On Wednesday 8th August Richard Calvert (66), Worthing Lifeguard Corp. Vice President and Club Captain put his 30 years plus lifesaving experience to excellent use.

He was attending a Barbecue on Goring Green and went down to the beach with his daughter and grandchildren. His attention was drawn to a young girl of about 12 on her own in a rubber dinghy about 50 yards out to sea. There was an offshore wind and an ebb tide. Her mother shouted to her from the shore telling her to row in but it was obvious that this was beyond her. The mother and another man tried to get into another rubber dinghy but it nearly sunk. The mother started rowing on her own. The man grabbed a body board and tried to swim out to the boat. The mother was shouting 'Get a lifeguard'. Richard reports that there were a number of people on the beach and it was decided to contact the coastguard by mobile phone. The coastguard agreed to stay on the line as the incident developed. The mother made good progress and reached the other dinghy. At this point one of the woman's other children, a boy of about six, decided to get into the water with a rubber ring and was immediately carried out to sea.

Richard stripped down to his underpants and swam out to the boy who, by this time, was about 20 yards from shore and towed him back to the care of his daughter. The man by this time was exhausted and clinging on to the body board. Richard swam past him and told him that he would assist him on the way back. He reached the two dinghies which by now were tied together and slowly towed them at least 60 metres back to shore. When he reached the man on the way back he realised that it was possible to stand up and encouraged the man to walk to shore.

Richard told the family that they were very lucky and that if the wind had been stronger they would have had to wait a long time for the RNLI from Shoreham Harbour or Littlehampton. The girl was shocked and shaking quite badly with the cold as they went along the beach to collect their clothes. They did not say thank you, or seem to appreciate the real danger they had been in.

Congratulations Richard on a very successful rescue!