RNLI lifeguards and local communities across the South Hams have been marking Lifeguard Appreciation Day (July 31) by celebrating the people behind the red and yellow flags and recognising the incredible impact they have made over the last 25 years.

Since RNLI lifeguards first began patrolling beaches in 2001, teams across the South West have saved 1,098 lives, aided 167,592 people through rescues, interventions and casualty care, responded to 185,954 incidents, and carried out more than 22 million preventative actions to help keep beachgoers safe.

Samuel McPherson from Bigbury recalls getting into difficulty: “I was windsurfing off Bigbury and it was pretty light winds it was a nice sunny day and I just got taken into the river mouth by the current and there wasn't enough wind there to get back to the beach so I had to get saved by the jet ski crew.

“I’m really grateful for what they did.”

New Zealander Will Simonds was one of those involved in the rescue and was reunited with Samuel.

He said it was often on a calm day that things like that happen and he was very happy to help.

Senior RNLI Lifeguard Daisy Womack said: “We’ve got our annual lifeguard challenge.

“It involves a long run a swim and a ball paddle and it's a friendly competition and a lot of people from the lifeguard team are doing that.

“We recently did a 25 year challenge and there was five of us and we ran two and a half kilometres every hour for 25 hours raising money for four news boards.”

While dramatic rescues often capture public attention, the vast majority of RNLI lifeguards' work involves preventing incidents before they happen.

Advice given on the beach, moving swimmers away from danger, educating water users and encouraging people to swim between the red and yellow flags all play an important role in saving lives.