Video shows dramatic rescue of teen from rip current

RANCHOS PALOS VERDES, Calif. (KGO) -- A teenager is recovering after being knocked unconscious in a Southern California rip current and his wild rescue was caught on video.

The teen fell into the rough waters at Abalone Cove in Rancho Palos Verdes on Sunday.

Gary Golding, 46, tried to grab the teen, but got caught up in the violent rip current and was swept out to sea himself.

"At that point I really realized how helpless I was," he said. "And I was basically fighting for my life."

Golding's friend Hillary Swanson was taping the whole thing, hoping the scene turned out differently.

"I was really scared," she said.

With Golding struggling to tread water, his friend Rob McNulty took a leap of faith and also jumped in.

"The next thing I knew my feet left the rocks and in I went," he said.

Finally, through the whipping waves, McNulty spotted the seemingly lifeless teen and pulled him onto rocks. With Golding by his die, he gave the teen CPR, which he said he remembered from training 20 years ago.

"Rob had said, 'I think he's dead,'" McNulty said. "And I said no, we're not going to give up on this kid."

Finally lifeguards showed up and the teen was airlifted to a local hospital where he's recovering.

Doctors say that if he'd spent another minute in the water, he would have died.

(Good Morning America contributed to this report)