AN off-duty Yarmouth RNLI crew member ordered five men out of the sea after he feared they would be swept away by the current.

Alex Pimm, 22, of Ningwood, has been on the Yarmouth crew for five years.

He works for Needles Pleasure Cruisers and was piloting his boat, the Summer Rose, with visitors on board.

Alex explained: "I was coming around The Needles when I saw a bunch of five people about to jump off a small corner of Scratchell's Bay. They would have had to swim there and walk along the beach.

"I could see they had wet suits and life jackets on. Then as I came to St Anthony Rock they had gone into the sea but one of the older guys, who looked like he was in his 60's, accidentally inflated his lifejacket.

"It looked like they were struggling and, as I moved the Summer Rose closer to them, they waved me over.

"They said they were swimming from Alum Bay, around the Needles Lighthouse and back to Freshwater Bay.

"They asked me how far it was to Freshwater Bay and I said about three nautical miles, but I warned them they were swimming against the tide and the swell conditions were picking up.

"They wanted to carry on but I insisted they had to come on board and another chap on the cruise, who was an experienced sailor, said the same.

"We hauled them on board, they mainly in their 40's.

"The older chap really needed assistance to get into the boat. I was worried he was going to start inhaling water which could lead to secondary drowning. I took them back to Alum Bay and let the Coastguard know they were safe.

"If they had carried on there was no way they would have made it to Freshwater Bay. They could have been carried out to sea. I think they were quite relieved in the end to be dropped off there.

"At the RNLI we run a Respect the Water campaign to teach people to never underestimate the sea and all my training helped in this instance."

Alex is the third generation of the Pimm family to be part of the Yarmouth RNLI crew. His brother, Richard, is the mechanic and they have followed in the steps of their father Stuart and grandfather Maurice.