An off-duty lifeguard out for a surf ended up carrying out multiple rescues at a Falmouth beach as people struggled in a strong rip current.

Joel Foote was one of a number of volunteers who carried out rescues at Gyllyngvase and Swanpool yesterday, with Gyllyngvase Surf Life Saving Club (SLSC) volunteers also stepping in to help out other swimmers and save two lives.

It came on the same day as three three incidents at Maenporth, with coastguards calling those involved "extremely lucky."

Read more: Swimmers extremely lucky as emergency services deal with three incidents at Falmouth beach

Joel arrived at Gyllyngvase just after 3pm and almost immediately was made aware of two girls struggling in a rip on the right hand reef.

He told the Packet: "There was a good number of people trying to get out to them. I paddled out on my foamy [board] to the girls, who were going under by this time."

Giving them his board to hang on to, he went on to tow a boy of around 13 out of the rip and back to his depth, before going back to the girls and taking them to the beach.

"Immediately after five boys between the age of 13 and 14 went in the rip; I advised and shadowed them back to the sand," he said.

And not long after that, at around 3.45pm, a father and his two young sons also got stuck in the rip, with Joel pulling one of the boys out and escorting them all back to the beach.

At this point Joel decided to stay sitting on the beach in front of the rip until 6pm, to stop anyone else from entering it.

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He is now warning people that with easterly winds forecast until at least Monday, there is likely to be a rip current on the right hand reef for the two hours before low tide.

"The onshore wind doesn’t seem to be putting off a good number of inexperienced swimmers," he added.

Due to the strong easterly winds, Gyllyngvase, Swanpool and Maenporth as well as other beaches across the south of Cornwall have been experiencing dangerous conditions over the past few days.

Another rescue was performed by a Gyllyngvase Surf Life Saving Club member at Swanpool.

They said: "I pulled a kid out of rip on Swanpool. The mum was oblivious on the beach and the dad was too busy trying to catch waves."

There were also a number of assists and interventions by other club members and off-duty lifeguards throughout the day, as despite RNLI lifeguards being able to patrol the beaches, many say they still want to work.

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One said: "RNLI lifeguards want to work, but they are not currently being allowed to do so.

"That's why you're still seeing ex-lifeguards patrolling our beaches, not being paid and with no sustainable income elsewhere, supporting our communities and keeping the public safe - helping to reduce the call-outs for lifeboat crews and coastguard teams."

Gyllyngvase SLSC is currently in the process of trying to establish some patrols on Falmouth's beaches starting next week, with more information on this to follow.