TWO teenage girls cut off by the tide beneath steep cliffs in Whitsand Bay were rescued by both Looe lifeboats in heavy surf on Friday (April 8).

They were uninjured, but cold and wet.

The girls’ rescuers said they had been in a ‘very precarious’ location on the east side of Freathy Beach They were trapped at half tide and on full tide would have had very little room on the shore, beneath a very steep cliff that was almost impossible to climb to safety.

Looe’s Atlantic Class Lifeboat Alan and Margaret stood off the shore while the D Class Lifeboat Ollie Naismith used a trechnique called ‘kedging’ to edge alongside the rocks and picked the girls up, one after the other.

Dave Haines, Looe RNLI’s Operations Manager, said: ‘There was a heavy surf breaking on the shore that made it very difficult to get into the shore and the D Class Lifeboat had to reposition several times. The lifeboat crew said it was a particular challenge as there was a south westerly wind, freshening with a good four or five feet of surf.’

Both girls were taken by the Atlantic Lifeboat back to Looe Lifeboat Station, from where they were collected by their parents.

Mr Haines said: ‘Kkedging is a skilled technique where a light anchor is used to help manoeuvre the boat into position. Our volunteer crew have practised this during training.

‘People need to be aware of the tides, especially during spring tides, as was the situation on Friday.’

The crew of the Atlantic lifeboat were Dave Jackman (helm), Dave Draper and Aaron Rix. The D Class crew were Gareth Shaw (helm), Daniel Margetts and Matt Jaycock.