The lifeboat launched to a report of an inflatable dinghy unable to return to the shore at Herne Bay.

The lifeboat found the craft, with two adult males on board, half a mile off Hampton Pier, with a Council lifeguard, who had rowed out to assist on a surf canoe, alongside.

The two casualties and their dinghy were brought aboard the lifeboat, as was the lifeguard and her canoe, to save her having to row back to the shore.

Due to the state of the tide, all were disembarked from the lifeboat into shallow water approximately 300 yards offshore, and then walked ashore by a crewmember, to be met by Herne Bay Coastguard.