Slip sparks searchA summer holiday in Cornwall turned int by Fox Cove, near Newquay, on 9 August 2( unconscious into the water when a couple from Essex. They were walking le man slipped on rocks and was knockedInstinctively, the woman jumped into the water to help him. Waves of up to 2.5m were sweeping through the cove at regular intervals and the unconscious man was being pulled under. The woman was clinging on to him with all her might, but was unable to hold on in the atrocious conditions and found herself in difficulty.

Minutes later, at 2.30pm, a member of the public alerted the RNLI beach lifeguards at Treyarnon Bay about the incident. The Coastguard had already been informed and they requested the assistance of two inshore lifeboats from Newquay, a helicopter from RNAS Culdrose and a Coastguard cliff rescue team to search the different coves and gullies of the jagged coastline.

Lifeguards Stewart Marriott and Adam Loosley immediately launched the inshore rescue boat, while two other lifeguards maintained cover at the beach. Stewart knew the launch and search would be challenging, recalling: 'The conditions that day were very dangerous with a large swell running.' At the helm Stewart negotiated the surf in Treyarnon Bay and the lifeguards reached Fox Cove within 5-10 minutes, before anybody else arrived. Although visibility was good, there was a very heavy ground swell at the mouth of the cove, with breaking surf of up to 4m. They drove through the surf and started the search for the missing pair.

The lifeguards soon spotted a man on the rocks at the side of the cove. When they reached him, he told them that the casualty was still missing and gave them a full description. He also informed them that the woman was safe on the rocks at the back of the cove. The lifeguards continued looking for the man among rocks and breaking surf.

Stewart recalls there was a real danger of capsize: 'We had to keep watch constantly for sets of waves so we didn't get caught out and flipped, as we were right next to vertical cliffs.' There was no sign of the man inside the cove, so the lifeguards checked near the mouth, searching between the sets of breaking waves. Hopes of finding him in time were fading.

Others joined in the search: the helicopterfrom RNAS Culdrose commenced an aerial search and at 2.54pm the two Newquay inshore lifeboats arrived. The D class proceeded through 3-4m surf, going in and out of the cove several times, while the Atlantic 75 crew searched outside the surfline. They all knew by this time that there was little hope of finding the casualty alive.

With the lifeboats searching, the lifeguards went to check the woman at the back of the cove. It was mid to high tide and there wasn't enough beach to land the rescue boat properly, so Stewart held the boat in position while Adam went to the woman. She was in shock and suffering from hypothermia.

Adam requested evacuation by helicopter and then helped the helicopter winchman secure the woman for an airlift. At 3.05pm she was safely evacuated to hospital.

Despite the receding tide, which reduced the depth of the water and made the waves break more steeply, the pair re-launched and continued the search. By this time the auxiliary Coastguard had joined the search from the cliff top. The lifeguards went out through the surf to liaise with the inshore lifeboat crew and spoke on the radio with the Coastguard. They agreed to concentrate in a different search area, inside the break between Porthcothan and Treyarnon, but there was no sign of the missing man. They returned to Treyarnon when the rescue boat ran low on fuel.

The Newquay D class lifeboat continued the search until 5.15pm when the fuel ran low and the Atlantic 75 kept looking until 5.35pm.

The Coastguard recovered two men from the rocks at the back of the cove who had been helping to look for the man.

Sadly, despite this well-coordinated search, the missing man was not found.The lifeguards, in particular, had made every possible effort in some extremely challenging surf.

Stewart and Adam received a letter of appreciation from RNLI Chief Executive Andrew Freemantle. He commended the pair for their: 'skill, courage and determination in doing all that was humanlypossible to find the missing man.' Stewart and Adam both regard the incident as an inevitable part of their job and were saddened by the outcome of the search: ' The woman had a tragic loss that day. She needed to be with her family for support and comfort.' When lifeboat crews and lifeguards join the RNLI they are warned that, sometimes, the lives of the men and women they try to save will be out of their hands. They have to accept that, for the many casualties they successfully rescue, there will be some that they cannot help. An experience such as this one at Cornwall often makes those involved even more determined to save lives at sea in the future: another reason why the RNLI values its crews and lifeguards so highly..