A Lochaber business has been left counting the cost of the theft of three kayaks over the weekend.
Three sea kayaks were stolen from Paddle Lochaber from their base in Ballachulish sometime between Friday night and Saturday morning.
But since business owner Mark McKerral reported the theft online, his company has been flooded with support from other similar businesses offering a loan of replacement boats.
Mr McKerral said: “It means that we are running at limited capacity at the most important time of the year for businesses like ours.
“We don’t have a limitless supply of boats and I’ll now need to spend time wrangling with the insurance companies to get the boats replaced.
“The response from people has been remarkable, really fantastic.
“A couple of the other paddling companies have already been in touch to offer help which is really appreciated.”
The boats were strapped to a trailer on Friday evening with reinforced steel cables by one of Mr McKerral’s co-workers.
They were not noticed missing until later on Saturday after an early morning session in the water.
The boats reported stolen included a blue P&H Capella 160 sea kayak and a FeelFree Corona with a red and yellow colour scheme.
The third was a yellow Venture Capella 166 sea kayak which was less than a week old and had only been used on the water once.
Mr McKerral added: “It couln’t have come at a worse time.
“This is our busiest time of year by far and we’ve really only got a narrow window where we can make our money.”