When Andrew Todd and his children got caught in a rip current while swimming in the sea, it could have spelled disaster.
But the experienced sea kayaker did not panic – because he knew there were lifeguards back on the beach who were primed to come to the rescue of anyone in trouble in the water.
“It was all done and dusted in 30 seconds, it felt like a long time at the time but it was all very quick, very efficient,” the 54-year-old said.
He was rescued by lifeguards from the RNLI – who are marking 15 years of patrolling beaches along Northern Ireland’s coast.
The lifeguard service began 10 years after the service was first launched in England and covers beaches on the north coast and County Down.
Todd and his children Issy and Zack, who were 18 and 13 at the time, were swimming off Whiterocks beach near Portrush in County Antrim in the summer of 2022 when they got into trouble.
As an experienced water user, Todd had given them advice on safety, including swimming between the red and yellow flags marking the area patrolled by lifeguards.
But after a while he noticed they were moving down the beach and that his son was struggling to swim.
“Straight away I knew he was in a rip [current],” Todd, who lives in Helen’s Bay in County Down, said.
“The lifeguard said afterwards that the rip formed so quickly… it just absolutely came from nowhere.
“That’s the thing, the days change constantly, you’ve got to keep your wits about you and that day we just got caught off guard.”
