Rescue officials are hopeful that a surfer who was plucked from the sea after more than 30 hours adrift off the western coast of Scotland will make a full recovery despite severe hypothermia. 
 
 Matthew Bryce was being treated at Belfast Hospital in Northern Ireland Tuesday after an intense search ended with him being winched into a Coast Guard helicopter shortly before the light faded. 
 
 Coast Guard Operations Specialist Lawrence Cumming said the 22-year-old surfer is "making progress" after his ordeal. 
 
 "He was conscious and breathing but severely hypothermic," Cumming said. "Lifting a hypothermic person from the water is hazardous, but it was done successfully, and he was then taken to the nearest big hospital, which was in Belfast." 
 
 He said Bryce's survival was greatly aided by his use of a thick wetsuit that includes boots and a hood. The surfer also managed to remain atop his board, lessening his exposure to the cold water. 
 
 The search was complicated because officials were only notified that Bryce was missing roughly 24 hours after the surfer entered the water, making it more difficult to predict his likely location. 
 
 "That meant it was a very, very large search area," said Cumming. Lifeboats from Scotland and Northern Ireland scoured the waters as the helicopter searched from the air. 
 
 Bryce was spotted by the helicopter crew at about 7:30 p.m. Monday shortly before the light started to give out. 
 
 "We were moving toward twilight and then darkness," said Cumming. 

 Matthew Bryce, 22, flown to hospital in Belfast after being found hypothermic but conscious 13 miles from land 
 
 A surfer who had been missing for more than 32 hours in the sea has been traced safe and well. 
 
 
 
 Matthew Bryce, 22, has been found by the Coastguard, 13 miles from the Argyll coast. 
 
 He had been missing since he was last seen at around 9am on Sunday in the St Catherines area of Argyll, believed to be heading to Westport Beach near Campbeltown. 
 
 Bryce, from Glasgow, was taken to Belfast hospital to be checked over. 
 
 Ch Insp Paul Robertson said: “The response to our appeal to find Matthew has been outstanding. 
 
 “It has been a real team effort and I would like to thank everyone who offered their assistance.” 
 
 Coastguard rescue teams from Campbeltown, Southend, Gigha, Tarbert and Port Ellen – as well as the Coastguard rescue helicopter based at Prestwick – were involved in the search. 
 
 Dawn Petrie at Belfast Coastguard operations centre, who co-ordinated the search on Monday, said: “Hope was fading of finding the surfer safe and well after such a long period in the water and with nightfall approaching we were gravely concerned, but at 7.30pm the crew on the Coastguard rescue helicopter were delighted when they located the man still with his surf board and 13 miles off the coast. 
 
 “He was kitted out with all the right clothing, including a thick neoprene suit, and this must have helped him to survive for so long at sea. He is hypothermic but conscious and has been flown to hospital in Belfast.” 

 Image copyright Geograph/Police Scotland Image caption Mathew Bryce was found 13 miles from the Scottish shore after setting off from Machrihanish beach 
 
 An "extremely lucky" surfer has been found by a coastguard helicopter after 32 hours in the sea. 
 
 Matthew Bryce, 22, from Glasgow, had not been seen since he set off to go surfing off the Argyll coast at 09:00 on Sunday. 
 
 Belfast Coastguard said he had been in the water since 11:30 on Sunday and was found at 19:30 on Monday. 
 
 A spokeswoman said Mr Bryce, who was wearing a wetsuit, was hypothermic and had been taken to hospital in Belfast. 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Coastguard footage of the moment Matthew Bryce was winched to safety 
 
 His condition was described as stable. 
 
 Dawn Petrie, from the coastguard, said: "He was extremely lucky. 
 
 "Hope was fading of finding the surfer safe and well after such a long period in the water and with nightfall approaching we were gravely concerned but at 7.30pm tonight, the crew on the coastguard rescue helicopter were delighted when they located the man still with his surf board and 13 miles off the coast. 
 
 "He was kitted out with all the right clothing including a thick neoprene suit and this must have helped him to survive for so long at sea. He is hypothermic but conscious and has been flown to hospital in Belfast." 
 
 'Did the right thing' 
 
 She told BBC Radio: "He did the right thing by staying with his surfboard and that certainly aided his survival." 
 
 Belfast Coastguard co-ordinated the search for Mr Bryce who left to go surfing from Machrihanish beach near Campbeltown. 
 
 A large area of sea and shore line was combed after the alarm was raised at lunchtime on Monday. 
 
 It involved RNLI lifeboats from Campbeltown, Islay and Red Bay and Coastguard rescue teams from Campbeltown, Southend, Gigha, Tarbert and Port Ellen as well as the Coastguard rescue helicopter based at Prestwick. 
 
 Mr Bryce had last been seen in the St Catherines area of Argyll. 
 
 Get news from the BBC in your inbox, each weekday morning 

 In January, we reported on the story of a Japanese surfer who was devilishly yanked by a rip current off Australia’s east coast and pulled three-and-a-half miles offshore. He spent more than 16 hours at sea, with little more than his trunks and his yellow board, which luckily was bright enough to be spotted by crew members of the marine unit of NSW police. It was a reminder of the unassuming dangers of rips, and how the maxims we were taught as young swimmers (“Don’t go out alone in a rippy area”; “Swim parallel to the shore,” etc.) seem so simple as to be commonsense, until you’re the one who’s cold and alone in open ocean, exhausted, drifting out to sea. 
 
 On Monday, a Glasgow surfer was found alone and hypothermic nearly 13 miles (yes, 13) off Scotland’s western coast after he was dragged by a rip – those airport moving walkways from hell – and cast off for 32 hours (yes, 32) into the frigid North Atlantic according to the BBC. 
 
 Matthew Bryce, 22, was surfing Scots Beach off the Argyll coast around 11:30 AM UTC on Sunday, presumably alone, before the rip carried him away. His family and friends began to worry as the day stretched on without a word from him, and a coastal search was soon issued. Bryce was found on his bright orange board by the Belfast Coast Guard at 7:30 PM UTC the following day, barely conscious but alive nonetheless. He was quickly airlifted to a Belfast hospital and is in recovery. 
 
 A Coast Guard member said that Bryce was right to stay with his surfboard, and that the floatation likely saved his life. 
 
 “He was [also] kitted out with all the right clothing, including a thick neoprene suit,” said the Coast Guard’s Dawn Petrie. [It] must have helped him to survive for so long at sea.”
– A Scottish man is "extremely lucky" to be alive after spending more than 32 hours at sea with only his surfboard. Matthew Bryce, 22, was spotted by a coast guard helicopter some 13 miles off the coast of Argyll, Scotland, around 7:30pm Monday after first jumping in the waves almost a day and a half earlier, reports the BBC. Bryce, from Glasgow, had told family members he was planning to surf at a beach off Argyll around 9am Sunday and hit the waves about 2.5 hours later. When he hadn't returned after several hours, family members alerted police, per ABC News. Coast guard rescue teams from several bases combed the shoreline and sea near the Argyll beach for hours, per the Guardian. But just as hope and daylight were fading Monday, a coast guard helicopter spotted Bryce with his bright orange surfboard some 13 miles off the coast, where a rip current had apparently carried him, reports Surfer. Hypothermic but conscious, he was airlifted to a hospital in Northern Ireland where he's now recovering. Says a coast guard rep: Bryce's ability to stay with his surfboard helped save him, along with "all the right clothing including a thick neoprene suit." (A wetsuit might've saved this shark attack survivor.)