Newlywed Dental Nurse Rescued from the Waves on Newquay Beach
A newlywed dental nurse was rescued by coastguards and volunteers from the RNLI after getting into difficulty while body-boarding in Newquay on Sunday.
Jennifer Grant was body-boarding with her husband, Warren, and some friends on Porth Beach, on Sunday afternoon, when she started to struggle. The couple had married at Sands Beach Hotel the day before.
Jennifer managed to reach a rock as the tide rose, and clung on until the RNLI boats arrived and rescued her. Two RNLI lifeboats and a coastguard crew were involved. The group had been paddling and swimming in the water for around 45 minutes when a rip current caused the water to become choppy and the tide to rise.
Jennifer, a 30 year old dental nurse from Devon, described the experience as “terrifying”, especially as the sea was calm when they went in. She explained what happened, saying that Warren, her husband, had been caught in the rip and taken towards the rocks and he managed to climb onto them and reach safety. Jennifer tried to swim back to shore, but the current was too strong and it was dragging her and her friend Mitch, over to the rocks too.
Jennifer told a local newspaper how frightened she was, clinging onto a rock as waves swept around her, but she managed to stay calm and was hopeful that help would arrive, as Warren had managed to get back to shore and raise the alarm.
A lifeboat arrived and one of the lifeguards jumped in and swam towards her, guiding her down to a place where she could jump into the boat, which was being buffeted around in the waves. After a check in the ambulance, Jennifer was given the all-clear. She had a few scratches and bruises but it could have been so much worse.
The couple had enjoyed a “perfect” wedding day just a few hours later and are now looking forward to flying to Egypt for their honeymoon.
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