Family rescued on inflatable off Exmouth

Offshore wind takes them out to sea

The RNLI has released details of an incident nearly two weeks ago in which a family of five are rescued from an inflatable dinghy drifting rapidly out to sea at Sandy Bay near Exmouth.  
 
Two RNLI volunteers set out in strong offshore winds in a rescue water craft and located the family quickly in the incident on Tuesday 22 June.

One casualty, a 19-year-old man, who was with two women and two teenager girls, was found to be very cold . Lifeguard Connor Gray got into the sea and stayed with the inflatable dinghy, whilst his colleague Jake Butt brought the man back to the beach to safety and to get warm.  
 
Although there was a strong offshore wind, the sea conditions were flat and allowed Mr Gray to stay with the other casualties in the dinghy and reassure them, whilst Mr Butt continued to use the RWC to drop more family members back to the beach. 
 
Once all five family members were safely back on the beach, the 19-year-old was taken indoor to make sure his condition was stable as he warmed up.  

Henry Irvine RNLI lifeguard supervisor says: "An offshore wind is a wind that blows from the land or beach out to sea. Before heading to the beach you should check the local weather forecast.

"It’s important to remember that once at the beach, weather conditions can change quickly. By visiting a lifeguarded beach you can ask the lifeguards about the weather forecast for the day. If there are off-shore winds, lifeguards will fly an orange windsock which means it’s not advisable to use inflatables. This is because anything inflatable that sits on top of the water, will quickly get blown out to sea in the direction of the wind, making it very difficult to return to shore.

"If you ever see anyone in trouble drifting far out to sea, alert the lifeguards or call 999 and ask for the coastguard."