A KAYAKER sparked a major police and coastguard search after trying to carry the watercraft he had just bought 14 miles to his home.

Jordan Lane, from Barton-on-Sea, bought the 7ft long kayak from a house in Poole on bank holiday Monday.

He was dropped off by a friend and had intended to row it back to his house but after losing one of his oars, decided to carry it all the way home on his shoulder.

After making very little progress, the 25-year-old decided to spend the night sleeping behind a beach hut.

Unfortunately, his phone battery died so his worried family had no idea what had happened to him and called the emergency services.

The call resulted in a mass search which lasted through the night, involving both the police and lifeboat crews.

Jordan, who works in construction, was only made aware of the search when police found him buying a bottle of water at a supermarket in Bournemouth at 8am yesterday.

He says he had drank two beers before going to collect the kayak but insisted he was not drunk - just dehydrated.

He picked the kayak up from an address in Herbert Avenue, Poole, and then had a three-mile walk to get to the seafront.

He somehow dropped an oar when he stopped to get water and supplies and decided it would not be wise to row with just one so camped out for the night.

Jordan shared updates of his misadventure on Facebook before his battery died. In the first post he said: "Anyone know if kayaking Bournemouth pier to Barton-on-Sea is a good idea?"

He told friends he was setting off at about 3.30pm and aiming to get to Barton on Sea by 8pm but three hours later he posted that he was still in Poole and would be "paddling til dinner".

His last post at about 6pm stated "#nodinnerforjord".

This sparked concern for his parents when they could not get hold of him and the emergency services were called in at about 10.30pm.

Three RNLI lifeboats searched the water overnight, with two coastguard teams searching on land and the coastguard search and rescue helicopter from Lee-on-Solent searching from the air until about 3am.

Crews were preparing to go out again yesterday morning when word came in that Jordan had been found.

He was given a lift home by the police, along with the 33lbs orange boat he had been carrying over his shoulder.

Jordan, who is training to join the Royal Marines, has apologised for the emergency services wasted time and thanked them for their efforts to find him. He is now planning a sponsored run to raise money for the RNLI.

He said: "Basically I was going to pick up this kayak and the plan was to paddle it back.

"I was dropped off there but in between picking it up and getting to the water I managed to lose an oar on a pit stop.

"I decided to just carry it back over my shoulder and walk back to Barton-on-Sea, which was about 14 miles.

"I spent the night sleeping behind a beach hut in Poole and had no idea anyone was looking for me.

"My family called the emergency services but I wasn't aware of any search until about 8 o'clock this morning when I was approached by a policeman at Tesco."

Jordan, who also had a rucksack on his back, added: "I'm sorry the police had to spend the night looking for me and am really thankful for what they did.

"I was probably quite seriously dehydrated and didn't really know what was going on.

"They were great and I've been speaking today about doing some sort of fundraiser for the RNLI to say thank you."

Dorset Police put out a missing person appeal on Tuesday morning but shortly after confirmed Jordan had been found "safe and well in the Bournemouth area".