The man was one mile offshore drifting towards the Teesside Wind Farm at Redcar in the toy dinghy when he was rescued

A man who was swept one mile out to sea in a toy dinghy has been rescued by the RNLI at Redcar.

He was spotted drifting towards the Teesside Wind Farm just before 7.30pm on Monday evening (31 July).

The volunteer crew of the Redcar inshore lifeboat were scrambled and found the man, who was wearing a hoodies and shorts, attempting to paddle his toy dinghy against the wind and tidal currents but drifting further out to sea.

The crew of an orange lifeboat go to the aid of a man in a toy dinghy

The man was one mile offshore. Credit: RNLI/Redcar

He was taken on board the lifeboat and returned to the beach where the Redcar Coastguard Rescue Team was waiting to give him sea safety advice.

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Commenting on the incident, the lifeboat operations manager at Redcar RNLI, Dave Cocks, said the incident was “a good example of the types of incident we repeatedly warn people about”.

“It was a reasonably pleasant evening, but the wind and tide were a recipe for this to happen. We believe the man was in his 30s. He was dressed in only a hoodie and shorts. He was bigger than the dinghy so his feet were hanging over the edge,” he stated.

A man and a toy dinghy is rescued by Redcar RNLI

The man and the dinghy being brought ashore. Credit: RNLI/Redcar

“If the alarm hadn’t been raised there was every likelihood he’d have drifted out of sight of land and we could well have been bringing a dead body back,” stated Cocks.

The RNLI’s Respect The Water campaign focuses on the dangers the sea can present, and in particular the effects of cold water.

For more information on sea safety and the Respect The Water campaign, visit rnli.org.