Barmouth RNLI launched three times in one day on Thursday to help people caught out by strong offshore winds.

The were called first at 10.47am to reports of a paddle boarder unable to return to shore due to the winds. The crew made their way towards the casualty who was, sensibly, wearing a life jacket.

The casualty boarded the lifeboat and was handed over to the coastguards on the shore.

Shout two saw the crew paged at 1.35pm to reports of two children in inflatables adrift off Fairbourne beach.

The crew swiftly launched towards the location but were stood down on their way as the children had been returned to the shore by a member of the public.

The pagers sounded again at 2.43pm as the crew launched to three children sighted opposite the boathouse on a paddle board trying to hand paddle to shore against the offshore wind.

With no main paddle or life jackets there was an extreme concern over the grave and imminent danger that the children may try to swim to shore.

The crew made good speed and recovered all three children into the lifeboat. They returned them to the beach where they were handed over to the wardens on the shore.

The crew then conducted a shore line search, north to south, offering words of advice to those on inflatables and recovered some to shore.

A spokesman for Barmouth RNLI said: “We cannot stress enough the importance of not taking inflatables out in the sea when there is a strong offshore wind as there was today. The wind will take you out to sea much faster than you can paddle back, which is what we have seen again today.

“We also want to highlight that if you are on the water in an inflatable then you really should be wearing a life-jacket.”