Tenby was the fourth busiest of the 30 lifeboat stations in Wales, with 55 launches and 52 people rescued, while Fishguard saw a small increase in call-outs with 32 launches, as against 32 in 2016.
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Their neighbouring station, Chiswick, launched 227 times and rescued 135 people, saving 3 lives.
Throughout 2015, the RNLI completed rescued over 1,200 people successfully, saving at least 35 people from nearly certain death.
Owen Medland of the RNLI has said people who go out on the water should always think of safety first: “Really the core message that is coming out from the RNLI is we want people to respect the water”. We continue to urge those working or enjoying our coastline and inland areas to respect the water.
On the west coast, Troon lifeboat launched 74 times and rescued 31 people and the crew of the Mallaig lifeboat were kept busy with 44 launches and a total of 53 people rescued.
Guy Addington, RNLI community incident reduction manager in the South East, said, “Once again our volunteer lifeboat crews have had a busy 12 months working hard to serve their local communities”.
Ilfracombe had the highest number, with figures from the charity showing the station saw 67 call-outs, 26 for the all-weather and 41 for the inshore lifeboat.
“The dedication that all our volunteers show is truly commendable and we thank them wholeheartedly for the selfless work they carry out, at any time of the day or night and in all weathers”.
Another common call-out was to boats with machinery failure, which accounted 18.5 per cent of launches.
‘Our lifesaving work depends on the support of our crews, fundraisers, education teams and supporters.
RNLI lifeguards in Wales had a busy summer, responding to 815 incidents and assisting 901 people on 32 beaches, including Pembrokeshire.
“And now the RNLI as a whole owes it to them to act with integrity and tenacity as we take this step to opt-in* communications from January 2017”.
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