Two people sit in deckchairs on the beach using a mobile phone.

The free MyCoast beach information app is now live across all 60 RNLI Lifeguarded beaches in Cornwall, on the UK’s south coast. It provides users with real-time information alongside built-in safety parameters provided by the RNLI.

The new app aims to direct people away from beaches with unsuitable conditions while providing users with the relevant information they need to plan a day out on the Cornish coast.

Created in Cornwall alongside the RNLI and other leading collaborators, MyCoast allows users to choose their activities for that day, before adding whether they are bringing children with them, or have accessibility needs. They can then select any facilities and amenities, such as parking, toilets or food and drink, before searching.

The MyCoast app then analyses the user’s requirements, together with the weather, water quality, sea conditions and specific water safety parameters for each beach, built-in by the RNLI, before displaying the beaches suitable for their activities and needs.

Two young people paddelboarding

With 15 people drowning along the Cornish coast each year, it is hoped that MyCoast will help people plan, visiting the beaches most suitable for their requirements that day, working to reduce the number of avoidable incidents along Cornwall’s coastline.

“MyCoast was born from my personal frustrations at simply wanting to safely take my family to the beach,” says MyCoast founder Jo Murray. “After several failed attempts I soon lost my confidence to explore parts of Cornwall and going to the beach became a stressful prospect. I was determined to drive change, enabling people to ‘know before they go’, to help reduce risk and stress by providing a single point of beach information.

“While MyCoast is a constant work in progress, I am utterly delighted with how far we have come and very much look forward to working with the Cornish community to help us to constantly improve MyCoast whilst keeping it accurate and up to date.”

The news comes after a surreal incident earlier this month, after an ice cream van was swept out to sea off a Cornish beach.

A Kelly Whip ice cream van was dragged into the water at Harlyn Bay Beach, north of Newquay in Cornwall. The rescue was eventually abandoned before the van was swept out to sea.

The post Safer beaches app rolled out across Cornwall appeared first on Marine Industry News.