A beach out of reach Even strong swimmers can be caught out, struggling in sight of land. Carol Waterkeyn reports Sunday 3 June 2007 was a memorable day for all the wrong reasons. A family holiday nearly turned into a disaster when Carolyne Yard, her two sons and daughter visited Devon with friend Mark and his daughter.

They were all staying in a cottage at Woolacombe and had gone to visit nearby Barricane beach, which unfortunately was not patrolled by lifeguards.

Carolyne explains: ‘It had all started off so well. It was the last day of our holiday. It had been close to my son Will’s birthday so we’d gone yet again to the sea. The boys had got their wetsuits on and just gone off doing what they had done every day of the holiday.

They had gone into the sea. The weather was nice. We knew the beach pretty well, we had been there plenty of times – and then this all happened.’ The sea was a little choppy but plenty of people were swimming and surfboarding. The Yard family and friends settled themselves in a good spot while Angus and Will, 16 and 14 respectively, went off for some surfing.

Carolyne and Mark sat on the beach and the two girls were close to the shore splashing about in the water. The boys had been out having fun for about half an hour when Carolyne’s friend voiced his concern that the sea seemed to have swept them over to the left, near to some rocks.

Carolyne remembers: ‘I thought Mark was overreacting, but we went to the edge of the water and motioned to the boys to move over, so they started to try to swim back, but they couldn’t. They were really swimming hard. Will, who is the better swimmer, was swimming really strongly but he just didn’t move.’ The boys had been caught in a strong rip current.

Mark decided to go in to help but then Will and Angus shouted to Carolyne. ‘At their age – big teenage boys – they don’t call for their mum, so I knew there was a problem,’ she says. Carolyne realised she shouldn’t attempt to go in the water herself as she is a weak swimmer. ‘As Mark got in I called to another man who had a surfboard to see if he could help and then I immediately phoned 999 for the Coastguard.’ The nearest lifeguards were at the neighbouring Woolacombe beach and the Coastguards called them for assistance. They reassured Carolyne on the phone, telling her she would soon see the RNLI lifeguards coming in by boat. She kept looking out for the boys in the water and when they temporarily disappeared from view she was really frightened. ‘When I saw the rescue boat come around the corner, it seemed to have taken forever. I bet it only took 2–3 minutes but when you are on the phone and your boys are in the sea and you think they’re going to drown, 2 minutes is a long time. When I saw the boat I was just so relieved.’ The lifeguards’ inshore rescue boat sped into view. Lifeguard Bernie (Bernadette) Padbury jumped into the water with a rescue tube while her colleague remained at the helm. Bernie swam to Angus and Mark, while Will and the surfer who had tried to help managed to get up onto the rocks. Bernie says: ‘The water was like a whirlpool and the tide was coming in. I didn’t want to swim the guys back to the boat and risk the safety of the lifeguard who was driving, or leave behind an already disorientated Angus or Mark. On balance I decided on a walk over the rocks even though Mark’s feet were cut like they had been through a cheese grater.

Then I swam them through a gully before reaching the beach again.’ Carolyne continues the story: ‘We all met up on the beach and cried and shook. They were all very shocked. My daughter arrived; she had gone off to get towels. Angus said he was shaking because he was cold but I think it was more shock than cold; they were all white as well. Mark broke down and cried and said: “That was so close.”’ Will adds: ‘When we couldn’t get our way out of the problem by swimming I had real fear. I thought we were going to end up being crushed into the rocks and that was really scary.’ Woolacombe Lifeguard Bernie says: ‘It was quite a dangerous rescue. Everyone was really shaken up including the man who had tried to help. But, thankfully, it all worked out well in the end.’ Carolyne sums up: ‘If the lifeguards hadn’t been there my boys would have drowned that day. I had heard that you are 500 times more likely to drown on a beach without lifeguards and when I go with the boys now, we’ll go further up the beach where the lifeguards are. Defi nitely.’ Woolacombe Lifeguard Bernie says: ‘It was quite a dangerous rescue. Everyone was really shaken up including the man who had tried to help. But, thankfully, it all worked out well in the end.’ Carolyne sums up: ‘If the lifeguards hadn’t been there my boys would have drowned that day. I had heard that you are 500 times more likely to drown on a beach without lifeguards and when I go with the boys now, we’ll go further up the beach where the lifeguards are. Defi nitely.’ ‘At their age – big teenage boys – they don’t call for their mum, so I knew there was a problem.’ RIP CURRENTS if you are caught in a rip current, remember the three r’s.

RELAX try to stay calm and ? oat. People drown in rips because they panic.

RAISE raise an arm to signal for help.

RESCUE wait for assistance, obey directions from a lifeguard. if you are able, swim parallel to the beach, out of the current. .