A BOAT owner had an unexpected shock when carrying out work on his vessel in Weymouth's inner harbour - Randy the dolphin came along to lend a helping fin.

The adult bottlenose, who has become Weymouth and Portland's newest tourist attraction, paid Mike Walker-Bambury a visit when the moorings for his boat, Mybry, were being repaired.

Mike, who lives in Southill, asked local diver Chris Hovard to swim to the seabed of the town's inner harbour to reattach the boat to its moorings, near the town's gasometer.

But within a minute of Chris, who lives in Westham, starting the repairs, Randy was quickly on the scene and up to his usual playful tricks.

Mike said: "It was totally unexpected but an absolutely wonderful sight. The remarkable thing about it was that Randy quickly located Chris and then almost physically lifted him from the seabed up to the surface. It was unbelievable."

But Randy's incredible behaviour had only just begun.

Chris, who has been diving for 30 years, then swam from the boat to a pontoon with a chain from the repairs, although Randy was in close attendance behind.

The dolphin, who is also known as Georges and arrived in the area from the Channel Islands at the end of March, then followed Chris back to the boat for the next section of the repairs.

Mike added: "What happened next was simply amazing. Randy, who seems fantastically intelligent, had only seen Chris go to the pontoon once yet the dolphin knew exactly where Chris wanted to go next so effectively pulled him along the surface back to the pontoon."

Randy, who has a damaged dorsal fin and wounds under his beak, continued his friendly antics for about 45 minutes before leaving.

Mike, who is an engineer, is now in no doubt about the best course of action for Randy's health - he agrees with marine experts who think the dolphin, who is also blind in one eye, should be moved to safer waters.

"I've seen nothing like it in all my years of sailing but, having said that, it's sad to see how humanised Randy has become. I think the show is over now.

"He needs to be taken somewhere safer before the increased boat and jet-ski usage in the area does him even more harm," he said.

Chris added: "When Randy appeared it gave me quite a shock because I thought Mike had jumped in to see what I was doing!"