A kite surfer almost drowned after a gust of wind knocked him off his board and lines tangled round his feet.

Lloyd Hanslow, 24, an adventure training instructor, struggled to stay afloat for nearly an hour with his legs entwined in wires before he was plucked from the sea by a lifeboat crew.

He was using an eight-metre kite to drag him across the crashing waves near Brighton's Palace Pier when he ran into trouble shortly after 3pm yesterday.

The lines of his kite cut into his legs and he failed to untangle himself but he did manage to let some air out of his inflatable kite and use it as a float.

The Brighton lifeboat crew was alerted at 4pm when a passer-by on the beach spotted Mr Hanslow in the water.

The sea was too rough to bring the lifeboat close alongside the surfer, so a crewman had to get into the water to attach a line to him.

Mr Hanslow, of Peacemaker Close, Crawley, said: "I teach skiing, windsurfing, skydiving, pretty much everything all over the world, so I don't tend to panic when I get into a bit of difficulty in the water.

"But, I've got to admit, today was pushing it. I came close to drowning.

"The wind picked up and it was just as I was coming round the pier that there was this strong gust of wind which just lifted me off.

"There is an emergency release which cuts the lines free from the kite but once I had cut it, the leash wrapped round my feet and the lines tangled round my ankles.

"I only had my arms free so I tried to paddle, but I didn't get very far.

"I was floating for about an hour and it was getting dark, so I was lucky the lifeboat crew arrived. They were second to none.

"If I had been pushed to shore, I would have been pulled down by the strong undercurrent and I wouldn't have been able to do much about that with an eight-metre kite attached to my ankles."

A lifeboat spokesman said Mr Hanslow was lucky to escape being battered against the shingle by the tide.