Calming the stormy waters
BBC2, 8pm ASTONISHING footage follows RNLI crews across the country as they respond to call-outs and embark on some dangerous rescue missions.
It never ceases to amaze that this crucial emergency service is made up of a 5000-strong army of unpaid volunteers.
These heroes have day jobs, but whenever their pager sounds, they head out to save everyone from paddleboarders and surfers to sinking fishing boats and cargo ships stuck on rocks. More than 90 per cent of RNLI’s rescues come under the broad heading “Leisure Gone Wrong” – often a day at the beach can turn into a nightmare.
In Porthcawl, Glamorgan, a surfer’s paradise turns out to be anything but when Storm Brendan wreaks havoc and leaves a group of young friends in grave danger.
Volunteers Bee, a chip-shop owner, and Ryan, a property developer, responded to the call-out.
Bee says: “I remember it being cold, there was almost an eeriness to the weather. I remember the roar from the waves breaking against the shoreline. I remember thinking, ‘That’s a big swell.’”
Ryan adds: “A lot of people don’t know the coastline, don’t know the waters. “Suddenly they’re in the wrong place at the wrong time and the sea can be very cruel.” Student Jack, the surfer in trouble, says: “I was paddling frantically and then realised the current was too strong. It was scary and I was panicking.” In other accounts, a family out paddleboarding gets separated, with the children stranded on a sandbank, a man is injured jumping from rocks, and crews help an exhausted swimmer.