A HEROIC rowing team rushed to the rescue of a group of paddleboarders who were blown out to sea off Weymouth.

Gig rowers from Weymouth Rowing Club hauled three people to safety who got into difficulty on their paddleboards due to strong offshore winds of 40mph. 

The six rowers who came to their rescue were on an outing at sea when they were alerted to the sound of a distressed young child.

Jonathan Deacon, the cox onboard, said: "I was coxing in strong offshore winds with gusts of around 40mph, heading out of the harbour towards the beach. Then we heard a child sobbing. 

"We could see two paddleboarders who had been blown out to sea because the winds were so strong. One couldn't get back on the paddleboard. 

"We also found a teenage girl in the water distressed and crying. We threw her a rope, pulled her in towards the rowing boat and gave her some warm clothing."

"The others were towed back to shore on their two boards. I tried to make contact with the RNLI rescue but couldn't get through. The harbour master managed to get in contact with the RNLI where they met with the rowers."

He told the Echo that RNLI Beach Lifeguards quickly arrived and provided medical aid following the drama, which took place at around 1pm on Thursday, August 22.

Following the initial "shock" of the incident, Jonathan said he would like to urge other people to be cautious of high winds if they decide to paddleboard. 

He said: "We're trained as coxes to cope with incidents like this. There was a fair amount of shock amongst the crew but everyone worked as a team and showed they were more than capable in this situation. 

Weymouth RNLI join Weymouth Rowing Club on rescue missionWeymouth RNLI join Weymouth Rowing Club on rescue mission (Image: Jonathan Deacon)

"They probably didn't realise what trouble they were in and didn't notice how strong the winds were until they were too far out. They had gone beyond the swimming buoys. 

"When you're a novice out on the board, you can easily get blown out and not notice how far you've gone.

"I hope they're alright. We didn’t hear how they were following the incident but we hope they're doing ok."

Senior RNLI Lifeguard Harry Hutchinson said: "We launched our inshore rescue boat straight away and arrived at the scene where the gig rowing team had a hold of the paddle boarders. When we arrived our first priority was to make sure they were ok and all happy and spoke to the gig rowers about how to get the casualties into the lifeboat.

"In the end, we got two, including the teenage girl, into the lifeboat and towed the paddleboards back to shore. Once we knew they were safe we returned for the third who was safe with the gig rowing boat.

"The gig rowing team were really helpful and it was great for us to work with the community as lifeguards, that was brilliant.

"The team did really well to de-escalate the situation and give us time to respond."

Senior RNLI Lifeguard on Weymouth Beach Harry Hutchinson (Image: Cristiano Magaglio)