Marine rescuers in England said a paddleboarder came to the assistance of three men who drifted out to sea on an inflatable duck.
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution’s Appledore station in the UK said volunteers were conducting training exercises Tuesday when they received word that three men had floated away from Westward Ho! Beach on a giant inflatable duck.
A friend in a kayak attempted to push the duck to shore, but the unusual flotation device was soon more than 650 feet from shore.
The RNLI said rescuers were still on their way to the scene when a man on a paddleboard ventured out to tow the inflatable back to the beach.
The three men were able to jump out of the duck and head back to the beach once the paddleboarder managed to get it near enough to the land. The inflatable was then swept back out to sea.
The inflatable duck was dubbed “Quackers” by RNLI volunteers, who joked that it was their new apprentice crew member.
“With the strong tides and offshore breezes of the Bristol Channel, Appledore RNLI urges people never to take an inflatable toy into the sea. There is no way to control these and they get pulled out from shore within seconds,” the RNLI warned.
