‘I don’t know how long I was floating for – it feels like an eternity’

Tina Powsey on how she floated to live.

It was a chilly July morning in Anglesey when Tina and her friend, Mags, headed down to the water for a swim. As they were having fun jumping through the waves, they suddenly realised that the ground had disappeared beneath their feet. They had drifted worryingly far from where they entered the sea. And the next thing they knew, they started drifting from each other.

It was only thanks to Tina remembering what she learned in her children’s swimming lessons that her and Mags are both here to tell the tale. In this episode, Tina relives their frightening ordeal and gives thanks for the brave onlooker and RNLI volunteers that helped them.

In another episode from our 200 Voices series, 12-year-old Theo Pulman remembered the same lifesaving advice as Tina when his friend got into trouble in the water. Listen to Theo’s podcast episode to find out how the RNLI’s Float to Live advice helped him save his friend’s life.