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The number of people helped by RNLI lifeguards on the beaches of the UK and the Channel Islands doubled last year and the charity believes the Middle East crisis may lead to an even busier spring and summer in 2026.

While RNLI lifeguards went to the aid of about 18,000 people in 2023 and 2024, this leapt to more than 35,000 in 2025, the spike put down to a combination of good weather and an increased interest in seaside pursuits.

The charity, which is celebrating its 25th year of providing lifeguard cover, is preparing for another bumper year if more people decide to stay closer to home for holidays because of the rising cost of living and as travelling to some long-haul holiday destinations may be less tempting.

Peter Dawes, RNLI lifeguard general manager, said: “The statistics vary each year depending on the weather. Last year, with the bulk of summer being reasonably good, a lot of people went to the beach.

“The other variation that comes into play is a broader economic one. If we get a lot of people staying here for a holiday, then we are busier. It’s something we’re watching at the moment, with things going on around the world. We constantly assess the risks on our beaches, but part of that is how people are going to interact with the beaches. You have to be prepared.”

The RNLI began patrolling in 2001, with popular spots in Dorset and Cornwall the first to be covered, and it now operates on almost 250 beaches.

Over 25 years, RNLI lifeguards have saved 2,165 lives, and aided 459,354 people. Their help has included rescues from water, returning lost children and delivering first aid and casualty care.

They have responded to 333,330 incidents and carried out more than 48m preventive actions – such as advising swimmers to move away from a rip current or rocks or asking water users such as paddle-boarders or surfers to reposition for their safety.

Dawes said other factors that had increased the workload of RNLI lifeguards ranged from the improvement of wetsuit technology, which allows people to stay in the water longer and not just in the warm summer months, to sporting trends.

“At different stages, we watched the development of coasteering and how more people have gravitated towards the standup paddle-boards. People find new and different ways of potentially getting in trouble and we have to find new and different ways of supporting them.”

Lewis Timson, a lifeguard supervisor in Newquay, Cornwall, has been with the RNLI for the whole 25 years.

He said the job has changed and is now more about preventing people from getting into trouble rather than rescuing them when they are in difficulty. “Twenty years ago, you’d be putting the flags up and monitoring, but you’d probably be doing a lot more rescues and not quite so much of the proactive stuff, the pushing out safety messages.

“They say a good lifeguard never gets wet but actually, when you’ve got hundreds of people on the beach, the odds are stacked against you and you do end up having to do rescues.”

Surfing and cold water swimming is much more popular than it was in 2001. “There’s always hundreds of surfers in the water. But every year there’s a new bit of technology, whether it’s kite surfing, foil boards, electric foil boards … The ocean’s for everybody, so we just try to manage that the best we can,” said Timson.

Rescues he particularly remembers include extricating a boy trapped in a hole on the beach that had collapsed in 2018. Only his head was visible and lifeguards had to give the boy oxygen because the pressure on his chest was so intense. The same happened in 2021, when a man was completely buried by sand and lifeguards enlisted the help of 25 members of the public to dig him out.

Lifeguards will be present on 39 beaches over the Easter weekend. The number of lifeguarded beaches will increase until there are more than 245 in July.