
The rookie lifeguard didn't flinch.
A giant wave slammed into the California shore and a 10-year-old boy was instantly swept up.
Luckily, a 16-year-old lifeguard ran to help, rushing toward a rescue that would go viral on social media, earning Ryder Williams praise across the internet.
It's Ryder's first summer working as a lifeguard, scanning the shores at Seabright Beach in Santa Cruz, California, where the surf often pounds.
Last week, a sudden sneaker wave surged up the shore, knocking over the little boy and pulling him into the surprising surf. But, Ryder arrived in seconds.
"That's when I turned the camera on and started to document it," California photographer Scott Vander Dussen, who happened to be nearby, told the Los Angeles Times. "I had no idea it was going to be that intense…I've seen lots of interventions and rescues. I have never seen something like this."
Tropical cyclones in the eastern Pacific Ocean were producing unpredictable powerful waves and dangerous currents all over the California coast. The massive 8-10 foot wave that


