Lifeguard Drowning: Pulled Out to Sea

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0:57It's a hot summer's day in July 1967 on Spain's southern coast. Today, the Costa del Sol is living up to its name. The shoreline is steeped in sunshine, brilliant rays glinting off the soft golden sand and azure waters of the Mediterranean. Brightly colored fishing boats bob gently on the rolling waves, followed by flocks of gulls arcing and wheeling through the blue sky as they search for food. Along the miles of pristine beaches that make up this coastline, people relax on lounges or towels, basking in the beauty of their surroundings. But in the small port town of Fuenjirola, the usually serene atmosphere is suddenly broken by urgent shouts.

1:47On the beach, a small crowd has gathered, facing out towards the ocean. They squint against the sun and point in horror at two figures locked together in the water. From a distance, they could almost be embracing. Out in the waves, thrashing against the pull of the undertone, 28-year-old Guy Tapelin tightens his grip on the woman he's trying to save, desperately attempting to keep them both above the surface of the water. You're in a very tumultuous situation in the sea. You're in a grip of like an animal, it feels like, you know, and you realise that you're not in control. That's the other thing as well.

2:28You've lost control of the situation. Guy focuses all his energy on kicking his legs and keeping his chin above the surface. But he's fighting a losing battle. A wave rears up and crashes over his head. the briny water stinging his eyes and running down his throat. Despite his best efforts, they're being pulled further out to sea, the figures on the sand growing smaller with alarming speed. His strength is fading fast, and his hold on the woman starts to wane. He scans the empty stretch of water around them. There is nobody to offer help. Their only chance of survival is to make it back to the shore, and that possibility is rapidly vanishing.

3:16I remember sinking back down in the swell and I couldn't move at all my arms and legs. I just had no body strength. You know, you haven't got long drowning. You've only got to take a few mouthfuls of water and you've had it really.

3:34Ever wondered what you would do when disaster strikes? If your life depended on your next decision, could you make the right choice? Welcome to Real Survival Stories. These are the astonishing tales of ordinary people thrown into extraordinary situations. People suddenly forced to fight for their lives.

3:57In this episode, we meet Guy Taplin. In 1967, directionless and in search of adventure, the young man travels with his girlfriend to the south of Spain. A country going through a strange and turbulent time. still under the dictatorship of General Franco, but also enjoying a massive tourism boom. And it's in this unique setting that Englishman Guy faces a dark and dangerous episode. Settling into life on the coast, at first the days slip by in a happy haze. When a fellow beachgoer gets caught in the pull of a sudden and powerful riptide, Guy jumps in to help. Battling against the choppy waves and strong current, he quickly finds himself plunged into a desperate fight for his own life as well.

4:44We went straight out on this rip. The undertow had us. Guy and the woman will be swept far out to sea, beyond the reach of any help. Barely able to keep their heads above water, their strength is running out. In that sea, you're in the grip of something, and you read about it and see it on the telly, and then it's happening to you. you're caught in this current. Everything's incredibly intense. Whatever's happening beyond the conscious mind is going into full action, you know, to survival. I'm John Hopkins. From the Noiser Podcast Network, this is Real Survival Stories.

5:43It's July 1967, a beautiful summer's day in the south of Spain. The air is hot and dry, the dusty landscape parched by the sweltering heat that is so characteristic of the area at this time of year. In the brilliant blue skies above Juanirola, situated some 20 miles down the coast from Malaga, the sun burns fiercely, its rays bouncing off the pretty, whitewashed buildings that make up this small Andalusian port town. On a brush-covered hill above the settlement, the remains of a 10th-century Moorish castle overlook the rich blue waters of the Mediterranean, where the white-capped waves roll gently onto the miles of sandy beach that border the town.

6:29But among the more traditional buildings, new structures are also starting to spring up. Apartment blocks, hotels, and restaurants for a growing tourist trade, which has begun to blossom along this picturesque coastline. In the past decade or so, increasing numbers of international holidaymakers have begun to visit the aptly named Costa del Sol, drawn to the warm climate and beautiful shores. The resulting economic boom is being felt across the country, which, still under Franco's military dictatorship, is developing with astounding speed. Most tourists have come to the area for just a week or two of relaxation.

