With visitors flocking to the coast to enjoy the long periods of sunshine, Tenby's all-weather lifeboat was the busiest in Wales during the summer, figures released this week have revealed.

The resort's Tamar class vessel, the Haydn Miller, launched no fewer than 22 times in the three-month period between June and August - an 83 per cent increase on the previous summer.

Not surprisingly, the Tenby station was also the second busiest lifeboat station in Wales (the busiest being Rhyl), with a total of 48 incidents dealt with by its crew compared with 35 in 2012.

In fact, the provisional figures released by the RNLI charity reveal that as the temperatures soared, launches across the whole of Wales also rocketed by 43 per cent during the summer, with lifeboats launching no fewer than 726 times.

Nationally, meanwhile, the charity's lifeboats launched a total of 4,300 times - also the most for 24 years

RNLI lifeguards in Wales were also kept exceptionally busy, responding to a total of 946 incidents on our beaches - 398 in West Wales alone.

Indeed, the holiday spirit created by the hottest summer for several years also made for some newsworthy incidents around the Welsh coast, with several dramatic rescues taking place.

Incidents included the rescue of a young child trapped in a cove undernearth a cliff-face in Tenby who was saved by Irene Li, a volunteer lifeguard from Atlantic College.

Irene was out on a training swim in Tenby when she noticed the child in trouble. As she was training and not carrying a rescue aid, she swam unaided to the cove and pulled the child to safety.

"This rescue showcases the resourcefulness and commitment that our RNLI lifeguard team has shown across the board this year. Not all problems can be anticipated and our lifeguards have to be prepared to respond at a moment's notice," said Stuart Thompson, RNLI lifeguard manager for South Wales.

Colin Williams, RNLI regional operations manager for Wales, added: "It has been one of the busiest summers I can remember in Wales, with the fine weather seeing people flock to the coast. To think 24 of our 31 lifeboat stations in Wales have seen the number of launches rise is astounding and shows the true dedication of our lifeguards and lifeboat crews to saving lives at sea."