When holidaymakers got trapped between cliffs and 2m waves with no way of calling the Coastguard, could anyone help them escape?

‘This was another idyllic sunny day so we headed out for a picnic,’ recalls Tim Humfrey from Kent, who was holidaying in Cornwall with his family and friends at the end of July. The two families decided to take their sailing dinghy and rigid inflatable to a beach at Butter Hole (pictured below). Among the group were three children.

‘By the time we decided to get everything together to leave, the swell and the waves were fairly serious,' says Tim. 'It was too dangerous to try and get out by boat. So we wrote a message in the sand, as we couldn’t call out over the sea.’

Tim and the other three adults put lifejackets on the children and climbed to higher rocks at the cove. It was now a matter of waiting and hoping. High above, a cliff walker noticed a clear message in the sand: ‘SOS – SEND HELP’.

The walker alerted the Coastguard, who sent their cliff rescue team to the area. ‘They signalled to tell us that lifeboats were on their way,’ says Tim.

Meanwhile, the volunteers of Rock inshore lifeboat and Padstow all-weather lifeboat were speeding to the cove.

Rock Helmsman Neil Davis and his crew – Dan Bosley and Leon Burt – knew their inflatable D class was best suited to get close to the beach. But it wouldn’t be easy. They had to somehow negotiate a 2m swell and large dumping waves, reach the families, and get back out to sea.

Neil knew the heavy waves could swamp or even capsize the lifeboat, but he managed to draw close enough to the beach for Crew Member Leon Burt to jump into the sea and wade ashore. ‘The lifeboat man lifted us into the lifeboat and drove us away from the beach. The waves were as big as our car,’ says 8-year-old Elsa Boomgaardt. Leon lifted her and the other two children (pictured top right), Billy Boomgaardt (5) and Lily Slack (6), into the D class, and helped one of the parents aboard too.

Neil powered out through the waves, his crew instrumental in keeping the lifeboat stable and the children safe. The crew of a passing passenger vessel, Ocean Voyager, offered assistance and the lifeboat crew passed the rescued party aboard.

Neil’s return journey took the lifeboat crew close enough to pull Tim and two other adults aboard. The whole party were transferred into the Padstow all-weather lifeboat, which took them back to Rock.

‘The lifeboat crew were utterly professional and considerate throughout. We will be putting a worthy donation their way,’ says Tim, who admits he has learned a valuable lesson when it comes to communication equipment. ‘I should have taken a VHF radio with me, and I should have checked the weather conditions and tide times. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the RNLI.’