7:11But there are others, such as 28-year-old Guy Taplin, who have travelled here with a less firm plan in mind. When you got down there, you didn't talk about what you did, you just entered the life. It wasn't elite for me. It was just a very natural thing to do. I mean, I was free, free to do whatever I wanted. Only a few days ago, Guy was in the UK, working as a lifeguard at a pool in London. When he saw some of his contemporaries drop everything and head out into the big wide world, he was inspired. Soon, Guy and his art student girlfriend Lou decided to take the plunge by quitting their lives in England and driving to Spain.

7:53The other lifeguards I was working with, what they used to do was to get a car on HP, usually an American car, you know, big one, and then just clear off. Not pay the things or anything, just clear off. They went down to Spain, so we thought, we'll join them down there. Since arriving in Fuenjeroa, Guy and Lou have made the most of their new surroundings, getting to know both the locals and other tourists, and finding casual work to keep some money rolling in. Lou got a job in an Indian restaurant it was very unusual in Spain in that period and I got a job as a chef but the chef involved them cooking the food somewhere or other and freezing it so all I had to do was when they got the order you take it out of the freezer eat it up and serve it you know it was pretty basic but I usually got drunk unfortunately very hard and I got the sack out of that so I was floating around on the beach With plenty of free time on their hands, Guy and Lou enjoy many restful days of sand and sun.

8:57Today is especially hot. The coastline looks particularly dazzling. Lou rolls over on the sand, exposing her tanned back to the warming rays. Beside her, Guy shields his eyes and glances out at the expanse of foam-crested waves, where people paddle lazily in the surf or swim slowly out into deeper waters. It's a tranquil scene and his previous life seems worlds away. I was born in 1939 in London. My dad worked at Woolwich Arsenal and it got bombed out because they come up the Thames and he had to move and he got posted to Hereford and me and my mum went there and I went to school there and I suppose really they probably weren't very fond of people from London they thought we were all a bit cocky and I didn't really make any friends but even there you know we experienced the war.

9:55Despite moving out of the capital for a time and despite his father being unable to serve due to health reasons the second world war still deeply affected Guy and his family. His childhood was marred by the Blitz and memories of it have remained with him over the decades. One particular incident still haunts him. In London I went back and stayed with my aunt and they had an Anderson shelter which had sort of metal things screw to the floor. I must have been probably towards the end of the war when they started to use flying bombs and we got under the table, mum, me and my aunt and I was absolutely terrified.

10:30It's the first time as a child I'd had this choir but not that sort of terrifying fear and it came down in the next street. We went out the next day and the house had just disappeared, didn't it?

10:48After the war ended, Guy became interested in the natural world around him, making frequent trips alone to immerse himself in the beauty and wildness of the countryside. These trips helped to shape his character, fostering his sense of independence and self-sufficiency. through a lot of my life I'd been detached from those around me and really not able to adapt but in a way I did unconsciously because I responded very much to nature I used to go fishing butterfly collecting egg collecting I was always out on my own as well it was difficult to get other chaps to go out with you so I suppose I'd either partly be conditioned to be on my own a lot or I was that way inclined, which I tend to think.

11:34And it's a good thing and a bad thing. You know, it's always a double-edged sword, that sort of thing. After leaving school at 15, Guy worked for a while in the post office before doing two years of national service, one of them in Cyprus. Upon being discharged in 1960, he began looking for work. Jobs were pretty awful and I did a sort of series of jobs. I ended up doing a ladies' hairdressing course, came out of that. then went got a lifeguards job in 1962 went through a series of lidos and went to cleaning and signing on off the dole

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14:01Depop. Where taste recognizes taste. As work didn't always grab Guy's interest, he found stimulation elsewhere. Particularly at the public library. It was a very interesting period because people like Kerouac, Dylan Thomas with Undermilkwood, Salinger, Kafka I was reading all those in the library in the wintertime I used to go up there and just pull them off the shelf You know, Hemingway, Jack London, all those sort of stories Probably more read now by certain people, but they weren't then amongst the working classes It wasn't long before you discovered a trove of new art and literature It began firing his imagination and his desire to find out more.

