The turning of the tide Three men were enjoying a day's angling at Aberporth when they were caught out by the biggest tide of the year. Within moments the trio were stranded on rocks, 100m from the shore ^^Despite the bad weather, many people were out and about at Aberporth beach on the evening of 30 August 2004, a Bank Holiday. Milford Haven Coastguard received numerous 999 calls, telling them that the anglers were stranded by a rising tide. The men, unfamiliar with the area, had been cut off from the beach before they realised they were in danger. Waves were breaking over the rock they were stuck on.

Cardigan Atlantic 75 lifeboat Tanni Crey launched at 7.08pm into a rough sea. Dyfrig Brown was at the helm, with three crew members: Len Walters (Senior Helmsman, acting as crew member), Lynne Fischer and Dan Rogers.

They made good speed, but once through the channel inside Cardigan Island, the sea conditions deteriorated and breaking waves reached 3m. Len remembers: 'It had been blowing a gale for 24 hours before, so there was a big sea running - a rough day.' On the way, the Coastguard told the crew by radio that a fourth person had entered the water and was making his way to the rock.

The fourth man was Owen Evans, a member of the Aberporth Surf Life Saving club. He was surfing when he noticed that the anglers were in trouble. Owen scrambled across rocks towards them until he came to the channel of water dividing the anglers from the beach. He tried shouting to the men, but the crashing of the waves against the rocks was deafening. When he saw one of the anglers knocked over by a wave, instinct took over and he dived in and swam across strongly to the men. He calmly guided the anglers along a ledge to higher ground. Owen's wetsuit gave him some protection from the cold and rocks, but he suffered cuts to his bare feet.

The lifeboat crew praised Owen as 'calm and confident' and Len added: 'If it wasn't for him, they wouldn't have been there when we arrived.' After a 12-minute passage, the lifeboat approached Aberporth at 7.20pm. Dozens of people had gathered and were lining the cliffs, which made it easy to find the four men. They were approximately 100m from the shoreline, balanced precariously on the small pinnacle of rock that was left exposed. And the flood tide was still rising.

'The casualties wouid have been in the water long before high tide. They were in grave and imminent danger of being swept into the turbulent waters surrounding the rock.' Andy Hurley,Training Divisional Inspector, West A search and rescue helicopter, based at RAF Chivenor, would not reach them for another 10 minutes. Realising the urgency of the situation, Len advised Dyfrig to try to approach the rock through a narrow passage, inshore of the stranded men, but it was too rough. They got out quickly.

With the helicopter still not on scene, the crew decided to risk an approach from the seaward side. They followed in a large wave over the rocks and got to within metres of the casualties, but none of them moved close enough to the lifeboat for the crew to reach them. Len shouted instructions to them to be ready for the next run in. Several large waves crashed through the lifeboat from behind and Dyfrig manoeuvred the vessel away from immediate danger.

There was approximately 15cm of water throughout the lifeboat, so the crew drained thedeck and then made another run in. Through superb boat handling from Dyfrig, the lifeboat got to within 1m of the rock pinnacle. It took great skill to hold the lifeboat stern to sea with large seas washing through from stern to bow. Lynne kept a look out for any large waves and was ready to warn Dyfrig: 'I had to be the eyes in the back of his head,' she recalls.

Owen, the surfer, held on to one of the anglers, tipping him towards the lifeboat. From the bow, Dan got a good grip and heaved the man over the bow with Len's help.

Dyfrig took the lifeboat out to drain the water again while Lynne checked the casualty, who was cold and was in shock. She reassured the man, dressed him in a survivor bag and a lifejacket and seated him at the stern of the lifeboat.

Dyfrig brought the lifeboat in another time, to collect the second casualty. Just as the lifeboatmen grabbed the angler from Owen, a particularly large wave swept through the lifeboat. Both Dan and Len fought to keep hold of the man as the seas washed over them. 'We lost sight of him,' Len recalls, 'I only had hold of his thumb! We were praying he'd still be there when the wave went through.'Thankfully, the pair did manage to hold on and the casualty was recovered. The manoeuvre was repeated successfully for the third angler.

Dan recalls the operation: 'We dragged them over, headfirst into the lifeboat. It wasn't pretty, but there was no time to play about.' With the extra weight of three casualties and the water onboard, the crew realised that it would be foolish to attempt to rescue the fourth man, Owen. It would put the three casualties and themselves in unnecessary danger. Just in the nick of time, at 7.30pm, the rescue helicopter 169 arrived on scene and the lifeboat stood by while Owen was airlifted to safety.

Dyfrig landed the survivors at the west end of Aberporth, an area of beach sheltered from the worst seas. He took the lifeboat in as close to the beach as possible and turned her head to sea. The crew helped the casualties wade ashore to the awaiting emergency services. The large audience who had seen the lifeboat in action cheered the crew and many on the beach came to shake their hands. All three anglers were safely ashore by 7.44pm i and the Cardigan crew left the appreciative public and made the rough passage back to station, with large breaking seas. The m lifeboat was recovered safely onto her carriage in the shelter of the river at Cardigan at 8.08pm.

Dyfrig is accorded the Thanks of the Institution Inscribed on Vellum for his great boat handling, courage and seamanship in a very dangerous situation. The crew received Vellum service certificates and a letter of appreciation from the Chief Executive.

Len also received a letter from the Operations Director Michael Vlasto. Len summarises the service:'It worked like clockwork. Everybody did a good job that day, not just us: the Coastguard, the helicopter and the young surfer.'THE LIFEBOAT Atlantic 75 lifeboat B-752 Tanni Grey Named after Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson QBE, Britain's best known paralympic athlete and a great supporter of the RNLI Funding: Wales and West Mercia Appeal THE CREW Helmsman Dyfrig Brown Crew members Lynne Fischer Dan Rogers Len Walters THE LIFEBOAT STATION Established: 1849, closed 1932, re-opened 1971 Previous RNLI Medals: Three Silver and two Bronze THE CASUALTIES Three sea anglers THE CONDITIONS Weather: Overcast, rain Visibility: Good Wind: NNW, force 6 Sea state: Rough sea, breaking waves of 3m.