Adrian Barich: Bravo Austin Appelbee, the teenage hero who proves pure grit can overcome the impossible

They say your character is what you do when no one is watching. And 13-year-old Austin Appelbee’s character shined when he was completely alone and defying the merciless Indian Ocean that was trying to swallow his world whole.

He held on, with nothing left in him but the will to say “wait.”

I first heard of the wonderful Austin from a friend in London who asked: “How’s the great boy from Quindalup?” I heard it when I got a message saying. Apparently this is big news in the UK.

After a brutally heavy few weeks in Perth, we desperately needed Austin, a light reminder.

A lion-hearted young man whose name is taken directly from a masterpiece by Roald Dahl.

While most of us were complaining about the Fremantle Doctor and the heat last Friday, Austin was facing a life or death situation.

He, his mother Joanne and younger siblings Beau and Grace, aged 12 and 8, were swept out to sea while canoeing and paddleboarding in Geographe Bay.

Trapped offshore in harsh conditions, Austin did what his desperate mother asked, heading for shore to seek help and leaving them behind.

He swam four kilometers in the open ocean. Everyone reading this with Ironman experience is nodding their heads thinking, ‘Wow, good effort.’

To put that into perspective, that’s 80 laps of the 50-meter pool at Beatty Park; except Austin did it in rough seas against rough waves. I’ll be honest with you, I did some work in the flat, heated water of the pool this week and was only able to do 30 laps.

When you are offshore, especially off our coast, in a deep blue environment, your mind goes to dark places, right? I don’t care who you are; You hear the Jaws theme music.

What about Austin? He had different music. He told reporters he kept going thinking about happy things, including Thomas the Tank Engine.

I’m sure his mantra was simple: “Small engines can do big things”. My generation would lend itself to the Little Engine That Could, arm in arm, repeating that eternal refrain: “I think I can, I think I can.”

This is a motif that I believe many of my marathon running friends use when they hit the wall at 30km. That or “if it’s meant to be, it’s up to me”.

Austin Appelbee certainly understands what he’s made of. He’s one tough cookie. Most 13-year-olds or adults will not be tested this way.

While Austin struggled with the currents, his mother, Joanne, was 14km offshore and attached to Beau and Grace. For 10 hours, they clung to paddleboards and drifted through the approaching darkness. Joanne later spoke of praying to her late mother in Ireland and whispering to the sky: “Mother, if you can hear me, light that holy candle for me.”

Someone was listening.

Meanwhile, his eldest son had defied all odds by reaching the shore, and most children would collapse the moment their feet touched the sand. Not Austin. After staying in the water for four hours, he ran another 2 kilometers to find his mother’s phone and returned to his hotel. When he reached the emergency room, he gave them the clear instructions they needed: “I need helicopters, I need planes, I need boats. My family is at sea.”

Pure sand is astonishing. He was fed by kind women on the beach before eventually passing out and later waking up in Busselton Hospital. But even then the weight of the world was on his young shoulders. Before he knew they were safe, he felt a sense of guilt that no child should have and thought: “I wasn’t fast enough.”

Austin buddy, you were pretty fast. You were a miracle. Our man Appelbee has a different iron power.

I hope someone makes a movie about all this. I can see the scenario now: We have the rugged Western Australian coastline, shadows lurking beneath the surface, and a hero with the perfect name. Cast Cameron Crovetti (from The Boys) as Austin and you’ll be successful. A story about how an ordinary WA boy became a true hero.

I can just imagine the scene Monday morning when Austin arrives at school in a wheelchair, probably trying to ignore it, and every kid and teacher there watches in awe. What a beautiful story to tell.

In a world that often seems a little fractured, Austin Appelbee has restored some of our faith in humanity. He showed us that “grit” isn’t just a buzzword used by football coaches; It is a tangible, powerful force that can sometimes overcome the impossible.

Bravo, you little champion. No matter how big the ocean is, no matter how dark the night, you remind us all that the “little engines” among us are capable of truly great things.

I know exactly who to think of next time I’m doing a lap at the local pool.