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Wales Online
Wales Online
Lifestyle
Stephanie Colderick

BBC Saving Lives at Sea: 16 paddleboarders rescued from Welsh coast were oblivious to the danger they were in

Sixteen paddleboarders landed themselves in dangerous water on the west Wales coast while they were totally oblivious to the threat they were in. The local RNLI had to launch their biggest vessel as part of the rescue, which was shown on BBC's Saving Lives at Sea.

During summer, just off the coast from St David's, the group of 16 paddleboards came into trouble while near Ramsey Island. They had paddled out from the harbour and were totally unaware of the dangers surrounding their trip.

The island was surrounded by strong currents which would have easily pulled the paddle boarders out to sea, making it very hard for them to battle back to shore. It took a local tour guide boat to point out to the paddleboarders that one of their team had already floated out to sea and that it would not be an easy journey back.

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The tour guide then had to convince the paddleboarders to call the RNLI, as two members of the team were children and none were experienced paddle boarders. The RNLI had to launch their biggest lifeboat to rescue all 16 people and one team member Will, who had been a lifeguard for 26 years, had never had to rescue so many people at once.

Will said they could instantly tell the paddleboarders were not experienced. He said: "The fact that none of them were standing up on their feet I think was a sign that they weren't very experienced."

Another lifeguard, also named Will, said he was shocked to see children and people sharing paddleboards. He said: "There was a couple of them sharing paddleboards with younger children which I was a bit surprised about."

Will added that the group had not grasped the trouble they were in. He said: "They were completely oblivious to the fact that they were actually in any difficulty at all."

The RNLI were able to help the paddleboarders onto their boat, as well as their paddleboards, and although it was a tight squeeze all 16 people fitted. The paddleboarders were dropped back off at the harbour with all 16 making it to safety and the lifeguards explained to them the dangerous waters surrounding the island.

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