RNLI beach Lifeguards at Sandown went to the aid of two young children who were found struggling in the water on Sunday after their kayak had capsized.
Tim Walton, a lifeguard with the RNLI, was patrolling on Sandown beach when he spotted two children in a kayak drifting quickly in to the red and yellow flagged swim area.
As Tim paddled over to the boys, the kayak capsized and one young boy fell out and began to panic in the water. The child proceeded to swim to safety towards the beach while Tim helped the second youngster on to the rescue board.
Tim Walton, RNLI Lifeguard Supervisor said:
“I reached the casualty and paddled him back to shore. He was very panicked and because his lifejacket was too big for him and he was really struggling to keep his head above the water. Luckily, both the boys were returned to safety uninjured”.
Earlier in the day, lifeguard Kit Marfleet was patrolling the red and yellow flagged swim zone on a rescue board as he spotted a swimmer who was fighting to stay afloat. Kit paddled the exhausted swimmer, who was taking part in a local race, to the shore to get some rest.
Tim continued:
“Aside from these two rescues, the public came to our lifeguard hut for help with weaver fish stings and various cuts and scrapes throughout the weekend. We also spent a lot of our time preventing incidents from happening by advising swimmers on the safest places to swim, which is always between the red and yellow flags, and asking them not to jump of the groynes here at low tide.
Article continues below this advertisement “It’s the first summer that RNLI lifeguards have patrolled the beaches on the Isle of Wight and the busy weekend at Sandown just proves that the service is really needed here”.
RNLI lifeguards will continue patrolling the beach at Sandown from 10:00 until 18:00 every day until 6th September.
