WATCH: Dom Jackson remembered

Funeral of Dominic Jackson, the kayaker who sadly lost his life in February, is to be held today.

On the 5th of February, Dom failed to return from his weekend paddle around the North East coast. He launched from Portsoy on the Saturday.

With growing concern his family launched a search involving the Police, Coastguards, RNLI and hundreds of volunteers.

WATCH: MFR News reporter Bekki Clark brings you a special report...

Friend Sarah Leigh who joined the search effort told MFR News:

“Dom's the kind of guy who would chat to anyone, but we struck up a friendship with him. He was just a very likeable guy, and just easy to talk to. He was a really friendly and funny guy.

"He'd always be up to some sort of mischief so he'd do things like put on a wetsuit and float down the River Esk, or cycling further than I could even imagine, he liked doing hill walks at night.

"He was always pushing himself and seeing what he could accomplish.”

"Dom's death was just such a senseless waste of a life."

Six days later, after finding the kayak, the 35-year-old's body was recovered in Lybster, more than 50 miles from the original search area.

In light of the accident, Dom's family plan to establish a charity with the aim of promoting sea safety procedures and the proper use of personal locator beacons.

Known as PLBs, these utilise radio signal and GPS to notify emergency services as well as providing a precise location when activated when a person gets into difficulty.

Sister Ellie said: “Dom's death was just such a senseless waste of a life and if I leave it at that it will always be a senseless waste of a life, and I wanted to do something more. Lots of people have already said it has made a difference to them as they will be using a PLB or thinking more about their safety equipment.

"Dom was always be up to some sort of mischief."

“The charity will be called PlanB because Plan A is to go out and have fun, but you need a plan B if it all goes wrong.”

You can contribute to the funds here.

Ellie believes if her brother had been equipped with one of these devices, the accident may have been preventable.

Dominic's funeral will take place on Friday 17th March at 1.30pm at Fettercairn Parish Church.