Our volunteer crew were paged by UK Coastguard after National Coastwatch Institution – Porthcawl reported a kite surfer who appeared to be in difficulty off the end of Porthcawl Pier.

He was attempting to swim and drag along his kite and board. Our volunteers launched the D Class lifeboat to assist the kite surfer. Upon arriving on scene the kite surfer asked if we would take his foil kite board as the wind was too weak for him to use it. He insisted on swimming to the beach whilst towing his kite, a distance of around 250m. We stood by along with an RNLI lifeguard on a rescue paddleboard until the kite surfer made it into the beach. Once on the beach shore based RNLI lifeguards and Porthcawl Coastguard met the kite surfer and ensured he required no medical attention.