistic’.
PatriotPie203 said: ‘Man that was close. See how tired he was at the end. If he was hit by just one more wave sucking him back then he would be meeting Poseidon’.
ViktorGavorn said: ‘This could easily be a video of him dying. He got lucky to get back on the rocks. He’s an idiot but I am glad he’s OK. He must learn his lesson’.
Jezza said: ‘That was survival. He almost didn’t make it. The waves were severe the moment he was close to the rocks. Most would have drowned in that sea’.
The cameraman could only look on as the daredevil was swept up in the current
He can be seen by his friends filming the drama on a mobile phone trying to make it back to the safety of the rocks against the merciless Llandudno sea currents
At last the man is able to escape the swirling currents and retreats safely back to the beach
Exhausted, he drops to his knees on the beach after narrowly surviving the ordeal
The record height for a cliff jump is 193 ft which is held by Brazilian Laso Schaller, 35, who jumped off a Swiss waterfall in 2015 hitting the water below at 74mph.
Llandudno is a resort for the super-rich and Prince Harry and Cliff Richard are Elton John have all stayed there and David Beckham nearly bought an ocean home there.
It is a 20-minute drive from Cape Town and is known for its surfing and nudist beach Sandy Bay and local byelaws forbid pubs, restaurants or shops from opening up.
