A surfer who was dramatically saved by Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) volunteers from Porthcawl RNLI after being washed around a headland into huge breaking waves off the south coast of Wales will appear on TV screens as he recalls the death-defying rescue.
Jack Lyons’ rescue was captured on camera and – along with members of the volunteer lifeboat crew who saved him – he recounts the terrifying moment he was pulled from the sea in the new BBC Two series of Saving Lives at Sea.
Jack, 18, a keen surfer from the US, was in the UK studying when he decided to take advantage of the huge swells which had been stirred up by Storm Brenden in January last year. However, unbeknown to Jack, a rip current was soon to take him out of sight and around a rocky headland into huge breaking waves.
Arriving at the headland, Porthcawl RNLI Helm Chris Missen said: “As we arrived, I can clearly remember the roar of the waves breaking against the shoreline and thinking – that’s a big swell.”
Jack said: “I’m an experienced surfer, but things changed very quickly. I suddenly realised how much danger I was actually in.”
Alongside the dramatic surfer rescue in episode one, the volunteers at Anstruther RNLI, Scotland, face a tricky evacuation after a man had fallen and injured his ankle, while on the south coast, Selsey RNLI launch to a group of people cut off by the incoming tide. Portishead RNLI round up the rescues for the first high drama episode as they search for an open water swimmer – and with the possibility of hypothermia setting in, time is of the essence to find her.
BBC Two series Saving Lives at Sea airs from Tuesday, 24th August at 8.00pm.
