The pair were reunited yesterday at the lakefront after Billie's owner, Lorna Kerse, of Auckland, asked the Otago Daily Times to help find the teenager, who they knew only as Gus.
Gus is a competitive swimmer with the Wanaka Swimming Club and was trained by Fiona Fairbairn to double success at the recent Central Otago Swimming Championships in Dunedin, where he was ranked seventh in his age group for the freestyle event and did a personal best in the breaststroke event.
He is the son of Wanaka policeman Dave Evans and his wife, Sue, who moved to Wanaka from Invercargill two years ago, and attends Mt Aspiring College.
Billie (14), who is deaf and suffered a life-changing stroke last year, got caught up in buoy ropes near the Roys Bay swimming pontoon on Monday and her concerned owners asked an English couple if they could help.
The English couple first approached Gus' friend Aaron Molloy (15) - the boys were jumping from the nearby jetty - and Aaron nominated his friend for the job "because I knew he was a better swimmer than me".
Gus said the short sprint along the beach made him very puffed for the swim of about 30m to the pontoon.
"I gave her a bit of a hand at the start because she was quite timid," he said.
"I've been swimming since I was 1, my mum said. She always took me to the pool."
Mrs Kerse was delighted to be able to thank the boys again.
Billie was still very keen on chasing ducks yesterday but was being kept firmly on the leash.
