HM Coastguard’s rescue teams rushed to Sandbanks beach on Monday (August 29) after emergency reports that two paddleboarders had fallen into the water and were struggling.
The pair had been making the most of the bank holiday and sunshine in Poole when things went wrong. But, thanks to carrying mobile phones in waterproof pouches, they were able to tell the coastguard they had returned to shore safe and well shortly after the incident.
At around 7pm, the Coastguard received multiple 999 calls from people concerned about the paddleboarders’ fall.
The Poole Coastguard Rescue Team and RNLI Poole Lifeboat were sent. The lifeboat quickly found their board tied to a buoy around 100 metres from the beach, but no people were in sight.
So RNLI Poole lifeboats started a search.
The most important 999 call received by the coastguard however was from the paddleboarders themselves, who had managed to swim to shore and confirmed they were okay.
Tom Barnett, team leader at the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre, said: “This shows just how important it is to carry a mobile with you everywhere. Without that 999 call, we would have been searching well into the night.
“Thanks to the preparation of these paddleboarders – having their mobile phone in a waterproof pouch and notifying the coastguard quickly that they were safe – they stopped what could have become a large and extended search.
“The members of public on the beach also did the right thing, by calling 999 and asking for the coastguard to raise the alarm.”
