Drowning, not waving: lifeguard emergency response

‘I’m a lifeguard and I’m here to rescue you’

Josh quickly worked out which man was the priority – both were in trouble, but one was in distress and facing out to sea. ‘I said something like: “I’m a lifeguard and I’m here to rescue you,” then checked that it was just the two of them, as we’re trained to do that. The casualty was in shock, but he responded well to my instructions.’ Josh helped him onto the rescue board.

Hector Jessel, another RNLI lifeguard on patrol in the water, joined Josh and picked up the second young man. They all headed back to the beach, bypassing the rip current. ‘It all happened very quickly,’ says Josh. ‘We got to them and got back again in about 2 minutes.’

‘He’d swallowed so much water’

We helped him up to the lifeguard hut and did some more thorough checks. ‘He’d swallowed so much water. There was a lot of vomiting just getting the water out of his system.’ When things were calmer, the young man admitted to Josh that he did think he was going to die. He was still pale from the shock. 

Josh runs through the assessments: ‘We checked his breathing rate and blood circulation rate, and we gave him some glucose gel. We explained that breathing in water can sometimes cause further problems and told him to go straight to hospital if he feels any worse at any point in the next 72 hours. We gave him a safe discharge form and he had mates there to look after him.’ His friend that had been in the water with him was fine too.

It took a few hours for the adrenaline to leave Josh’s body. ‘That evening, I just got really, really tired,’ remembers Josh. ‘This was actually the first life I’d saved. The key was to stick to the training we’ve done. Most of what we do is prevention, arranging the flags in the right place and whistling people. When you see that bad stuff can happen, it shows how important our work is. We really do protect people and that feels good.’

‘We came together as a really slick team’

Reflecting on the rescue, Josh says that what stands out for him is the ‘incredible teamwork’. Josh went to school with Hector and the team all know each other really well. Senior Lifeguard Maddie Squires was in charge, plus she kept an eye on the rest of the people between the flags. Hector was quick to react too. ‘We came together as a really slick team,’ says Josh.

‘The pair of swimmers weren’t local, so they might not have known how strong the rip currents can be on beaches like this. We often tell people here at this beach how important it is for swimmers and bodyboarders to keep their feet on the ground. These were pretty fit young men – it shows that anybody can get caught in a rip current.’

Josh’s tip: raise one hand and shout for help

The man certainly did the right thing raising his arm to get the lifeguards’ attention early. And they were swimming between the red-and-yellow flags, as recommended. ‘We’ve chosen that flagged area as the safest part of the beach,’ explains Josh, ‘and that space will be our main focus.’ 

Lifeguards are trained to look for signs that people are in trouble, but with waves it can be hard to spot some of the clues, like vigorous arm movements and splashing. The sea can be unpredictable and dangerous, and things can happen very quickly. Any swimmer can be dragged out by a rip current within seconds. 

So, if you’re ever caught in a rip current, remember to raise one hand and shout for help – even if you think you can get out of it yourself. If you’re swimming between the flags, rest assured that an RNLI lifeguard like Josh, Maddie or Hector won’t be far away.

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