Heart pounding moment hero plucks baby from the powerful surf after she is sucked from her mother's arms on Laguna Beach

A hero beachgoer saved the life of a baby girl pulled from her mother’s arms by powerful waves Saturday, just as they threatened to suck her out into the Pacific Ocean.

The drama began as Patrick Watson and his son Danny decided to go to Southern California’s Aliso Beach Park last weekend.

‘The waves were up,’ Watson, 46, told CBSLA . ‘It was a warm day, so we decided to go skimboarding.’

In fact, the waves were very much up that morning around 11am—some reaching four to five feet in height.

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Hero: Patrick Watson saved a baby's life Saturday after he plucked it from pounding waves at Laguna Beach, California

When they got to the Laguna Beach shore, a fun day in the sun and sand became a life and death situation.

As a woman stood in the waves holding her tiny child, the little girl was suddenly sucked from her mother’s arms and pulled into the pounding surf.

Both Watson and Danny, 18, immediately bolted into the water and began a frantic search for the child.

‘I was searching around,’ Watson said. ‘It was just complete turmoil.’

Patrick said he suddenly saw a flash of something nearby. He felt around and felt what he thought was a diaper.

So close: Watson, 46, and his son Danny, 18, had just gotten to the beach for a day of skimboarding when the baby was nearly lost to the waves





‘At that moment, when I grabbed her,’ he said. ‘I pulled her in like a football. I was like, “Thank goodness, thank God, I got her!” So I was able to push off the bottom with one foot and get her above water.’

In the heat of the moment, the baby’s mother ran toward Patrick and the child screaming, ‘My baby!’

Watson never got the name of the woman, nor did he learn the name of the baby. But those facts aren’t important, he said.

What he remembers is the moment he knew for sure everything would be okay.

Relief: The child's mother, who never identified herself to Watson in the commotion, yelled 'My baby!' as she ran to retrieve the child from the man who'd become her hero

Dangerous beauty: Laguna Beach, where Aliso Beach Park is located, is well known for very large, and potentially life-threatening waves and currents

‘When she made the first sound, when she coughed out the water, started screaming, that was just an unbelievably wonderful sound,’ he said.

Amazingly, this isn’t the first time Watson has played the part of hero at Aliso Beach.

According to the Coastline Pilot , the surfing spot was also where the Mentone, California resident once saved an exhausted swimmer from potentially drowning 10 years ago.

Watson said there was no lifeguard on duty when he saved the little girl and said the beach can be particularly dangerous for young swimmers.

‘It goes from really deep to really shallow quickly,’ he said.

Super hero: Amazingly, this isn't the first time Watson has saved someone at the same spot on Laguna Beach. 10 years ago he saved an exhausted swimmer there from nearly drowning



