Three surfers got caught in a rip current off Devon’s Barricane beach on 31 January.

One got out of trouble and made it to shore but his friends were washed away, managing to grab on to a buoy 200m from shore. Ilfracombe’s Mersey class lifeboat Spirit of Derbyshire was launched and soon found the two men. The Coxswain manoeuvred the lifeboat close inshore in the 1.5m surf, while the crew threw lines to the surfers and pulled them onboard. They had been in the water for over 2 hours. A Coastguard rescue helicopter is pictured winching the casualties from the lifeboat. They were taken to hospital and treated for hypothermia.