David Fisk, a former SES member with level three swiftwater rescue qualification, said the pair's bravery in saving the life of Glenys McGuire, from the Canberra suburb of Forrest, deserved the "highest commendation".

Ms McGuire was swept out to sea after losing her footing in a channel cut to drain water from the lake following torrential rain, and both Mr Westwood and Mr Butterworth entered the raging waters to save her.

Mr Fisk, of Merimbula, said he would recommend to Bega Valley Shire Council mayor, Michael Britten, and also the Royal Humane Society in Sydney, that the men receive formal recognition for their actions.

Despite his long experience in swiftwater rescues, Mr Fisk said he doubted whether he would have entered the water which he said would have been like being inside a "giant cement mixer".

"There is no recognition high enough for the courage they displayed," Mr Fisk said. 

"Their actions were exemplary, they did a fantastic job.

"The conditions were horrendous; I don't think we could have got a [rescue] boat in, I don't think a helicopter would have got near them.

"I wouldn't have gone into that water in a fit," he said.

Speaking to the Merimbula News Weekly, Mr Westwood, a 28-year-old carpet layer, told how he paddled on his surfboard through the murky and churning water in a desperate bid to find Ms McGuire who kept disappearing from his sight.

Ms McGuire, aged in her sixties, believed she was only minutes from being drowned when Mr Westwood and his electrician mate, reached her, about 100 metres from shore before they were dragged out even further into the ocean.

When she first saw Mr Westwood reaching out to her she thought he was an "illusion" in her dying minutes, she said.

She was exhausted and, having been swamped over and over again by the pounding waves and swallowing so much water, thought she was "gone".

Ms McGuire, who was visiting Merimbula to celebrate her birthday, had gone for a run along the beach to Tura and back on Sunday, December 7 when she had become cut off from Short Point by the channel.

Not realising how deep the water was, or how fast it was gushing out to sea, Ms McGuire attempted to cross the channel.

But the force of the water knocked her off her feet and she was swept her out to sea in a rip.  

Mr Fisk said that after the rescue, he remained on the beach telling people to stay out of the water until the council put up signs later that morning warning of the extreme danger posed by the channel.

"I told a couple of people that if they were stupid enough to go in the water and they got into trouble that no one would go in after them in those conditions," he said.