14:50I sensed it was another world. I remember going into the reading room in Latenstone Library and they had studio magazine and they had pictures of Hockney. This must have been in 1960 when he did those San Francisco pictures of the swimming pool. And I thought, wow, they're really good, you know. And there was a lot of energy about them. With the advent of the counterculture, Guy soon found himself immersed in the excitement and hedonism of swinging 60s London. A revolutionary melting pot of clubs, drugs, music, art and fashion. It was amazing. And so I entered that world. And then I met this girlfriend at Hornsley Lido where I was working as a lifeguard.

15:29And she was in the art world. She was an art student at Hornsley. Up to then I'd been basically a working class boy. In those days there was no crossover. but his social circle quickly widened. Working at the swimming pool, or Lido, gave Guy the opportunity to meet all sorts of strange and interesting people he may never have encountered otherwise. Swimming pools are funny places. They attract odd people. It was that sort of weird environment, you know, and I'd worked at a lot of pools and there was a lot of weird things going on. Some quite extreme things, people dying and all sorts of things, you know.

16:05Well, looking back on it, it attracted people that were always on the move.

16:14By the time he was in his late 20s, Guy found himself adrift and purposeless, unsure of how he wanted to live the rest of his life or what he wanted to do. Most people I grew up with at that period got a job or a trade was the thing you got because it was secure, you're guaranteed a wage. The things to get was Fleet Street on the press, Meat Porter, another one, Lighterman on the Thames, which I nearly got, but it was too far after for me to travel. Docks was another one, another good job. But I just floated from one thing to another. I had no sense of direction. There was nothing in the working class.

16:49The only way you could get out of it was to be a footballer or a boxer. Guy's lack of direction may come with problems, but it also means he has fewer commitments and more freedom than many to reinvent himself, try something new. So when some of his fellow lifeguards decide to travel down to Spain, there is little holding him back from joining them.

17:22Reclining on the beach in the Costa del Sol, Guy and Lou stretch out on their towels, their bodies cushioned by the soft sand as the Chateau locals and the crash of the waves echo around the sun-kissed shoreline. He sighs, enjoying the warmth on his face and the cloudless blue sky above him. This is the life. But suddenly, the calm is interrupted. Seemingly out of nowhere, the usually serene sea changes, the waves growing large and wild as they thunder onto the sand and then somebody calls guy's name i'm on the beach in fingerola there's a bar next to us you know where we used to sit around and it's a big surf very big surf running there was no one on it and i'm sitting there and it's hot i'm sitting there with lou and this guy comes flying down the beach and says there's somebody drowning further down.

18:21But he must have known that I was a lifeguard. Guy leaps to his feet and follows the man back up the beach, the warm sand sticking to his toes as they run. It's hard going in the heat, and by the time they reach a small crowd gathering on the shore, they're panting. The air fills with confused shouts, Spanish and English mingling as the onlookers point in mountain concern to a small, lone figure struggling in the water some way out. She's moving quickly away from the land, dragged out into the sea by some powerful, unseen force. In the chaos, someone fetches a rope and harness kept in a local bar for emergencies.

19:05They shove it towards Guy, then gesture urgently towards the woman in the water. As the only trained lifeguard on hand, it seems the task of rescuing her has fallen to him. And I thought, well, why am I getting it? You know, I mean, I'm a lifeguard, but I mean, I obviously thought I was going to do it, and I did. And I put it on, and I knew nothing about diving under the waves. Guy wraps the harness around his chest. He can do little else. Out in the sea, the woman's head keeps sinking under the surf And without help, she will likely drown Besides, everyone's expectations are on him I thought, oh my god, you know, I've got to do this, you know And I really didn't want to, but I did Suppressing his nerves, Guy secures the harness Several people in the crowd grasp hold of the rope Readying themselves to pull him back in once he reaches the struggling woman Then, he heads for the water.

