Eleven people, including a six-year-old girl, were rescued from a rip current at Whitesands Bay, St David’s, by RNLI lifeguards on bank holiday Monday 30 August.
The incident occurred at just after 5.30pm when a warm day and rising surf had seen large crowds of bathers and bodyboarders take to the water.
There had been a few rip currents during a day of 4ft surf and dumping waves, but lifeguards sprang into action when a rip current took hold in the red and yellow flagged bathing area and began taking 11 people out to sea.
The team of four Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) lifeguards patrolling the beach immediately responded to the 11 people who had been put in difficulty by the rip current and were struggling to get to shore.
The charity’s lifeguards were assisted by members of Porthmawr Surf Lifesaving Club who launched their inshore rescue boat. Lifeguard Sam Ellison was on watch in the lifeguard tower overlooking the beach at the time of the incident.
He noticed that a combination of the dumping surf and offshore winds had created a strong rip current in the red and yellow flagged bathing area.
He alerted other lifeguards on patrol at the water’s edge, Scott Candler and Jack Middleton, to the potentially dangerous situation that was unfolding as the bathers and bodyboarders were struggling to get back to shore.
Sam and Jack immediately went on rescue boards to the point where the bathers were in difficulty, while Scott took over at the lifeguard tower and immediately asked for assistance from Porthmawr Surf Lifesaving Club inshore rescue boat and two other lifeguards – Tom Parry and Tomi Turner.
Sam and Jack rescued the mother and daughter and another young bodyboarder on their RNLI rescue boards, while Tom Parry and Tomi Turner assisted the remaining eight bathers out of the rip to safety, while Porthmawr’s rescue boat was stood down.
The previous day lifeguards had given medical assistance to a bather with a suspected spinal injury.
Area lifeguard supervisor Stuart Penfold said: ‘Thanks to the quick work of RNLI lifeguards, ably assisted by members of Porthmawr Surf Lifesaving Club, this group of bathers were never in any real danger but it can be very frightening for people caught up in a rip current like this.
‘RNLI lifeguards advise people to swim and bodyboard at a lifeguarded beach between the red and yellow flags, because it is regarded as the safest place to swim, but even there the hazards of a rip current can occur from time to time when a combination of factors make sea conditions more unpredictable.
‘Because these bathers were in the red and yellow flagged area the lifeguards got to them rapidly and the rescue of the mother and six-year-old daughter was particularly crucial.
‘If anyone does get caught in a rip current, the important thing to remember is not to panic and to swim across the rip current, not against it, and raise the call for help.
‘Our advice to people is to continue enjoying their time at the beach, particularly in the warm weather predicted for the rest of this week, to swim at a lifeguarded beach in between the red and yellow flags and ask the lifeguards for advice about local conditions, especially when strong surf is running.’
