2023 Winner
FINLEY HASSALL
Rescued a boy from drowning by using RNLI’s ‘float to live technique’, and pulling him back to shore.
Finley was bodyboarding in the sea with his younger brother on a family holiday to Cornwall when he heard another child shouting for help. A boy of about Finley’s age had been swept out by the current and was in danger of drowning.
Finley swam out to the boy, who was around six metres further off shore. “I was about chest height in the water but he was much further out and was trying to float on a rugby ball,” said Finley. “I saw waves going over his head and he was splashing and struggling. He was clearly panicking. When I came close enough he said he couldn’t get back because the current was too strong.”
Finley, from Kingswinford, near Dudley, knew exactly what to do after recalling an article he had read about the ‘Float To Live’ technique in the RNLI’s magazine for young supporters. He told the boy to float on his back like a starfish to regain control of his breathing, and helped him to stay calm.
“‘I said I’d done this at my swimming lessons before. He went onto his back and I was talking to him and trying to get him to take deep breaths to calm him down.”
Once the boy was floating more calmly, Finley put his arms around him and pulled him back to shore where his panicked mother was being comforted by Finley’s mother Tara Patel, a paramedic.
The boy was shaken but unharmed, and Tara said: “If it had not been for Finley and his quick thinking, that boy could have drowned. Finley was so brave and knew exactly what to do. I am so proud.”