Pembrokeshire RNLI lifeguards enhance lifesaving skills in preparation for next season

RNLI lifeguards Stuart Penfold, Jeff Rogers and senior lifeguard Adam Pitman have spent a week in Teesmouth, picking up vital skills to enhance rescue capabilities on Wales’ beaches next summer.

The three lifeguards who patrolled some of Pembrokeshire’s busiest beaches during the RNLI’s second season in the county, are continuing to train during the autumn months.

RNLI lifeguard training and development manager, Pat Renaud, led a recent training camp at the charity’s Teesmouth base near Middlesbrough for lifeguards stationed across the country.

He said: ‘Training is not only key to the effectiveness of our lifeguard service but also prepares the lifeguards for all foreseeable incidents they may encounter while on duty.’

The week-long training camp was equipment specific, qualifying the lifeguards to crew an Arancia inshore rescue boat (IRB) and drive rescue water craft (RWC). Both the inshore rescue boats and rescue water craft are used for patrolling bathing areas and allow the lifeguards to respond rapidly to incidents in the water. The IRB must be crewed by two people who are trained in boat handling and rescue pickup skills while RWC drivers must complete 20 hours of training on the craft before being assessed on their operating abilities.

Speaking at the end of the training camp, Pat Renaud said it had been a success.

‘It’s a very intensive week for the lifeguards and the RNLI employs some of the country’s best trainers to develop the lifeguards’ skills. They were incredibly keen to learn and enthusiastic and have really impressed the tutors.’

Photograph: RNLI lifeguards Adam Pitman, Stuart Penfold and Jeff Rogers during the week long training session. By RNLI/Adrian Don