Police have been searching the waters of Number 16 Beach in Rye after a 20-year-old man went missing on Sunday.
It is believed the Cranbourne man was swimming with two people, about 100m from the shore, when they were all caught in a rip.
A man and a woman, both in their 20s, were able to make it back and were treated by paramedics before being transported to Frankston Hospital in a stable condition.
Air Wing, Lifesaving Victoria and Ambulance Victoria were alerted to the beach off Browns Road and Tasman Drive about 7pm where they commenced a search for the missing man.
Conditions around Victoria's coastlines had been "extremely difficult" over the weekend, Life Saving Victoria general manager Liam Krige told reporters on Monday.
"(Rips) can carry people from close to the shore from five metres off the shore to very, very far out very quickly," he said.
Air and water police and SES crews recommenced the search on Monday as high winds and strong swells made conditions difficult for rescue crews.
The Number 16 Beach is not patrolled and recommended for experienced surfers only, according to the Visit Victoria tourism website.
"They're not normally deemed safe for swimming," Mr Krige said.
There have been 22 drownings in Victoria so far this summer, as lifesavers face a significant number of rescues across the coastline at patrolled locations, Mr Krige said.
People are travelling to "notoriously difficult" locations to rescue which happen to be unpatrolled leading to a record number of drownings, Mr Krige said.
"A lot of those can be because they are beautiful locations. But it's also because people are not prioritising safety when they head to these locations," he said.
"We haven't had a drowning between the red yellow flags at a patrol location so 100 per cent of drownings have been at uncontrolled locations."
The incident comes amid a number of significant incidents along the state's coastline at the weekend.
On Sunday afternoon, eight people were treated by paramedics and a man had to be winched from the beach after they were washed onto rocks at Cape Schanck, 20km from the Number 16 Beach in Rye.
A scuba diver also died after being pulled unconscious from the water at Rye Pier on Saturday.
While a man drowned after being trapped underneath his capsized tinny that was smashed with large waves in Barwon Heads, 20km southeast of Geelong on Saturday.
16°C