A member of the public ran up the ramp of Exmouth lifeboat station on Friday 18 November, to alert staff of a man clinging to the number eight buoy out at sea.

A kite surfer, a local man, had run into difficulties when his kite became tangled up. Exmouth RNLI sprang into action and the inshore lifeboat George Bearman was launched at 4.18pm. Sea conditions were described as bumpy with a southerly wind and the tide was on the turn. Crew members, Roger Jackson, Ian Taylor and Andy Williams arrived on scene within minutes and found that he was being assisted by another kite surfer but making slow progress.

The casualty was tired but otherwise well and the volunteer crew took him back to shore.