Tynemouth, located in northeast England. Photo: Phil Robson // Unsplash
Two British surfers recently got a first-hand experience of the hidden danger of rip currents. On Saturday, May 17, brothers Euan, 21, and Andrew, 19, rented boards at Tynemouth, a popular surfing beach in northeast England, as the BBC reports. After paddling out into the five-foot surf, northerly winds blew them into a nearby rip current – a near-permanent feature on the southern end of the mile-long beach.
Andrew was the first to get trapped in the current – just as Euan had returned to shore to swap boards. “I did not really know what was going on,” he told the BBC. “I was going full pelt and not getting anywhere.”
Seeing his brother’s distress, Euan paddled over to him and promptly became stuck himself. “It was like trying to swim on a treadmill,” he described afterwards. The pair found themselves being pulled out to sea, they quickly realized the gravity of their predicament.
Then, the brothers became separated. Luckily, Andrew managed to swim onto some nearby rocks, but Euan continued to be carried further and further out. “I was completely helpless,” Euan told the BBC. “I was just very aware no matter how hard or long I swam there was no chance of me fighting this.”
Meanwhile, on shore, beachgoers saw them struggling and called for help. The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) Cullercoats team responded 11 minutes later and soon found Euan. They pulled him aboard their playfully named vessel Daddy’s Girl, then returned to Tynemouth, where his brother was waiting.
“We were in shock,” Euan told the BBC.
Andrew added, “I do not think either of us processed what we had been through.”
