THEY ARE ALL HEROES
RNLI volunteers sprang into action when an outing to the beach for the Taylor family took a terrifying turn
We’ve enjoyed lovely family holidays visiting my mum in Margate since she retired there,” says Natalia Taylor. “One day last July we set off for Palm Bay Beach with a big, inflatable unicorn she’d bought for my twelve-year-old twins Evie and Lola.
“My husband Ben and the girls were already in the water by the time I’d put the towels down. It was just up to Ben’s knees and the girls were in the unicorn by his side. I took a picture of them -– the water looked lovely and really calm, if a bit seaweedy. I didn’t see any danger whatsoever. There are some rocky bits on that par t of the beach, but we always go to that spot since it is just at the end of my mum’s road and a bit quieter there.
“Then Ben turned to say something to me and, in an instant, the girls were carried out to sea in the inflatable. As the RNLI later explained, the neck of the unicorn had acted like a sail in the breeze. Ben immediately star ted to swim after them and, leaving my son Cooper on the beach with my mum, my stepdad and I both star ted after them too, but my stepdad cut his foot badly on a rock.”
Natalia and Ben were distraught to see the girls being taken rapidly away from the beach, faster than they could swim. Meanwhile, Natalia’s mother had phoned the Coastguard.
“I was tr ying to focus on seeing the girls but they were almost out of my sight. Knowing Ben was already out there I used my last bit of energy to swim back to the shore, kicking my legs with all my might. There, Cooper was giving all the details to the police. I star ted to lose sight of Ben – he’d swum out a long
“We spent the rest of our holiday thanking everyone involved”
way, but was still nowhere near the dot in the distance which I thought was the girls.”
Meanwhile young RNLI Lifeguard Josh was paddling out to help from nearby
Botany Bay, and Margate RNLI, Ramsgate RNLI and the Coastguard had scrambled to action. But when the RNLI located the inflatable unicorn, it was empty.
“The girls had kept each other as calm as possible,” explains Natalia. “Then they tried to jump onto a buoy but they missed it because of the strength of the current. The inflatable sped off, leaving them both in the water. Somehow, Evie then managed to remember the Float to Live
advice she had been given by RNLI volunteers on the beach the previous day.”
Float to Live is for people in trouble in cold water: fight your instinct to swim hard or thrash about, which risks breathing in water and drowning. Instead, relax and float on your back, until you have regained control of your breathing.
“Evie told Lola to do the same thing. They managed that for about 20 minutes before, thankfully, a Dutch couple on a pleasure boat saw the girls and went to pull them out of the water. They were as far out as the shipping lane by then.”
The Dutch couple also collected Josh from the water, the young RNLI lifeguard who had paddleboarded from Botany Bay to help with the rescue. The sounds of the girls’ screams had driven him through the marathon effort of tr ying to reach them so far out in the sea. Meanwhile, the RNLI Margate crew had raced to the last known position of the girls, where they first found the empty inflatable and soon after wards Ben, still frantically tr ying to find his daughters.
“Ben was shouting, ‘Leave me, find my girls.’ He had swum almost a mile out and was exhausted. As he was pulled out of the water, he saw the inflatable and thought the worse, but then the crew were informed that the girls were safe.”
Ben and the lifeboat crew sped over to the Dutch boat, where he was reunited with Evie and Lola, with Josh also at their side. The RNLI then brought ever yone back to Botany Bay, concluding this dramatic team rescue.
“I was still in shock and numb with ever ything when I heard the news that they were all safe,” says Natalia. “I was taken to Botany Bay beach, and there was Ben outside the ambulance where the girls were being checked over. I only fully reacted when I finally had them in my arms.”
“It was a real team effort that day – the RNLI crews and lifeguard, the Coastguard, police, ambulance team – ever yone was just amazing. For the rest of the holiday all we did was to go and have cups of tea at the RNLI and thank ever yone involved. We were beyond thankful. When I think about them all, even a year on, it brings me to tears.
“These people are amazing human beings, risking their own lives ever y day. They are all heroes.”
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) has saved more than 143,100 lives at sea since founded in 1824. RNLI volunteers provide a 24-hour search and rescue ser vice around the UK and Irish coasts, operating from 238 lifeboat stations. RNLI Lifeguards will patrol on 170 beaches this summer. The charity relies entirely on donations. www.rnli.org