A man who set sail in a homemade boat and had to be rescued about 400m (1,313ft) off Dorset has been criticised by coastguards.

Portland Coastguard said it had been aware of a wooden and metal catamaran “contraption” on the beach at Charmouth for the past few days.

The owner decided to launch it on Wednesday afternoon but quickly got into trouble and started drifting.

An RNLI lifeboat towed the boat back to shore and the man was given advice.

‘Wooden paddles’

A coastguard spokesman said: “We knew about this contraption on the beach for the last week or so.

“With the offshore winds he was never going to get back with his wooden paddles.

“People on the shore raised the alarm and we had to rescue him.

“It was an irresponsible thing to do, that lifeboat could have been needed for another emergency.”

The spokesman said people cannot be stopped entering the sea in homemade devices

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/dorset/8636609.stm