A Mearns sailor was rescued from the North Sea after a fisherman’s eagle-eyed son saw his dinghy capsize on Saturday.
Catterline man Ian Buchan’s trimaran flipped over in Crawton Bay, south of Stonehaven, when the weather deteriorated.
The only other boat in the bay was piloted by Andrew Buchanan, who had been on a fishing trip with his father-in-law, Brian Topp, 64, and sons Matthew, 12, and Rory, 8.
The younger son spotted Mr Buchan’s boat partially submerged about half a mile off the coast.
Mr Buchanan, 45, said: “It was getting really windy and rough and he just had shorts and a top on, so I went over to him.
“He did the right thing and stayed on top of his boat.”
The former Maritime Rescue Institute coxswain who lives in Stonehaven with his family tied Mr Buchan’s boat to his own, The Shindig, and took it as far inshore as he could before alerting Stonehaven RNLI.
The Stonehaven inshore lifeboat, the Jack and Joyce Burcombe, was called to the scene at 6.20pm.
Mr Buchan did not require medical treatment when he arrived back in Catterline Bay.
Stonehaven RNLI helmsman Andy Martin said: “We were called to an upturned trimaran dinghy in Catterline Bay where a passing pleasure boat had witnessed the incident and gone to assist a man in the water.”