The red and yellow flags have now been packed away for winter as Life Saving Victoria figures show a reduction in beach rescues in the western region.

Warrnambool Surf Life Saving Club captain Robert Dart said there were fewer people on the city’s beaches over summer. 

“The weather was the defining factor this year,” he said.

“The weather was cooler so there were not as many people on the beach.”

Warrnambool recorded six rescues for the 2014-15 season, most of those occurring on the same day. 

“We had a significant day of rescues on the 24th of January. There were five rescues that took place at The Flume,” Mr Dart said.

Five male tourists aged in their 20s required assistance with several trying to help their friends on boogie boards as they were pulled further out to sea.

A Warrnambool Surf Life Saving Club member on a roving patrol contacted the rescue tower by radio after spotting the tourists in the water, between 50 and 100 metres from the shore.

“What was significant about that rescue was that it came from our junior members, they were the first responders,” Mr Dart said.

The club has continued its focus on training and safety.

“There’s a lot of training being done with our lifesaving awards,” Mr Dart said.

“There’s been a real focus on those higher awards.”

Overall, the western region’s lifesavers attended 107 first aid cases, performed 14 rescues and 2791 preventative actions.

Statewide, rescues decreased from 513 last year to 500, while preventative actions rose from 22,856 to 113,306.

Lifesaving operations manager Greg Scott said a more proactive approach by lifesavers was increasing beach safety. 

“Preventative actions can include providing beach safety information to first timers, taking time to talk to beach patrons about the local hazards and conditions, and letting people know if they are about to enter the water in a potentially dangerous area, such as near a rip current,” he said.

“Although our lifesavers train to perform rescues and take action should it be required, ideally, we like to prevent the situation eventuating in the first place and it is great to see that this is occurring more and more frequently.”