Ryan Chatfield maakt foto’s en video’s. Met een drone wilde hij mooie beelden maken van de City beach in Australië. Opeens krijgt hij een bericht dat de batterijen van zijn video-drone bijna leeg zijn.. vliegend boven de zee. 

De omschrijving van het virale voorval in de West Australian:

“As he climbed back over the rocks towards the beach – with a big smile on his face – he is heard saying: “What a catch.”

Mr Chatfield, from Ryan Chatfield Images, said the batteries had died on the drone, which he had had for only a few weeks.

He uploaded the video to YouTube, aptly calling it the Ultimate Drone Save.

He told The West Australian that he had been contacted by people overseas keen to get their hands on the video, which is expected to go viral.

“I’ve had international requests for it, so there’s a bit of a bidding war going on,” he said.

Mr Chatfield said participating in the New York Marathon last year with his wife stood him in good stead for the sprint across Floreat Beach about 6pm yesterday.

It’s also lucky the former commercial diver is a strong swimmer because when he reached the ocean near the groyne he was up to his neck in water.

He escaped with only some scrapes after slipping on the wet rocks.

“If I hadn’t caught it, it would have sunk to the bottom of the ocean and I would have lost everything,” Mr Chatfield said.

“I thought, ‘That’s it, it’s gone’ but I knew I just had to have a crack at it.”

He caught the drone with one hand before being “smashed by waves”.

“I knew I wasn’t out of the woods because I had to get over the rocks and keep the camera dry,” Mr Chatfield said.”