Redcar RNLI volunteer has hair make-over cut short by emergency

Cameron Bond, a helmsman at the Redcar station, had settled into the Turkish barber's chair and was nearly at the end of his trim when the alarm came to rescue a kayaker who had been thrown into the sea from his craft at Saltburn, North Yorkshire.

To the amusement of the barber and the other customers alike, Cameron leapt from the chair with his hair cut only partially complete and ran the short distance to the lifeboat station where he became part of the four-man crew sent to search for the kayaker.

As soon as the lifeboat returned from the rescue mission, Cameron helped refuel the lifeboat before heading back to the barber's chair to get his trim finished.

Cameron said: 'When my pager went off the barber was a bit puzzled. He didn't really understand what was happening when I said I had to go in a hurry.

'When I got back to the barber's, he asked me all about the rescue. He couldn't believe I was a volunteer and didn't get paid to rescue people.'

The lifeboat was launched just before 9.45am on Saturday 28 October 2017 after UK Coastguard received 999 calls reporting a kayaker had been capsized from his craft off Saltburn, and was struggling to make to safety. When the lifeboat arrived at the scene the crew discovered that the man had been rescued by a nearby surfer and was safe and well ashore. The surfer, Evan Rogers, is an RNLI lifeguard in the summer months.

The kayaker waved to the crew to indicate where his drifting craft was. When the lifeboat arrived at the location they found that Evan Rogers had paddled out on his board in an attempt to retrieve the lost craft. Being approximately a mile off shore by this time, Evan, his board and the kayak were taken on board the lifeboat and returned to the beach near the Ship Inn Saltburn.

ENDS

Notes to editors:

Attached images show Cameron Bond (credit RNLI/Dave Cocks) and the rescue at Saltburn (credit RNLI/Redcar)

Redcar lifeboat station has been operating since 1802

Redcar currently operates a B-class lifeboat named Leicester Challenge III, paid for by the people of Leicester, and an IB1-class lifeboat named Eileen May Loach-Thomas, paid from the legacy of the late Nicolas Thomas of Shropshire

For more news, information and images go to www.redcarlifeboat.org.uk

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For more information please contact Dave Cocks, RNLI Lifeboat Operations Manager on 07894 558 483 the RNLI Press Office on 01202 336789; [email protected]

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The RNLI charity saves lives at sea. Its volunteers provide a 24-hour search and rescue service around the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland coasts. The RNLI operates 238 lifeboat stations in the UK and Ireland and more than 240 lifeguard units on beaches around the UK and Channel Islands. The RNLI is independent of Coastguard and government and depends on voluntary donations and legacies to maintain its rescue service. Since the RNLI was founded in 1824, its lifeboat crews and lifeguards have saved over 146,000 lives.

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