Flynn Weatherall has rescued a girl from a rip in an incident that could have had a terrible outcome.

Flynn was patrolling Arataki beach when he got waved down by a member of the public at 1.30pm on Sunday afternoon.

He says a family of three were stuck in a rip. He went to check on them before jumping into action and performing a rescue.

He found there was a mother with her two daughters caught in the rip.

Fynn says the mother and youngest daughter managed to get to safety on their own.

However the older daughter was struggling and needed saving quickly.

"I just wanted to get them out of the water as fast as possible," says Flynn.

He says the lifeguards are well trained for these situations.

He says he wasn't stressed during the incident and was solely concentrating on getting them out.

Once Flynn had saved the girl, he says she had to be given medical attention as she was experiencing trouble breathing.

"Anything could have happened," he says.

"We were pretty lucky to get there when we did."

If you are ever in a rip, Flynn asks you to remember the three r's:

"R: relax

R: raise your hand

R: ride the rip out because they won't take you far."