I was minutes from dying - then I heard the lifeboat crewman's voice

Hypothermic and clinging to her paddleboard after being swept out to sea, mother-of-four Mandy Galloway felt her life slipping away.

She became colder and colder and lost the feeling in her legs as she drifted off the Fife coast.

But just as she gave up hope of help arriving, she heard the friendly voice of a lifeboat crew member.

Mandy has now been reunited with the lifeboat crew who rescued her in July 2023 - and admitted she has not returned to the water since.

"Obviously it's never left me," the 45-year-old from Methil told BBC Scotland News.

"That was quite a horrific, traumatic experience, because I was only a couple of minutes from dying, so the emotions are still quite raw even though it was a wee while ago."

Mandy had been at Kingsbarns Beach with her partner on a "lovely" summer day when they decided to go paddleboarding.

"There was no intention of going anywhere past a few metres, but the wind picked up quite quickly," she said.

Her partner managed to paddle to shore to raise the alarm but Mandy found herself drifting "further and further out".

She said: "I was really upset and obviously scared.

"I was on my knees on the paddle board, holding on to the side."

But she was hopeful that she would be rescued soon.

"I knew Anstruther was just around the corner so I was waiting on a boat coming round the corner," she said.

"But I was going out further and further and my legs started to go numb because I was on my knees.

"So I tried to get on to my bum, but when I did the wave caught me and tipped me."

Mandy said she began to panic when she was under the water, but then started to experience a "surreal calm."

She said: "I was talking to my auntie and uncle, who are no longer here, and I think that's what kept my brain going.

"I was talking to them the whole time, making promises that I would be better with my children, we would make lots of memories, if they could just keep me here."

As she got colder, Mandy said she thought that no one was coming to rescue her.

"The waves were getting higher and higher," she said. "I couldn't hear anything but the water, my grip was going.

"At that point, I just said 'well, if you're going to let me die here, please let me pass out before I go under'."

Then Mandy heard a man's voice saying: "We are so glad to see you."

The voice belonged to Scott Brown, a crew member on the D-class inshore lifeboat that had been searching for Mandy after receiving multiple 999 calls.

Scott said: "I think I said 'I'm so glad to see you' and she repeated that back to me.

"But we realised straight away she was in a really, really bad way."

Mandy had been spotted by Scott's crew mate Louis McNaught.

Louis said: "She was very pale, very cold, shivering, barely clinging on to the board."

The crew had been searching for Mandy for more than 40 minutes, while she clung to the board.

Scott said: "The information I was given was a blue and white paddle board, which doesn't help when the sea is blue and white.

"She was wearing dark clothing, no wetsuit, no lifejacket, so that was really concerning given the sea state and the wind."

With no sign of Mandy at her last known location, the crew extended its search further out.

Scott said: "I think we actually found her almost two miles from her last known location, which is a great distance to have travelled in the sea.

"When we saw the paddleboard it was instant relief, but we were also still worried.

"We didn't know if Mandy was attached to the paddle board or is she unconscious, has she drowned?"

Mandy said: "It's kind of hazy but I remember them trying to pull me into the boat.

"One of the boys on the boat, I remember putting my hand on his leg, I didn't think it was real.

"He put his hand on my hand, and I was like, oh they are real."

Mandy was given medical assistance after being transferred to the all-weather lifeboat.

Lifeboat medical advisor John Marston said: "We were quite concerned on the journey back, but when we got her into harbour and we saw the paramedics there I think it was a huge relief for everyone."

Mandy said her ordeal did not really sink in for a few days.

She said: "I didn't tell any of my family until we got home from hospital. I told my sons and they just broke down crying."

Mandy urged other paddle boarders to take proper precautions before going out on the water.

She said: "Obviously don't go dressed like me, try and wear a wetsuit and a lifejacket.

"I had a swimming costume on, a T-shirt and a pair of Crocs. That's not appropriate."

The RNLI were called out to 13 paddleboard incidents in Scotland last year and 14 the year before.

Lifeboats in Scotland launched 1,172 times last year and 37 lives were saved. The number of callouts were 10 fewer than in 2024.

Scott said: "You really need to be prepared. Check the tides, the weather, the wind speed.

"Have wetsuits and lifejackets, tell people where you're going, have a mobile phone."

The crew said it had been emotional reuniting with the woman whose life they saved.

Scott said: "It was really nice to meet Mandy again, it's something that doesn't happen often."

Mandy said: "I feel so special to have met the crew that saved me.

"I can't remember what any of them looked like but their voices are very familiar now that I've met them.

"They do this unpaid, they are actual heroes."