IT MAY have been the summer's miserable weather. It may have been people taking safety messages on board.

But Poole's lifeboat crew has another theory as to why they enjoyed a quieter year than usual in 2007 - the introduction of 24-hour drinking.

The team, which has been the busiest in the country for the last four years, dealt with just 107 call-outs last year - 37 down on 2006 and the lowest number of launches for at least 20 years.

And although there was the usual variety of "shouts" - from boats out of fuel to cars tipping into Poole Quay - one type of call noticeably absent was that involving drunken swimmers.

"You can guarantee if you get a call down at Bournemouth at 2am on a Saturday night it will have been a drunk coming out of the pub," said Poole coxswain Jonathan Clark.

"But we did not have many of those at all last year.

"I don't know whether the pub and club opening hours have made a difference, but we're not getting so many swimmers or suicide attempts at Bournemouth."

The RNLI said the wet summer was sure to have played a part, as launches were generally down across the South West during 2007.

They were also confident their safety messages were getting through.

Steve Instance, RNLI inspector in the South West, said: "We didn't really get a long period of decent boating and beach weather, and that's reflected in our annual figures.

"However, the statistics show our prevention work is starting to pay off.

"Our volunteer lifeboat crews and safety teams spent many hours talking about simple prevention measures with people, before they put to sea."

Mr Clark stressed there was no such thing as a quiet year at the Poole lifeboat station, however, crews could not afford to rest on their laurels.

He said: "We have been busy training, so it never feels quiet.

"We can never relax and have to be ready to go at any time."

Bournemouth's lifeguards were the third busiest beach team in the South West in 2007, aiding more than 1,000 people.

The RNLI said sea conditions such as rip tides played a part in almost half of all beach incidents in the South West.

l This Friday sees the RNLI's big fund-raising day of the year - SOS Day - with events taking place across the South West, including a fish and chip supper at Swanage lifeboat station.

Log on to rnli.org.uk/ sos for more information.