This jolly Santa Claus came a cropper after swapping his sleigh for a lifeboat to deliver presents to children on a beach in Cape Town.
As the boat drifted into the shallows, he stepped on to the bow but tripped over his boots and tumbled into the chilly Atlantic.
Crew members and children at the beach burst out laughing as the soggy Santa floundered in the sea before managing to retrieve his sack of presents.
A volunteer for South Africa’s lifeboat service said: “Santa’s head-over-heels was spectacular.
"At least if he needed rescuing we were not very far away.”
