Members of a dinghy club rushed to the rescue of a windsurfer who drifted a mile out to sea off the West Sussex coast.

Tessa Pemberton, 42, got into difficulty when her rig became separated from her board off East Preston.

Her husband, Rob Pugh, raised the alarm shortly before 5pm yesterday when she didn't return to shore.

Members of the Open Dinghy Club from East Preston, who were packing up from a race meeting, joined in the search and alerted the RNLI.

Two members set off in the club's safety boat towards Worthing, where they found Mrs Pemberton drifting about a mile out to sea clinging to her rig.

Rescuer Paul Careless said: "We guessed where the wind might have pushed her and luckily we guessed right.

"She was very pleased to see us because she had been in the water for about an hour. The lifeboat crews said they would have called out the coastguard helicopter if we hadn't found her so quickly."

Mrs Pemberton, who lives in London, today praised her rescuers and the RNLI for finding her so quickly.

She said: "They all did a fantastic job. I was really pleased to see their friendly faces."

Mrs Pemberton, an experienced windsurfer, said she was trying to turn when the board was damaged.

She said: "I did try to swim after the board but the wind was quite strong. I hoped another windsurfer might see me in the water but they didn't.

"In the end I stayed with the rig because I thought if rescuers came they would have a better chance of seeing me because it is so brightly coloured."