A teenage lifeguard in his first year pulled a boy from turning surf at Seabright State Beach in Santa Cruz on Saturday — one of roughly 25 rescues along the coast that day, during a beach hazards statement that runs through Wednesday.

On Seabright State Beach in Santa Cruz on Saturday afternoon, the water was full of swimmers when the surf turned. The waves had been keeping what one witness called a normal cadence, and then, in his telling, that changed in a heartbeat — a set began hitting the shore hard enough that the sound of it, he said, "commanded everyone's respect and attention." A boy, about 10, was caught in it.

What happened next was recorded by Scott Vander Dussen, a Santa Cruz local standing on the sand, and the video traveled fast. A lifeguard — 16 years old and in his first year on the job, according to Vander Dussen and media reports — ran into the churn, got hold of the boy, and spent roughly two minutes there, less swimming the boy in than holding position against a break that only let go for a moment at a time. Other swimmers went out to help before a second lifeguard reached the pair. The boy was checked by paramedics and released to his parents.

The rescue was one image out of a hard weekend on the water. Vander Dussen said officials told him Santa Cruz State lifeguards made around 25 rescues along the coast that day, three of them on Seabright alone. A National Weather Service beach hazards statement was in effect and runs through Wednesday afternoon, warning of sneaker waves, strong rip currents, and breaking waves as high as 10 feet — the ocean stirred by a storm near New Zealand and a hurricane off Hawaii, both pushing energy toward the California coast.

"Rookie" undersells the preparation. Santa Cruz lifeguards are required to complete at least 56 hours of lifeguard training, 24 hours of medical certification, and more than 80 hours of marine safety instruction before they work the water, according to NBC Bay Area. On Seabright this week, the towers are still up and the warning still stands. Anyone walking down to the sand tomorrow will find the same sign posted, and the same ocean underneath it.