Man blown two miles out to sea on inflatable
Ryde Beach LifeguardsA man has been rescued by lifeguards after drifting two miles out to sea on an inflatable dingy.
Ryde Beach Lifeguards sent a water scooter in high winds to collect the man off Shanklin, Isle of Wight, at about 16:20 BST on Sunday.
He told rescuers he feared that no help was coming and had even tried to wave at a passing plane to attract attention, the independent lifeguard service said.
The organisation said the man was lucky that a member of the public had spotted him.
Service manager Todd Miller, who was on duty, said the man could not be seen from the shore without the aid of binoculars.
He said the water scooter reached the man within a few minutes and brought him back to Shanklin beach to be reunited with his wife.
Mr Miller said: "He was fine, just very shaken up, saying to the lifeguard, ‘I am so grateful, I was shouting and shouting knowing nobody could hear me.
"'So I started trying to wave at a passing plane. I didn’t think anybody was coming to save me.'”
The man's wife did not call 999 herself as her English was very limited, Mr Miller added.
Follow BBC South on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected] or via WhatsApp on 0808 100 2240.