Falmouth's emergency services were in action almost immediately on the first major bank holiday of the season when four people became trapped in mud as they misjudged the tide at Mylor Creek.

The group, all aged in their 50s and thought to have included a retired doctor, have not been named. They had decided to take out a four-metre Zodiac inflatable dinghy from the creek at lunchtime.

It was not until they were more than 200 metres from the shore that they realised the tide was going out too quickly and the flat-bottomed dinghy became stuck on a mud-bank.

The group had a decision to make: either sit there until the tide came back in - possibly more than seven hours later - or phone for help.

Falmouth Coastguard Station received a distress call from one of the crew members at around 1.30pm and six members of Falmouth Cliff Rescue Team formed a rescue party.

Station officer Nigel Warren, who was one of the six, said: "They just didn't realise how quickly the tide goes out in the estuaries."

He said that one of the crew had tried to get out of the dinghy but had started to sink in the mud and he had quickly jumped back into the boat - which Mr Warren said was completely the right decision.

"It is the best thing to do. We could have ended up having to dig him out if he'd stuck in the mud, which would have been a different situa tion altogether. Once you get a foot stuck you push down with the other and that goes deeper - a lot of people don't realise quite how quickly you can get stuck," he explained.

He warned people against attempting to get out of their boat if they became stuck on mud and advised people to stay inside and telephone for help.

"If they need to be brought in over the mud we have got the capabili ty to do that. Don't be scared to call out the coastguard because that's what we're here for. Keep a close eye on the tide times because the water comes out of the estuaries very quickly and you can run aground very quickly if you get on the mud."

Two of the cliff rescue team, Damian Lampkin and Steve Richards, travelled over the mud on a special sled that did not sink and brought the crew members back to safety before recovering the dinghy. Also attending the incident were Shawn Campbell, Don Brown and Mike Yarnall.

During the early part of the weekend coastguards also had to pull a man from the water at the Prince of Wales Pier in Falmouth. It appeared the man had jumped into the water in the early hours of the morning, after spending the evening in the town and ending up a little worse for wear.

Mr Warren said that the man was pulled out of the water into the inshore lifeboat and was taken back to the lifeboat station, before being driven to the hospital to receive treatment for the effects of inhaling salt water.

Prior to the incident a young dog was left lucky to be alive after tum bling over the edge of a cliff at Maenporth and falling 50 foot onto rocks below.

Bracken the spaniel had been walking with her owner on the cliff paths when she had stumbled over the edge.

Mr Warren said that the cliff rescue team were once again called out, as the sea and weather conditions at the time were not ideal for anybody to attempt to go round to the beach by sea.

Damian Lampkin was the member of the team who ventured over the cliff to perform the rescue and at first it was unclear exactly what state the dog would be in.

Miraculously the dog, who was only a year or two old, escaped with cuts and bruises, despite landing on rocks.

Mr Warren said: "The dog was ok, but in shock from the ordeal. The dog fell down the cliff and got stuck on the rocks below. We were half expecting it to be more injured than it was. There was a good outcome there."

Following the fall, the dog was taken by its owner to be checked over by a vet.