A KITE SURFER rescued a swimmer in difficulty off the coast of Seven Heads Peninsula in West Cork yesterday evening.

Kite surfer Dylan Green was surfing at Broadstrand for the first time yesterday evening when a swimmer close to the shore alerted him to a woman who was struggling in the water.

Speaking to The Journal, Green said that he was out kitesurfing at the time when he saw a woman frantically waving at him, who told him that her friend was struggling further out.

Green told her to phone the emergency services and the RNLI, and he went out to look for her.

Green located the swimmer around 100 metres from the rocks on the shore and managed to rescue the woman using his kite to help drag them back to shore.

“I managed to get her in off the water… I was just delighted to help,” said Green, who had kept one hand on his kite and another on the woman to ensure that they didn’t get separated.

A RNLI lifeboat had been deployed at 5:20pm and arrived 15 minutes later, but by the time it arrived, Green had already rescued the woman.

The windy conditions helped Green manoeuvre back to shore, where the woman was assessed and treated by locals before the HSE Ambulance and Rapid Response Team arrived.

The woman was later able to return home with her family after an assessment of her condition.

Green said that at the time, due to everything happening so quickly, he was unable to activate his locator beacon that would’ve signalled to the coastguard that he was in trouble.

He was also concerned about his own safety at the time, due to the strong winds and high, shoulder height waves.

“My fear was what if both of us get into trouble here.”

Brian O’Dwyer, the Courtmacsherry RNLI Voluntary Lifeboat Operations Manager, said that the actions of Green were amazing to witness.

“It was amazing to witness myself, the great skill of the kite surfer this evening, who prevented a very serious incident from happening,” said O’Dwyer.

O’Dwyer also thanked those who were on shore who called emergency services so quickly, saying that every minute is important to a person’s safety.

The RNLI lifeboat crew who were involved in the rescue were: Coxswain Mark Gannon, Mechanic Chris Guy and crewmembers Tadgh McCarthy, Mark John Gannon, Evin O Sullivan, Ken Cashman and Dave Philips.