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Dana Point surfer recounts ocean rescue in Oceanside

March 31, 2026

The little girl was quickly slipping under the ocean’s surface, pulled down by an undertow in the turbulent water next to a rock jetty.

The 6-year-old, Coco Greene, had been standing in knee-deep water when she stepped into a deep hole. Then, the ocean sucked her out to where she couldn’t touch the bottom.

Dana Point surf coach Lucas Taub said he saw her father’s panic as he rushed into the ocean and then struggled as his daughter wrapped her small arms around his neck and head, frantically trying to keep her head above water.

Taub, who had been at the Oceanside Harbor watching a Western Surfing Association contest, quickly kicked off his shoes, took his phone out of his pocket, and jumped into action. As he reached the pair, he put his arms around them both, he said, guiding them to the nearby rocks.

“I got you,” he calmly told the girl.

“I won’t let go of her,” Taub said he assured her father.

Taub is being hailed a hero for his quick thinking on that day, March 15, a moment that could have turned deadly within seconds had he not jumped in to help.

The father, Chris Greene, later called Taub “the voice of an angel,” in one of the dozens of news reports that have circulated showing video of the rescue.

“I honest to God didn’t think I was going to make it, when I got there, I was relieved, but then I also realized as I have her I’m just physically and mentally exhausted, and honest to God I heard the voice of an angel at the time, I look up and on the jetty is Lucas,” Greene said in an interview with Fox 5 San Diego.

Dana Point surf coach Lucas Taub holds up Chris Greene and his daughter, Coco Greene, who were struggling in the water off Oceanside Harbor on March 15, 2026. A video of the rescue has gone viral. (Video/screengrab courtesy of Taub)

Taub is no stranger to how dangerous and unpredictable the ocean can be. A lifelong surfer, he grew up riding waves in his hometown of Dana Point, spending three years on the Dana Hills High surf team.

Today, in addition to running a surf coaching program, Dana Point Surf Coach, Taub is also a board member of the Dana Point Surf Club and head coach of the Westcliff University Surf Team.

Dana Point surf coach Lucas Taub jumped into action when a 6-year-old girl and her father struggled in the ocean off Oceanside. (Photos courtesy of Taub)

Taub had been standing on the sand for 10 hours that weekend, scouting potential surfers for his Westcliff surf program and coaching his students, when he said he decided he needed a change of scenery and walked up on the rocks.

“I heard a scream and instantly realized she was struggling to get air,” Taub said of the young girl he spotted in the water. “There was a lot of panic, she was clinging onto dad. I knew she was sinking him.

“I had to wrap my hands around them both and get them to safety. It was super traumatic; it all happened so fast,” Taub added. “I’m just grateful to God for putting me at the right place.”

Since the rescue, the Greene family and Taub have formed a “special bond,” Taub said, even inviting him over for Easter dinner to their home in Oceanside.

Taub said he hopes his story will remind others to lend a helping hand when someone is in need. He’s always wanted to change the world, he said, if just in a small way, and to spread positivity — and he hopes the video of him helping strangers will do just that.

A mother of one of his surf students had been filming the competition that day and turned the camera onto the rescue, and his story has since been shared around the world.

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“I feel like God really put me in a place, in that moment, to spread some joy in the world,” Taub said. “I don’t even think I’m a hero, I’m just a normal guy who believes in what’s right.”

With summer approaching, people headed to the beach should know their limits, always swim in front of lifeguard towers, and be aware of the ocean and its power.

“If you see something that doesn’t look right, speak up, act up, be a helping hand,” Taub said. “The ocean is no joke. Things can happen so quickly.”

Dana Point surfer recounts ocean rescue in Oceanside Orange County Register

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Dana Point surfer recounts ocean rescue in Oceanside

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