A coastguard helicopter and Largs Lifeboat crew were scrambled to attend reports of a small boat blown out to sea on Fairlie bay.

The emergency call came through at 3.25pm on Sunday amid easterly winds.

Alasdair Woods, spokesman for Largs Lifeboat, said: "We received a report of one adult and three children being blown out to sea.

"A coastguard helicopter was diverted from routine exercises to assist, as the lifeboat arrived the small boat was back on shore where the occupants who were wearing lifejackets were found to be unharmed by their experience.

"A member of the lifeboat crew went ashore and joined the local coastguard rescue team to have a chat and ensure the occupants were safe and well."

Alasdair added: "The RNLI wish to point out that during these difficult times additional duties must be carried out by our volunteer crews as each time they return to station the crew and the boat have to undergo an extensive cleaning process COVID19 de-contamination procedure , this additional work takes up a considerable amount of the volunteers time away from home and their families."