A 19-year-old angler from Tenby was taken to hospital on Sunday afternoon after he got into difficulties off the town's pier.
Steven Thomas, of Newell Hill, had been fishing when he jumped into the water to retrieve his rod shortly after 4 pm.
Whilst he was in the water, his friends, who were on the pier, shouted to him to swim out to an inflatable dinghy in an attempt to retrieve it, but before he reached it he started to get into difficulty and returned to the shore.
His plight was spotted by local teenager, Kate Lamb, who raised the alarm and the town's inshore lifeboat was launched and the coastguard team duly dispatched.
On arrival, members of the coastguard unit spoke with the informant, who informed them that the person in trouble was now safely ashore.
Steven was checked over in the coastguard vehicle and after being found to have ingested a lot of sea water and be slightly hypothermic, he was taken to Tenby Cottage Hospital as a precaution.
It was also discovered that the inflatable dinghy had been abandoned in the water by four youths who had been seen jumping in and out of it off the Castle Beach earlier in the afternoon after it was taken out to sea by the offshore winds.