Dramatic rescue as paddleboarder blown 1.8 miles out to sea off Scottish beach

A paddleboarder has been rescued after winds blew him 1.8 miles offshore from Edinburgh’s Portobello beach.

The man was stranded out to sea and picked up by the RNLI after the service was alerted to two people in trouble in the water on Sunday morning.

He has been described as “very lucky” by Kinghorn RNLI which responded to the call.

The waves had become increasingly choppy and high, however, the man had managed to stay on his board.

He was described as being very cold when he was picked up, but was otherwise unharmed.

Neil Chalmers, from Kinghorn RNLI, said one of the two paddleboarders was at the shoreline but the other had been blown offshore by the strong southerly wind.

"Fortunately, the first informant had managed to keep eyes-on the casualty and stay on the phone to the coastguard," he said.

"They were able to guide us to the second casualty who we soon located 1.6 nautical miles [2.9km] offshore.

"The male casualty was very cold but had managed to stay on his board whilst the wind blew him further offshore into increasing wave heights."

He added: "The man was very lucky to have had someone onshore who kept him in sight and was able to guide the lifeboat to locate him."

Paddleboarders are advised to check the weather forecast before going into the sea.