A rescue operation was launched to save a capsized kayaker who was suffering from hypothermia in Moray.
Just before 12.15pm on Saturday, a mayday call was raised by the kayaker, after he got into trouble 100m off the rocks surrounding the former Strathlene swimming pool, less than a mile east of Buckie.
Coastguard teams from Buckie, Macduff, and Portsoy were despatched to the scene, as well as a helicopter from Inverness.
The kayaker was brought ashore by a RNLI lifeboat and checked over by a paramedic who assessed that the kayaker, although uninjured, was hypothermic.
The man was transferred to the helicopter and flown to Raigmore hospital.
Coxswain Davie Grant said: “This was an excellent example of rapid-response by our own crew and teamworking across the agencies.
“Despite recent storms, conditions at sea were fine for the kayaker’s planned trip. He was well equipped and was wearing a ‘dry-suit’, similar to those our own RNLI crew wear.
“That he became hypothermic after less than an hour in the water just confirms the combination of low air and water temperatures in the Moray Firth this time of year.”
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