Michael Dunlop had the biggest scare of his TT fortnight the day after racing finished when he and a close friend were plucked from the Irish Sea following a jetski incident off Douglas.

Dunlop and his Isle of Man-based sponsor Martin Marlow had ventured offshore from Douglas promenade on a borrowed jetski.

"Michael was at the controls and we were messing about, half-a-mile or so offshore when I lost my grip," said Marlow, who was in the pits for Dunlop at the TT.

"I felt myself going over the back, so grabbed Michael round the neck. Unfortunately he came off too and we both ended up in the sea. We couldn’t get back onto the jetski as it kept sinking under our weight.

"Neither of us was wearing a life jacket so we had to hang onto the jetski. It seemed quite funny for the first 20 minutes, but after an hour we were getting really worried as we were too far out to attract anyone’s attention. We were getting really cold by this time."

Unaware of the dilemma at sea, friends onshore eventually raised the alarm when they failed to return and the pair were rescued by a rigid inflatable boat.

"We thought we were gonners for a while," added Marlow.

When the pair got back to port they received a serious telling off from the Harbour Police for setting out to sea without life jackets or any form of communication.