One person had to be pulled to safety from the water and two others were rescued when their dinghy was carried out to sea at Lunan Bay.
The incident happened on Saturday on a day that saw chaos as thousands of people headed to the Angus beach as temperatures soared to 26 degrees.
Members of the public go to the rescue
Members of the public donned life jackets to rescue the trio after gusty offshore winds dragged their dinghy out to sea.
Emergency services, including a coastguard helicopter and two life boats, raced to the scene.
However, it is understood the people who went to the rescue in the water managed to get the group and their dinghy back to shore.
The drama unfolded around 3pm on Saturday and involved HM Coastguard teams from Montrose, Arbroath and Dundee, both Montrose lifeboats, the coastguard helicopter and a paramedic.
Person in the water
A spokesman for HM Coastguard said they were alerted at 2.47pm that a dinghy with three people on board was being carried out to see by the winds and currents.
He said: “Someone from the dinghy fell into the water leaving two others on board.
“All emergency services were alerted. However, members of the public wearing lifejackets managed to swim about 200 metres offshore to the dinghy.
“It appears they were able to get to the person in the water and lead them to safety.
Led to safety
“They also managed to pull the dinghy with two people on board safely to shore.”
He said a coastguard helicopter was waiting on the beach having picked up a paramedic to wait for the stricken people being brought back to shore.
Those who had been involved were checked over by the paramedic and it is understood no one was seriously injured.
Earlier in the day there were reports of major traffic congestion as hundreds of people headed for Lunan Bay.