The new life-saving drones being used on a Cornish beach

  • See the drone in action on Crantock beach

RNLI lifeguards in Cornwall are some of the first in the country to trial the use of drones on Cornish beaches.

The experiment at Crantock near Newquay allows lifeguards to keep an eye on more remote parts of the beach, broadcast pre-recorded safety messages and in the future may be used to deliver lifesaving devices such as floats.

The idea was inspired by their use on Australian beaches where lifeguards use the aerial cameras to lookout for sharks.

Lucas Hearn, one of the lifeguards trained to fly the drone, says people were "sorta confused" when they first started using them but they are "really useful".

"We've got these caves at the southern end of the beach, we'll take the quad bike normally and warn people that the tides are coming in but now we can just fly the drone and do an announcement and it echoes through the caves and everyone's aware."

The drone have the capability to carry objects such as floats or mobile phones although that's not being used yet. Credit: Royal Life Saving Society UK

Crantock was chosen because of particular challenges with collapsing sand dunes, tidal caves and the path the River Gannel has funnelled across the middle of the beach.

Lucas says when the tide comes and the river gets stronger "lots of little kids end up drifting down the river when they try to cross it". Now the drone allows them make a big announcement over the crowds as it "gives people lots of time to come back".

The drone is waterproof and can fly in winds of up 30 mph so can be flown in more challenging conditions.

The equipment, training and qualifications have been paid for by Royal Life Saving Society UK and its CEO Robert Gofton says "it's about getting to the casualty as quick as possible".

Crantock has a number of challenges with its large tidal range and mouth of the River Gannel. Credit: RNLI

"[A drone] allows you to get a piece of equipment to a casualty quicker than anything else, really? And those split seconds that you can save ultimately could result in saving someone's life and that's really important."

Most people ITV West Country spoke to said they thought it was a "positive idea" and would help people hear the lifeguards over the crashing waves.

However some visiting the beach raised concerns of the drone acting like "big brother" and "spying" on people.

The RNLI insist the drone will not be recording people and they are required to stay 50 meters away from the public.

Guy Botterill, the South West lead for the RNLI says they will be deployed appropriately and the "normal function" is not to record.

"We don't record, it's just used as an observation piece of equipment for us. So the images are streamed back to the lifeguards up at the base they're able to see what's happening at that time."

Once the trial has been completed at the end of the summer the RNLI says it will work the RLSS UK to decide their next steps.