a 50-year-old local man was on Sunday morning taken to hospital with a suspected fractured hip after his kite surfer collided with a buoy

Exmouth Beach Rescue Club swung into action on the first day of summer patrols rescuing a kitesurfer suffering a suspected broken hip after he collided with a buoy.

The 50-year-old local man was on Sunday brought to shore by the RNLI lifeguard’s jet-ski at around 11.30am while the volunteer beach rescue club lifeguards recovered the man’s equipment using their Arancia rescue boat.

The man, who suffered a suspected broken hip and fell unconscious on the beach, was treated on the beach by lifeguards and West Country Ambulance paramedics before being taken to hospital by ambulance.

RNLI lifeguard supervisor Julian Smart said: “There was a strong onshore wind on Sunday which meant there were lots of kite surfers and other water users in the water.

“A male kite surfer, who is known locally and is very experienced, caught a bit of air he didn’t intend to and hit one of the green navigation bouys at the mouth of the estuary.

“Lifeguards Lee Newby, Ryan Spring and Tim Smart were on patrol and responded to the incident.

“They launched the rescue watercraft and went to the man in the water who said he had leg pain.

“The lifeguards brought him back to the beach where the man fell unconscious. They administered first aid and brought him back around, until paramedics arrived and took him to hospital.”

Exmouth Beach Rescue Club spokesman Nigel Snowshall said: “Once again our members have been working very hard through the winter months training and re-qualifying in readiness for the season.

“The club is an important training provider for lifeguards locally and many of our members will be employed by the RNLI again this year

“Lifeguards are trained to deal with incidents of all types. We try where we can to prevent incidents from occurring in the first place, however, with so many people enjoying a wide variety of water sports, it is inevitable that incidents will occur and that is when lifeguards being immediately available is essential.

“When incidents happen in the water you have seconds to react and just a couple minutes to remove the casualty from the water.”

The voluntary Exmouth Beach Rescue Club, has around 50 members, was formed in 1986, trains throughout the year and provides regular voluntary lifeguard patrols throughout the summer season.

Last year club lifeguards dealt with 427 incidents.

• The club welcomes new members. For more information email: ebrc@hotmail.co.uk

Or visit: http://exmouthbeachrescue.blogspot.com