A paddle off Bamburgh turned into a sea rescue after Bruce the Alsatian was washed out to sea in a loose kayak.

Bruce was preparing to go out from shore in Northumberland with his owner when the kayak got loose and was blown away. The coastguard launched a multi-vessel search, and Bruce was eventually found by the two-man crew of the Serenity tour boat.

Captain Jimmy Reid said he was “ecstatic” when they managed to save the dog.

“I went through this heart-wrenching thing of thinking the dog was going to go in the water and stay there,” he told BBC.

“So, when we actually got him on board and knew he was safe and knew the hard bit was over, we were both very elated.”

Reid said his crewman Aaron Fordy has two Alsatians and saving Bruce “hit pretty close to home”.

The Serenity had just dropped off its passengers at the Farne Islands when it received the request to help in the search. Reid said he made his best estimate of where the kayak could have travelled and found Bruce about 4 kilometres from where the dog had set off.

They first tried to get a harness around Bruce, but it slipped and he fell into the water.

“My crewman, Aaron, reached down and grabbed him by the scruff of the neck,” Reid said.

“If he hadn’t grabbed him like that it would have been the end of the any sort of rescue effort.”

Reid said Bruce’s owner tried to swim out to catch the kayak but did the “right thing” by turning round.

“I think it would have been a multi-casualty thing if he had kept going,” Reid said.

Once on board, Bruce was hypothermic, and the crew wrapped him in towels to warm him up before returning him to land.

Over the last 10 years, Reid said he has taken part in a number of searches, but those in need had always been found by other vessels.

“This is the first time we’ve just been out completely on our own and it’s definitely the first time I’ve experienced anything like it,” he said.

“He looked like an older dog, and to be able to get him back on board was absolutely amazing.”

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