When three people’s lives were in danger, off-duty lifeguards knew what to do

At 6pm on 16 August 2011, three lifeguards finishing their day at Porthcothan, Cornwall, advised everyone to leave the water. Minutes later a member of the public raised the alarm.

Senior Lifeguard Rosie McDonnell (1) remembers: ‘Two boys were dragged off their feet by a rip current into a deep trough and then pulled into a whirlpool by a cove.’ The boys’ father tried to help, but he got into trouble too.

Lifeguard Aaron Cleary (2), already changed out of his kit, nevertheless grabbed his rescue board from the roof of the patrol vehicle and paddled out 25m to reach the trio. The boys, aged between 10 and 12, were being thrown around in turbulent seas and their dad was tiring and distressed.

Aaron describes the conditions: ‘The waves were big and were breaking overhead.’ He told the boys to let go of their bodyboards and hold on to his rescue board with their dad, then he signalled to the beach for assistance.

Lifeguard Elise Webster (3) had already changed back into her wetsuit, and she swam out with a rescue tube.

Loaded up with the boys, Aaron paddled back to shore across the rip current rather than fighting directly against it. He was met in chest-deep waters by Rosie. Usually, she’d have stayed on the beach monitoring the incident. Today, two off-duty lifeguards, Jess Humber and Keith Renders, were passing and stopped to help, leaving Rosie free to help in the water. Rosie and Aaron brought the boys safely ashore and into the arms of their grateful mother.

Still in deep waters, Elise worked hard to reassure the boys’ dad, eventually convincing him to grip the rescue tube under his arm. With frequent breaks to help the man with his breathing and keep him calm, Elise towed him by the most direct route back to shore, swimming against the current. Once again, Rosie was there to assist and soon the family was reunited on the beach.

Rosie recalls the team feeling ‘good’ after the rescue but also ‘embarrassed’ when the crowd on the beach gave them a standing ovation! RNLI Operations Director Michael Vlasto later praised their ‘professionalism, commitment and teamwork’.

The lifeguards had one more job to do before they could go home: Aaron and Rosie paddled far out to retrieve the discarded bodyboards. Rosie explains: ‘The last thing we want is for people on the cliff to call the Coastguard when they see boards with nobody attached!’