On Sunday 11 June 2006, a man launched his flat-topped kayak at Perranporth in Cornwall in anticipation of an afternoon's fun. Soon however he was overwhelmed by 2m surf. It washed him, out of control, round into a rocky cove and threw him into the water. Trapped at the foot of 20m cliffs, with no companion or radio to raise the alarm and out of sight of the beach, he was very vulnerable. But someone up on the cliff spotted him and alerted RNLI lifeguards just in time. It was 5.55pm - five minutes before the planned end of their day's patrols.

Lifeguards Ben Gardener and Kris O'Neil immediately launched their inshore rescue boat. They sped to the cove, where, on their second run, they sighted the man just 2m out from the cliff. Ben explains: 'He couldn't have paddled out by himself in the conditions. He would have had to hold on for three hours until the tide dropped to allow him to walk round on the sand.' The man was clinging onto his kayak and paddle to keep him afloat but was surrounded by rocks. The rescue boat wouldn't be able to reach him so Kris dived into the water and swam over to the man: 'He was very happy to see me. He was stuck where he was, clumsy from exhaustion and the cold.' Ben returned to the beach to pick up a third lifeguard, Simon Crayford, to help in handling the boat, maintaining balance in the swell.

In the meantime, Kris persuaded the kayaker to abandon his craft so he could be helped to swim out to safer water. Ben and Simon pulled the casualty into the boat and took him to shore. Returning one last time for Kris, they found he was alreadyfeeling the cold even though the whole rescue had taken no more than six minutes.

Once the kayaker had received some minor first aid and recovered from the initial shock, he was able to make his own way home.

Ben warns of the potential dangers for inexperienced watercraft users in this area: 'People kayaking or using surf skis around this part of the north Cornish coast really do need to be experienced because of the conditions that can build very suddenly.

There was a big surf running this evening and it washed this man in before he had time to react and get out of trouble.' Kris is an RNLI exchange lifeguard from New Zealand and says: This was the most serious water-based incident I'd experienced at that point in my UK season. I'm loving my time with the RNLI - there are a few key differences between the services in my home country and here. For example, smaller surf in the UK means that RNLI lifeguards use their rescue boards to a far greater extent, and there are more beachbased incidents here, with people falling off cliffs or needing help with cuts and bruises.'.