Kelly Slater Saves Photographer’s Wife and Son Who Were Swept Across Road By Wave

Kelly Slater found himself in the right place at the right time on Wednesday.

Photographer Chris Whitey’s wife and their son, Van, were swept off Kamehameha Highway in Oahu, Hawaii by a giant wave. Luckily, Slater was there to save them. Whitey took to Instagram to personally thank the 43-year-old pro surfer.

So thankful the surf gods denied @kellyslater today cos for whatever reason he was right there to save my wife and kid who were swept across a road by a freak wave today. Forever grateful to the great man and so thankful my family is alive and safe 👊🏼 ❤️💙 Thanks to all the lifeguards too who saved many lives today.

A photo posted by Chris White (@chris.whitey) on Jan 27, 2016 at 10:42pm PST

Slater responded to Whitey’s “thank you” in the comment section:

Whitey detailed the situation, and by the sound of it things could’ve been much, much worse:

Thankfully, Whitey’s family will be OK.