THE Hunter lost one of its most accomplished ocean figures yesterday when 57-year-old lifeguard and lifesaver Dale Laverty succumbed to a suspected heart attack in the water at Nobbys Beach.
A life-long member of Dixon Park Surf Life Saving Club and a long-time seasonal and casual lifeguard on beaches patrolled by Newcastle and Lake Macquarie councils, Mr Laverty was one of about eight lifeguards doing their annual proficiency "mission" at Nobbys when tragedy unfolded.
The "mission" is a standardised trial with swimming, beach running and board-paddling legs, that was conducted yesterday in relatively calm conditions off the southern end of Nobbys.
While the matter is officially in the hands of the Coroner, various witnesses told how organisers realised during the early morning event that something was wrong when a "head count" came up one person short.
Another lifeguard patrolling the area on a jetski then spotted Mr Laverty in the water, and brought him to shore, where his friends and colleagues tried to resuscitate him before ambulance paramedics arrived to take him to hospital.
His wife, Susan Laverty, praised all those who helped him for all that they did, saying she knew they were devastated at not being able to save someone who had saved so many lives himself.
"The water was his passion all his life," Mrs Laverty said.
"We had almost 32 years together. It's our wedding anniversary next week. There's our daughters, Emma and Jessica and Jessica's little girl Nina, who's 13 months.
"As well as the water he had a new passion, his grand-daughter. He was trying to get her to call him grand dude instead of grand dad."
Colleagues said the Kahibah resident was involved in "countless" rescues over the years. Stockton legend Noel Burns, who was overseeing yesterday's mission, said Mr Laverty was a highly respected waterman.
"He died doing what he loved," Mr Burns said yesterday afternoon outside the Ship Inn in Hunter Street, Newcastle East, where a group of lifeguards had gathered to console themselves at the shock events of the morning.
Among Mr Laverty's many rescues was at Fingal Bay in November 2013, when he was called to the notorious Spit, about one kilometre north of where he was on patrol. The official certificate of commendation he received in 2016 from the NSW governor said he "put his own life at risk" in rescuing and trying to revive an unconscious man in "heavy seas".
In December 2014, he and fellow lifeguard Scott Hammerton helped save the life of a 26-year-old Melbourne man who suffered spinal injuries diving into shallow water at Newcastle Beach. The man was "limp and struggling for air" when he was retrieved from the water. He returned to Newcastle two months later and thanked Mr Laverty.
"If something was going down, Dale was the one you'd want to have beside you," was how one of his colleagues put it.
Mrs Laverty said her husband had suffered a heart attack about five years ago, and had been fitted with a stent at the time, but he had retained his fitness and had shown no signs of anything likely to happen.
Referring to yesterday's mission, Mrs Laverty said "he'd been training for this, getting up early, riding his bike on the tracks, and getting ready for another summer".
"He'd worked as a labourer at the GrainCorp silos at Carrington and he used to arrange his holidays so he could work on the beaches in summer," Mrs Laverty said.
"We'd had big plans for the future. COVID had got in the way a bit but we did get a big trip to Europe last year, so that was good.
"He's going to be missed. I know that. He knew a lot of people and he was a legend. They called him Saltwater Boy. And The Hoff, from Baywatch. He had lots of nicknames.
"I don't think it's really set in yet."
She said Mr Laverty had been working "beach to beach" as a lunch relief lifeguard for Newcastle council and had paddled a ski to and from Stockton on Thursday.
As it happened, another beach legend, Surfest organiser and former Nobbys lifeguard Warren Smith was coaching nippers at Stockton on Thursday, and ran into his old mate.
"We sat and talked about old times," Mr Smith said.
"He was a beautiful person. One of the best watermen I've known over the years and he'll be missed by many, many people. Always had a smile on his face. I know COVID is a complication but it's going to be a huge funeral. He was known all along the coast."
Rifling through his memories, Mr Smith recalled a happier episode, when a kangaroo hopped onto the beach at One Mile Beach at Port Stephens when Mr Laverty was on duty in October 2015.
Dixon Park SLSC president Peter Brown said everyone there was "totally shocked, overwhelmingly shocked that this had happened to him".
"He was 57 but he was very much an active member of Dixon Park in every aspect of surf life saving and had been since he was a boy. He always found a way to fit in the training, to be competitive and to support others along the way.
"He'd been very active the last couple of years working with the nippers, he had a great rapport with them, and it takes a particular personality to make that work, but he did it."
Hunter Surf Life Saving chief executive Rhonda Scruton also paid tribute to Mr Laverty, saying he was "a gentleman" and a mentor who loved helping other lifesavers and who still did his volunteer patrols.
"He was an all-round wonderful man," Ms Scruton said.
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