Peter Day, a member of the Warrnambool Surf Life Saving Club, said he witnessed the rescue on Sunday.

He noticed a man about 80 metres from shore who was struggling to keep his head above the water.

"He was between the break and the shore - there's a bit of a hole there, a bit of a rip," Mr Day said.

He said it quickly became clear the man needed to be rescued. "We were watching and I thought 'this guy is in a bit of trouble'," Mr Day said.

He said he started the descent on the stairs but was relieved to see Ben Carey running across the sand with his surfboard.

"Ben jumped in and paddled out and saved him," Mr Day said.

He said the man, who was visiting from Melbourne, was gasping for breath and was beyond exhausted.

"He was totally exhausted and he knew he was close to drowning," Mr Day said.

"Ben saved his life. If he wasn't there it would have taken me three minutes to swim out there and who knows whether he would have lasted another three minutes."

The near drowning has prompted Mr Day for call for better signage at the beach warning of the dangers of swimming there.

"It's a non patrolled beach and it's extremely dangerous to swim there," Mr Day said.

He said there needed to be a larger sign and more than one.

"Ben's a hero - there's no doubt about it," Mr Day said.

Mr Carey, 29, was humble about his efforts when asked by The Standard on Wednesday. But Mr Day is certain tragedy would have struck if he hadn't sprung into action so quickly. A response about the signage has been sought from Warrnambool City Council. The last near-drowning in the city was at Point Richie in October.

Two girls entered the water and got into distress.

They were swept out to sea and a parent entered the water to assist. Unfortunately all three were swept out about 25 metres and got caught in a rip.

Luckily two men who were nearby were able to rescue the trio. At the time Warrnambool police Sergeant Tom Morris said the three were lucky the two came to their aid.

"They're extremely lucky in the sense the result would've been different if they had spent a couple more minutes in the ocean," he said.

"The gentlemen went above and beyond especially as the surf was a couple metres high," he said.

"They've had to hold them above water, negotiate a rip and get them to shore."

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