Dad and two children rescued by surfer after getting stuck in rip current near East Lothian

A dad and two children were rescued by a surfer after getting into difficulty in a rip current in East Lothian.

Stefan Dillon, who is a volunteer crew member with the RNLI at North Berwick, spotted two children struggling against the current at Seacliff beach on Monday.

Following a powerful swell hitting the East Lothian coast over the weekend, areas of the beach were experiencing dumping waves.

Stefan was able to reach the two boys in danger, but soon also had to rescue their dad, who had run into the water to help.

“I wasn’t expecting the waves to be so good, and being a Monday, I had a good section of the beach to myself other than family groups swimming and bodyboarding”, Stefan explained.

“I noticed a couple of heads in the rip current towards the Gegan, at the harbour end of the bay. It looked to be two children from a distance, but I could see that they were struggling against the current.

“By the time I got to the two boys, they were about 100m off the beach and right next to some dangerous rocks. If a big set had come through, we’d have been washed against the rocks.”

The surfer, who is also a member of North Berwick Surf Life Saving Club, got the children to hang onto his board while he tried to get the attention of others on the beach.

“The dad, seeing his kids in trouble, ran into the water, but wasn’t a strong swimmer, so was soon in trouble too. Thankfully, the rip current delivered him to me, but I was struggling to manage the three of them on my surfboard.”

While trying to calm the group down and find a way to get them back to the beach, another surfer came over to help shuttle the casualties back to land.

Stefan said: “The family were shocked and didn’t know anything about rip currents. The RNLI’s float to live campaign exists for situations like this. When you get caught in a rip your first instinct is to swim against it, which very quickly exhausts you and leads to panic.

“Instead of fighting it, you should try to stay calm by floating on your back with your ears submerged. Once you’ve identified which way the current is pulling you, you should swim sideways out of the current, where you’ll most likely be washed ashore.

“I don’t think the boys were even swimming, just paddling, when a big wave knocked them off their feet and into the water.

“There was a point in the rescue where I thought we were all going to get slammed against the rocks, and I was really hoping the lifeboat was on its way. Thankfully everyone was okay, but it could easily have been very different.”

“In any coastal emergency, you should call 999 and ask for the coastguard at the earliest opportunity; they’ll send the correct rescue teams to help.”