20:10I could see this woman. She was right out beyond the surf. What happened was I went out in these big, big, big waves. And you thought you ain't got bashed back there. But the undertow carried you out. As soon as he plunges into the sea, Guy is caught in the grip of a surprisingly ferocious current. Within seconds, he's carried away in the swell, tossed around as if he were nothing more than a cork in the ocean. This rescue mission is going to be even harder than he thought. You're in a very tumultuous situation in the sea. The current's got you. You're in a grip of like an animal, it feels like.

20:48You realise that you're not in control. You've lost control of the situation.

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22:03It's July 1967 on Spain's Costa del Sol. For the most part, the waters of the Mediterranean are relatively warm and calm at this time of year. But today, large waves are breaking up on the shore, and a strong swell is churning the usually placid sea. And in the turbulent sea off the coast of Fuenjirola, two figures are being carried away from land with horrifying speed, caught in the pull of a fast and powerful current. Guy Taplin battles his way through the waves, trying to reach the woman he entered the water to save. Although he's worked as a lifeguard at Lido's and Poole's back in the UK, He's unprepared for the unpredictable might of the sea.

22:50I didn't know anything about undertoes and rips. I'd worked in a Lido, and if you can swim, you could save somebody. It's in a Lido, it's a piece of cake, you know. Usually it's a kid, usually they're in three or four foot of water, so you can stand up and you just pull them out. The sea is another thing altogether. Guy and the woman who's tried to help are caught. in a riptide, a fast, dangerous current caused by tidal movements. It flows away from the land and pulls everything in its path out to sea. They can extend for hundreds, sometimes thousands of feet, with potentially deadly consequences to unsuspecting swimmers.

23:35Guy fights his way towards the struggling woman as the waves rear up and crash down on top of it. The rope, attached to his harness, stretches out behind him, his one flimsy lifeline to the small crowd of onlookers back on land. Eventually, he is close enough to get hold of the woman. I mean, you're just in a very big swell, you know, going up and down, you know. I grabbed hold of her, she must have weighed about 14 stone, early 50s. And she was Spanish, she didn't say anything to me, and I don't remember saying anything to her, I just grabbed hold of her. Wordlessly, the Spanish woman clings to Guy, her fingernails digging into his arm.

24:16He wraps the harness around her to bind them together, then turns towards the shore and signals to be hauled in. The crowd on the beach heaves on the rope, dragging the combined weight of two people against the pull of the riptide. A human chain begins to form on the sand, snaking out into the surf to try to grab Guy and the woman as soon as they are brought into shallow water. The harness cuts deep into his chest as the rope strains taut, making it hard for him to breathe. Slowly, the two of them are hauled closer to the land and to safety. They formed a human chain into the water. We got really close, probably four or five foot away.

25:00She was virtually on the beach and they grabbed hold of her and then I was pulled out. The rope broke. It happens in a heartbeat. The seemingly solid line is suddenly severed, the frayed ends left flapping uselessly in the waves. Having been stored in a beachside bar for years, unneeded and unused, the rope has gone rotten and snapped. Hands reach towards Guy and the woman, trying to pull them from the grasp of the current. But it's too late. Instantly, the power of the riptide is upon them once again. The woman is dragged from the hands of her rescuers, and the pair of them are swept back out to sea, their chance of rescue cruelly snatched away.

25:48We went straight out again on this rip. The undertow had us. I was carried out with her through the waves, up and down, and then we were back where we started in the big swell. In a single moment, the situation has changed drastically. Pulled back out into deep water by the riptide, and with nothing now tethering them to the shore, they are truly beyond the bounds of help. As they are dragged further away from land, the reality of what's just happened begins to sink in. Everything's very brilliant. I mean, strangely enough, incredibly alive. I mean, And so it should be, really, because everything in you at that point is very rapidly trying to assimilate what's going on and is preparing you for trying to survive.