Carl Quin (left) said he bought the kayak four months ago

The men were in the water off Felpham, near Bognor Regis, for up to an hour on Saturday before they were seen by Erik Dalley, who lives on the beachfront.

Donning a wetsuit he grabbed the kayak and was joined by his neighbour Carl Quin who took a surfboard into the sea.

The pair then rescued the fishermen, who had not had time to put on their lifejackets or send a distress call.

Mr Dalley, 30, who lives at the end of Canning Road on Felpham beachfront, said he was woken by voices coming from the sea at about 0730 BST.

"My window directly overlooks the sea so I got my binoculars out and saw three men in the water.

The surfboard can be seen on the beach after the rescue

"I recognised one of them as my friend's father, Ivan Towse, who has been fishing for years."

Mr Towse, 62, had already managed to swim ashore by the time Mr Quin, also 30, and Mr Dalley had reached the sea.

"The other two men were further out and drifting," said Mr Dalley.

"One of them looked really low, he was dipping under the water and looked the most distressed."

Airlifted to hospital

Mr Dalley went out in the kayak and the man - Graham Halliday, aged in his 50s and the owner of the Regis-type boat - managed to cling to the back of it as he paddled back to land.

"He was gasping for air so I got him onto the beach and into the recovery position."

Mr Dalley and Mr Quin, with the help of another fishing boat, got the second man back to shore on top of the windsurf board.

A Solent Coastguard helicopter airlifted the men from the beach

Solent Coastguard had already responded to a 999 call and rescue teams from Littlehampton and Selsey were quickly despatched to the scene.

The helicopter Rescue-India Juliet and the Littlehampton RNLI lifeboat were both involved in the operation.

A paramedic from Sussex Ambulance assessed the fishermen's condition and decided that two of them should be airlifted to St Richard's Hospital in Chichester.

Solent Coastguard said all three of them were treated for slight hypothermia.

Mr Towse and Mr Halliday were released from hospital and returned to the beach later on Saturday to help bring the boat back out of the water.

The third fisherman - Tony Reed, Mr Halliday's father-in-law - was being kept in hospital for observation.

'Lucky' escape

"I'm just so glad that they're all OK," said Mr Dalley.

"Hopefully we've saved somebody's life."

The lifeboat from Littlehampton RNLI searches for wreckage

Mr Quin - who went into the water wearing just a pair of boxer shorts - was assessed by a local doctor because he "started getting the shakes".

"I've had a couple of calls with thumbs-up from people, but you've got to do your thing haven't you really," said Mr Quin.

"It was an eventful morning that I won't be forgetting too quickly."

Mike Greiner, watch manager for Solent Coastguard, said: "These men were lucky that they were able to stay afloat for so long without lifejackets.