Kayaker pulled from water after night mayday call

A kayaker with hypothermia had to be rescued from the water after going out during the night and capsizing.

Seahouses RNLI was paged by HM Coastguard at 04:33 BST on Sunday to the man who was between Seahouses and the Farne Islands off the Northumberland coast.

Crew at the station spotted the casualty and directed the inshore boat to his location.

Ian Clayton from Seahouses RNLI said: "We are here to save lives at sea, and that morning our crew did just that."

"We understand the kayaker had been trying to paddle around Holy Island overnight and had been at sea for a number of hours," Mr Clayton said.

"The conditions were quite choppy and the kayak had capsized and he been trying to get back in for a while.

"The situation was becoming quite serious, so he made a mayday call using a marine VHF radio he was carrying," he added.

The man was found clinging to his capsized kayak, and was "cold and uncommunicative" due to hypothermia.

The crew called an ambulance which met the lifeboat at Seahouses harbour and took the casualty to hospital.

Meanwhile, Craster Inshore Lifeboat, which had also been called out, was able to recover the capsized kayak and take it back to Seahouses.

The kayaker made a good recovery and returned later that day to thank the crew.

Mr Clayton said: "I doubt this chap would have been able to hang on much longer, and his distress radio call may have saved his life.”

"It just shows the importance of being well equipped when you go out to sea.

"Without that radio there may well have been a very different outcome," he added.

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