Eye witness reports of two paddle boarders in difficulty near The Pencil resulted in the volunteer lifeboat crew making a bee-line for the south of Largs.

The lifeboat had been carrying out a routine exercise at the time when they received the emergency call to head out to Bowen Craig.

RNLI spokesman Alasdair Woods said: "On arrival in the area there was no vessel or paddleboards seen to be in trouble, after a talk with the local shore based coastguard rescue team a shoreline search was carried out, as there was nothing to be found the lifeboat crew were stood down and returned to station to be de-contaminated and be made ready for her next service.

"This incident was logged as a false alarm with good intent."