Hero Eastbourne surfers helped save woman cut off by tide at Birling Gap

Liam Harris, along with fellow surfers Noah Canby and Joe Pert, discovered a woman had been cut off by the tide.

Mr Harris, who works for the NHS, said, “The waves were bigger and a lot more powerful than usual due to a long period groundswell.

“We paddled around submerged rocks to get onto the tiny beach that the lady was standing on.

“The beach was getting smaller all the time. The waves were crashing against the cliff making it impossible to get her back to Birling Gap beach.

“We made the decision to wait on the beach for the inshore lifeboat but we were fully aware that it wouldn’t be able to come close to the beach due to rocks and a big shorebreak.”

Mr Pert paddled off to raise the alarm before the lifeboat rib arrived.

When the boat did arrive Mr Canby, who is a lifeguard, swam out to it in order to retrieve a life jacket for the woman.

Mr Harris said, “By this time I was holding the lady up against the surge. We got the life jacket on her and inflated it. We then committed to go. The next surge basically took us anyway.

“We somehow managed to swim her out through 8ft solid waves breaking on our heads.

“The rib was now trying to reverse towards us to get to the lady faster. We watched it get caught by a large set, go sideways and crash on the beach.

“My heart sank as that was the boat that was meant to rescue her.

“We committed to paddling out through the breaking waves which we achieved.”

Once the lifeboat staff had reached them they put the woman on top of two surfboards and waited for the helicopter to arrive although the surfer was keen to say that they tend to know how to avoid danger at sea.

Mr Harris said, “Most surfers are very knowledgeable about local sea conditions and rarely need rescue but are usually prepared to help people in need. They deserve a better reputation than they’ve had recently.”

During the incident Mr Carnby also lost his new surfboard so Mr Harris has decided to start a fund-raiser to help pay for the new surf equipment but all money raised over the £700 will go to the RNLI for a new rib.

Mr Harris said, “We are setting up the go fund me to pay for a new board for Noah Canby and also to raise money for the RNLI to replace their rib.”

If you would like to donate visit, https://www.gofundme.com/f/helping-noah-get-a-new-surfboard?utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet&utm_medium=copy_link_all&utm_source=customer.