Exmouth Kite Rescue Photo Sequence

These photos were taken from the beach with a reasonable zoom lens. We were quite a long way out.

The photos show us going to the rescue of a kite surfer who’s kit had broken. One of his lines had snapped, causing his kite to drop in to the water. As we were on large spring tides the kite and kite surfer started to be swept out seawards very quickly.

There is always a Lifeguard in or around our Hut to watch the water. Normally this persons spots the kite surfer in difficulty. They then radio, or shout to the other Lifeguards to launch the RWC. One or two of us get our wetsuits on, our buoyancy aids on and our helmets on.

The RWC is then launched, a quick radio test by the driver and a check that the crew is on ok and we are off to the kite surfers assistance.

Two of us were already in our wetsuits as we were training on the beach and in the water when we had to do the rescue below.

Approaching the kite surfer from up tide to make sure the lines do not get caught in the imprella on the RWC. You can see me swimming to the kite, and the Kite surfer is the black dot on the left of picture.

I was on the sled so got dropped off next to the Kite to start packing it down. The driver takes the RWC to the Kite Surfer.

The Kite Surfer packs his lines in, I deflate the kite and start wrapping it up.

Still packing the kite down. Notice how far we have drifted. Look at the green channel boy in this picture and the one above.

Climbing on to the RWC, the kite surfer on the seat with the driver, the kit and I on the sled behind the ski.

Returning to the beach.

Me dragging the kite up the beach, while the other Lifeguard on the RWC checks the Kite Surfer over.

A quick rescue, but without us there the Kite Surfer would have been a lot further out to sea before the Lifeboats got him, that’s if someone had raised the alarm!

RNLI in Exmouth busy.

Have just seen this on the local newspaper website in Exmouth.

RNLI’s busy year. Click here for artical.

It said that the Lifeguards were launched 24 times. I will try and find out where that information came from because I am sure we dealt with a fair few more water incidents than that.

Hut kit part 3! Another PA

This is a hand held public address system or PA. It is normally stored in the hut or on the quad bike so announcements can be made while on patrol. Its good for talking directly to small groups of people that are reasonably close by.

On busy days when the tide is at its most dangerious announcments can me made all the way along the beach.

Weekend of surfing.

Even though we dont work on the beach over the winter, you can’t keep most Lifeguards away from them.

Some Lifeguards head off to warmer climates to guard.  Others bare the cold of the UK seas.

This weekend I headed to Polzeath in Cornwall where the surf was pumping and it was nice and warm. Warm enough to still go out in my summer wetsuit.

Hut kit part 2! VHF Radio and PA

Two bits of kit are shown in the picture below.

The first: We have a base station VHF radio in our hut (on the left in the picture).  Programmed with various channels including channel 0 for search and rescue operations.  It has a big aerial on the roof of the hut so it picks up more than our small hand held VHF radios.  Using our base station radios is the way we communicate with the hut at Sandy Bay.

The other bit of kit is a PA (public address) system.  Attached to the small black box in the hut are two large speakers on the roof of the hut.  As long as the wind is not blowing strongly onshore we can give messages out over the PA to any public withing the Red and yellow flags or just outside.

On busy days the PA system is used frequently normally to warn swimmers of the state of the tide, or changes in conditions.

It’s best not to get the two microphones confused!

Kit we use most days on the beach part 1!

As well as our personal kit we have bits of kit in the hut that we all use more or less every day.

The first bit of kit is binos aka binoculars.

With a 10×50 range they do the job! We use them to watch swimmers in the water between the red and yellow flags and those who are swimming outside the flags! Also they are used to watch kite surfers and tolookfor lost children.

Bouys!

At the end of the river Exe is a safe water mark. Here you can see the safe water bouy with the Exmouth ILB in the foreground.

We ventured out towards the buoy on several occasions but it was close to the edge of our operational area.