Volunteers came to the rescue of two men struggling in the sea after their catamaran capsized.

One of the men had been pitched into the water when the vessel got into trouble, and were in the cold waters for around 20 minutes.

The drama happened two-thirds of a mile off the coast at Walmer, with the alarm raised by a couple walking on the beach.

The trapeze line on the five-metre catamaran had broken, which had sent one of the men into the water, and it overturned during an attempted recovery due to an offshore wind and strong tides.

HM Coastguard alerted Walmer RNLI and the crew launched its Atlantic lifeboat Donald McLauchlan.

The two men were able to get back on the catamaran from the water.

The lifeboat crew righted the vessel by pushing up the mast, with the two casualties still aboard, until it was upright again.

A spokesman for Walmer RNLI said: "Lifeboat crew, having unhooked the sail from the top of the mast, encouraged the sailors to pull down and retract the sail.

"We'd had training for rescuing a capsized vessel, which proved invaluable."

This had been jointly done with the Downs Sailing Club in Walmer last May.

The RNLI offered to tow the catamaran to shore and the crew decided they could remain on board while it was escorted back.

On land they were met and taken care of by the Deal Coastguard Rescue Team.