Boy swam to safety after kayak capsized ...then went back to rescue drowning dad
UNABLE to right their capsized kayak in freezing seas a mile from shore, Paul Rowlands and his terrified son, Joe, 13, were forced to swim for their lives.
But while Joe made it safely to an offshore rock half a mile away, his exhausted 50-year-old father passed out in the icy water and began to drown.
So, showing grit and courage beyond his years, the scared, shivering youngster dived back into the sea, which was just 7C (45F) and hauled his unconscious, 15stone father to the rock.
He then gave him chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to force seawater out of his lungs.
Last night, Mr Rowlands, a station manager with Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service, said: ‘Joe saved my life that day and was extremely courageous in a lifeand-death situation. I’m extremely proud of him.’
The pair were eventually spotted by a lifeboat crew and were rushed to hospital by helicopter to be treated for hypothermia.
Mr Rowlands, an experienced kayaker, got into difficulties on February 22 when he and Joe went for a paddle in the Irish Sea off Lligwy beach on the north-east side of Anglesey, North Wales.
Around a mile from shore, at 10.30am, the kayak started taking on water and capsized. Unable to turn it back over, Mr Rowlands told his son to sit on top while he tried to push it back to shore.
But the current was so strong that after half an hour they barely made any progress. Mr Rowlands, of Nantwich, Cheshire, said: ‘I realised our only chance of survival was to leave the craft and swim to a rock between us and the shore. I was just thinking about keeping Joe safe, and knew we needed to rescue ourselves quickly.
‘Although the sea was calm, it was extremely cold. Joe said he
‘I feared for both our lives’
thought we were going to die, and his final wish was a kiss from me.
‘Although I reassured him that we were going to be fine, I feared for both our lives.’
So Mr Rowlands told Joe he loved him, and they set off. But, as hypothermia took hold, Mr Rowlands passed out several times – the last time just after seeing Joe sitting on the rock 300ft away. Realising his father was in trouble, Joe bravely jumped back into the water and managed to pull him back to the rock.
There, Mr Rowlands regained consciousness after being given first aid. Despite being frightened and very cold himself, Joe kept his father conscious by keeping up a steady stream of chatter and questions – and even shouting at him.
The pair managed to shelter in an old, disused open tower built for shipwrecked sailors, where they waited two hours until a lifeboat crew, alerted by Mr Rowlands’ wife, Julie Ann, 50, found them.
Doctors at Bangor Hospital said they were lucky to have survived their ordeal after Mr Rowlands’ body temperature plunged to a dangerously low 33C (91F). Now fully recovered, father-of-two Mr Rowlands said of Joe: ‘I know I can never really repay him for saving my life.’