A COURAGEOUS lifeboat crew had to fight against the tide to rescue two children who were stranded on a shingle bank.

The incredible actions of the Selsey RNLI team during the rescue in September 2020 were shown on BBC show Saving Lives at Sea this week.

The volunteer crew received several emergency calls reporting people stranded on Kirk Arrow shingle bank on the west side of Selsey Hill.

Less than ten minutes after the pagers sounded, the crew were on board the inshore lifeboat and headed at full speed to Kirk Arrow, which was set to disappear under the tide in minutes.

Speaking on the BBC show, one volunteer said: “Kirk Arrow is a really large shingle sand bank which sits about 150 metres off the beach, but it floods very quickly so as the tide rises that bank becomes covered by the incoming tide.”

The crew then received a call that a paddle boarder who was connected to the group had found himself in trouble.

“We knew the tide was rising so we got there to prevent them trying to do something that might put themselves in more danger,” said a Selsey crew member.

Within seconds, the people stranded on Kirk Arrow were in sight and one crewman spotted the paddleboard and a man struggling in the water nearby.

The “physically exhausted” man was helped onto the lifeboat and soon revealed that he had taken his paddleboard out to try and rescue his children who were among the stranded.

One volunteer said his emotions “immediately changed” when he heard children were involved.

He said: “The biggest concern when it’s children stranded on Kirk Arrow is you don’t want them to try and make it back.

“Little people get carried by the water quicker than big people do.”

Speaking after the event to the BBC show, the father said: “I was aware the tide was rising, and I was just worried what was going through their minds.

“I definitely felt afraid. The main thing I was focused on was the safety of the kids.”

On arrival at the shingle bank, they found they children - six-year-old Katie and eight-year-old Freddie - and four adults who had been cut off by the tide.

Freddie told the show he was the “happiest he had ever been” after he was reunited with his father.

He said: “I was just so, so scared. I thought I’d never see him again.”

Saving Lives at Sea will air on BBC One every Tuesday and previous episodes are available on BBC iPlayer.