‘RUFF’ seas might have been to blame when one man and his dog were rescued after their sailing boat capsized in Poole Harbour.

The pair were travelling from Christchurch to Poole on Sunday afternoon when their 15ft sailing boat was swamped as it entered the harbour , capsizing and leaving them both in the water.

Fortunately the Brownsea Island launch 'Castello' happened to be nearby so scooped them up and landed them at Brownsea. At 4.50pm Solent Coastguard tasked the Poole Inshore Lifeboat with their rescue.

The crew first checked over the 53-year-old man and his dog Leo, then towed their stricken vessel onto the small beach north of Brownsea where they set about pumping it out, eventually borrowing a more powerful salvage pump from another lifeboat crew to complete the job.

With the man and his dog hitching a ride in the lifeboat they towed the dingy back to Lake Road slipway in Hamworthy – not before stopping to help three people on board a 14ft speedboat which had broken down and was drifting.

The lifeboat crew secured the vessel to a buoy and radioed Solent Coastguard their position, the continued taking the sailing dingy and its man and dog crew, safely ashore. They then returned to assist the hapless speedboat – towing it to shore, before returning to the station at 8.40pm.

Volunteer Helmsman Ed Davies said: “Conditions in the harbour were choppy, the wind was north westerly force five and the first vessel got caught out. They were only in the water briefly as they were lucky that another vessel was nearby to pick them up, we were pleased to save his boat. As to the second vessel, it was a case that we were in the right place at the right time to help them out."