An ‘experienced’ paddle-boarder found himself at the centre of a rescue operation involving two volunteer lifeboat crews.

Coastguards received two 999 calls reporting him apparently in trouble in strong winds about a mile off Porlock Weir late on Saturday afternoon.

Minehead lifeboat station’s Atlantic class lifeboat was launched with Ilfracombe’s Shannon class boat called out as back-up.

But the 19-year-old Minehead man was quickly located between Greenaleigh and Hurlestone Point aboard a survey ship which had taken him on board.

He was transferred to the lifeboat and landed at Minehead minutes later.

Minehead RNLI spokesman Chris Rundle said despite the weather the boarder had not been in any real trouble.

“He was properly equipped, he is a very experienced boarder and he often paddles from Porlock Weir to Minehead,” he said.

“However with the light starting to fade rapidly I think he was quite glad of a lift.

“And the two members of the public who alerted the coastguard when they became concerned did exactly the right thing: far better for us to launch and find there is no actual emergency than not to be called when there really is one.”