A sailor and his dinghy had to be brought ashore by the Whitstable Lifeboat after his craft capsized off Herne Bay yesterday afternoon.

The lifeboat was launched at 1.38pm and found the sailor in the water and his craft submerged.

The man was taken onboard the lifeboat and his craft taken under tow and landed at Hampton were the Herne Bay mobile coastguard unit was waiting.

The previous day, there were fears for the safety of a swimmer after a person on the shore lost sight of the man who had been seen to jump from a moored yacht.

The lifeboat launched at 6pm and searched the area off the Hotel Continental but the Herne Bay mobile unit had arrived at the scene and reported the swimmer was safely ashore.

The man had been onboard a small yacht anchored off the Long Beach since Tuesday evening and had been unable to get ashore.

Not wanting to spend another night on board, he put on a lifejacket and swam ashore.