THREE kayakers were rescued by the Helensburgh at the weekend after getting caught up in strong winds.

The RNLI lifeboat was launched just before 4pm on Saturday, March 2 after HM Coastguard requested assistance for three persons in the water hanging onto kayaks opposite the old Navy Buildings in Greenock.

The lifeboat arrived on scene shortly afterwards in winds of up to force 10, and a search was carried out with the pilot vessel Gantock, due to poor visibility of less than a mile.

Two of the stranded kayakers were located and retrieved from the water within 10 minutes and the third, who was making his own way ashore, was then taken aboard and received medical attention from paramedics due to exhaustion.

A fourth person also made it ashore safely.

The lifeboat returned to the station at 5.30pm.