RNLI lifeguards had a relatively quiet stint on our first weekend back patrolling Pembrokeshire beaches, but the improvement in the weather and building surf have brought the crowds out to the coast and it has got busier on the beaches as the week progressed. The lifeguards have done a superb job of controlling the masses and preventing incidents before they had a chance to escalate.

As well as all our ‘normal’ duties this week, we had a Tenby team photo taken on Wednesday, at the new Tenby lifeguard tower on South Beach; an RNLI beach safety team has been working with Haven Holidays at their Kiln Park site providing the RNLI’s Hit the Surf programme and we welcomed French lifeguard Mathieu Charpentier on an exchange visit to Pembrokeshire.

Mathieu, from Brittany, is here until the end of the season and his visit follows on from Divisional Deputy Lifeguard Manager Phil Davies’s exchange trip to France last year. Mathieu will be learning about how the RNLI lifeguard service runs in Pembrokeshire and will be working and patrolling beaches in the county throughout the season. Mathieu’s English is excellent, but if anyone fancies asking a sea safety question in French then look out for him on our beaches.

A new encounter for us on the bank holiday weekend was kite surfers at Whitesands. Generally, kite surfers use other beaches in Pembrokeshire. At Whitesands the wind conditions tend to be gusty, which could place kite surfers, particularly inexperienced ones, in difficulty.

Our advice to kite surfers intending to use Pembrokeshire beaches would be to avoid Whitesands and go to wider, more open beaches, such as Newgale or Broadhaven, especially during the summer months where Whitesands is at capacity.

This weekend coming (5 and 6 June) sees the Welsh national surfing championships coming to Freshwater West and RNLI lifeguards will be helping out at the event providing safety cover.

Whichever beaches you are going to this weekend remember always be ready to ask our lifeguards for advice and assistance. We’re always pleased to help.