Big-wave surfer James Hollmer-Cross was sitting astride a jet ski watching his son Harry catch waves at Tasmania's famous Shipstern Bluff last Sunday, when he saw his worst nightmare come true.
After two good rides, Harry wiped out, hitting his head on the ocean bottom and surfacing unconscious to float face down in the water.
Racing to his son, James flipped the 19-year-old over and gave him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
"He was not breathing and he was blue," James said.
"As soon as I got the breaths in, I knew straight away that his body was reacting to that."
One of James's friends quickly pulled his boat alongside the pair and he and another man dragged Harry aboard.
The men performed CPR and Harry coughed up water and started breathing again.
"That's the scariest thing, I think ... basically you're bringing them back, aren't you? They've crossed over for a little bit there," James said.
"It's your worst nightmare, especially as a parent. I'm just thankful I was there."
Surfer faces long road to recovery
Harry Hollmer-Cross suffered a concussion, damage to one of his ears and an injured shoulder.
James said he would need a lot of time to recover.
"He's going to need a lot of rehab, and he's going to be out of work for a minimum of six weeks, he's going to need an operation," James said.
"His main passion is surfing … it's going to be a long while until he's doing that."
Family friend and fellow big-wave surfer Danny Griffiths started to raise money via crowdfunding for Harry's rehab and medical bills, and to help pay his bills while he's off work.
He said the Tasmanian surfing community was close knit, and many were offering their support to the Hollmer-Cross family.
Support also poured in from the international surfing community.
"Harry is an up-and-coming big-wave surfer, he's really talented," Mr Griffiths said.
"A lot of professional surfers travel down to Shipstern Bluff; they've got to know him over the years, and James, his dad, is probably one of the best big-wave surfers to ever come out of Australia in his time, so he's well known."
"As soon as his name — Harry Hollmer-Cross — went up, I've had professional surfers from all around the world hit me up asking questions; my phone hasn't stopped."
World-famous waves at Shipstern Bluff
Shipstern Bluff is located on the Tasman Peninsula in the state's south-east.
It's a world-famous big-wave surfing spot, where surfers are towed by jet skis to catch waves up to 10 metres high — which form when big ocean swells meet a shallow reef to create slab waves.
Surfers, including Kelly Slater, travel from all over the world to surf at Shipstern Bluff.
Local surfers, too, surf there as often as they can.
"It's the hardest wave I've every surfed but the most rewarding wave I've ever surfed — and I've travelled a fair bit," Mr Griffiths said.
"We're lucky enough to have one of the best waves, in my eyes, in the whole world on our back doorstep.
"But the consequences out there are very, very high, and this just shows exactly what can happen."
Veteran big-wave surfers call for focus on safety
Mr Griffiths said the group surfing at Shipstern Bluff when Harry was injured had training in first aid and water rescues.
"It's pretty lucky because there was a good group of guys down there who had a good idea of CPR and first aid," he said.
James Hollmer-Cross is calling on the next generation of big-wave surfers to prioritise safety.
"I think these guys are throwing themselves in the deep end pretty hard, and charging a lot harder than what we did," he said.
"I think we really need to have a bit of a rethink on especially safety and the things we can do to minimise risk."
He said his son wanted to return to Shipstern Bluff once he's recovered.
"But there's a few things we need to talk about first, just some adjustments and safety precautions," he said.
