I was on the beach walking the dogs with a friend this week. It was nearly dusk and the beach was nearly empty. There were a few casual strollers and a surf board scattered along the tide line with a couple of surfers out to sea. I silently felt unease as we walked past the solitary board but continued down the beach with the dogs bounding around like hooligans. On our way back the sirens of the coastguard howled down to the beach carpark. Then the sea-king fired overhead, behind us a surfer was pacing the beach on a phone, holding the surfboard. We walked back towards the sea where Clare could offer help as she was also a coastguard and knew they were down on crew this week. We walked back to the tideline and paused to chat with the first coastguard. I realised I knew the surfer pacing and the other coastguard with him. It was Tom who I had met at a show that we had put on in the summer. He came up with his brothers band, Greydog. Such a lovely chap and someone who you instantly trusted and liked. It was his brother who had gone missing in the surf, he looked in shock and was looking towards us. I was looking down towards the RNLI rib and towards Perran Sands and Flat Rock… over the rock and past Tom, another surfer was running and waving towards us. No one else had seen him so I shouted to Tom, he sprinted off like an Olympic runner, down to the rocks and through the rising tide. From then everything happened so quickly. The RNLI rib raced to the beach, The sea king landed and a couple of girls were racing towards it all, wading through the rising water with no care for their safety. More and more trucks turned up and it all became very serious. We walked as far as we safely could and then headed back to the car… the sea king was heavy in the air as it passed over our heads and on towards Truro. I texted a mutual friend who I thought could give Tom support before he knew he needed it.
the mornings headline was ” man dies surfing at Perranporth”
I can’t stop thinking about it and how the lives of his family and friends are imploding while I’m eating my breakfast.
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