Our lifesavers usually rescue one or a few people at a time – but in May they were called to over 80 swimmers struggling against a powerful tide …

It was a deceptively calm and sunny day on 26 May when 133 swimmers set off on a 1,200m race from Southwold Pier beach in Suffolk to a local pub. But the race was late starting. Unbeknown to the swimmers, the tide had turned. Within minutes, many found themselves being dragged out into the cold North Sea.

It was just 2 days into their patrol season, and already the Southwold RNLI lifeguards faced a mass rescue situation. They responded immediately. As people began to struggle, Lifeguards Ben Lock and Lucy Clews paddled towards them on rescue boards, while Lifeguard Supervisor Dan Tyler watched from his vantage point on the beach. He realised that a large number of people were in serious danger. Grabbing his radio, he alerted the Coastguard and Southwold’s inshore lifeboat volunteers, who were on exercise in the area.

Within minutes, Ben and Lucy rescued two swimmers – one was panicking as she fought the tide, while another was suffering with cold. Once they were safely on shore, Lucy went back in. She guided swimmers away from rocks and inaccessible areas around the pier to make it easier for them to be rescued.

By now, the Southwold Atlantic 75 lifeboat crew had arrived too and began to pluck exhausted swimmers from the water. As time went on, more and more people tired and needed help. Helmsman Simon Callaghan recalls: ‘There were just so many people that needed rescuing. An area of about a third of a square mile was just littered with people. They were all in the same situation.’

Realising that they needed additional support, Crew Member Paul Barker radioed the Coastguard. He requested ambulances, a rescue helicopter and asked for the lifeboats at flanking stations Lowestoft and Aldeburgh to launch too. Meanwhile Simon took the lifeboat down tide into a ‘goalkeeper’ position to catch the swimmers as they drifted north.

The lifeboat crew prioritised those who were unsupported in the water (some were clinging to rescue kayaks that had been provided by the race organiser). Simon had to manoeuvre the lifeboat with extreme care, ensuring the casualties were clear of the lifeboat’s spinning propellers. At times, there were four people holding on to each side of the craft.

It wasn’t long before the lifeboat was operating at the limits of her capability. Atlantic 75s have a maximum survivor capacity of 23 and, by now, she was carrying 21. The crew focused on ferrying the casualties as close as possible to the shore. Crew Member Rob Kelvey jumped into the water and swam back and forth, helping the exhausted casualties swim the last 20m, while another Lifeguard Supervisor Liam Fayle-Parr, took his place on the lifeboat.

Mobbed by swimmers desperate for help, Rob inflated his lifejacket. Once on shore, he grabbed towels and spare clothes from members of the public to warm up the casualties. He directed them to the lifeguard unit, which was being used as a muster point to register those safely returned.

Crew Member Paul Barker reflects: ‘It was amazing how well we worked together. We didn’t know any of the lifeguards before the rescue. But we knew they were RNLI and we knew they’d had the training, so the trust was already there.’

After an hour in the water, the swimmers began to bunch into groups and cling to each other for support and warmth, enabling the crew to pick up larger groups. By the time the rescue helicopter arrived from RAF Boulmer, the crew and lifeguards had rescued 83 people and there were just two swimmers left in the water. As Paul explains, the outcome could have been quite different were it not for the lifeguards’ quick response: ‘If we’d have been paged to the rescue, it would have taken us 5–10 minutes to launch.’

By now it was well after 2pm and lifeboats from Aldeburgh and Lowestoft arrived to scour the area for any remaining casualties. After a thorough search, they confirmed that no race swimmers were left in the water, and the lifeboats were stood down. In total, 85 people had been rescued.

‘When you think of the numbers involved, and the fact that everyone made it home – it was quite a feeling,’ says Simon, the Southwold Helmsman. ‘You hear of similar stories with tragic outcomes, so I was just really pleased that everyone made it home.’

By the end of the week the story had made national news, and David Cameron paid tribute to the crew at Prime Minister’s Questions. But Simon says: ‘It could have been any lifeboat crew on that boat. It was an honour, but it says more about the organisation than the three of us.’

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Simon Callaghan, Helmsman:
‘We tried to keep the lifeboat down tide so no one could drift past us. That way, we couldn’t lose anyone; they couldn’t slip out of sight.’

Rob Kelvey, Crew Member:
‘Our only way of getting the swimmers ashore to safety was to help them swim the last 20m to the beach. Surf and underwater obstructions made it impossible to get closer in the lifeboat, so I went into the water with them and, where necessary, attached them to me to ensure they made it.’

Paul Barker, Crew Member:
‘We pulled a lifeguard we’d never met before onto the lifeboat, and he took to it like a seal to water, he just got on with the job.’

Dan Tyler, Lifeguard Supervisor:
‘When I couldn't see the race participants coming round the pier, I thought: “Why haven’t they got here already?” I realised they had started late, and then the concern kicked in. I radioed the lifeboat and said: “Pull everyone in. Cut the race off and bring people to shore.”'

Ben Lock, Lifeguard:
‘I told my supervisor I’d take the back of the race, so he could take the middle. We presumed that people at the head of the race would be the most competent swimmers, so that was the best way to handle it. We put people on the lifeboat instead of paddling them all the way back to the beach each time.’