South Sands slipway, Bridlington

Bridlington Bay is the largest sheltered body of water on the Yorkshire coast, held between the chalk headland of Flamborough Head to the north and the Smithic Sands shoal lying across its mouth, which shelters it from the worst of the easterly gales. It is a broad, shallow, sandy embayment: South Beach runs south from the launch as an unbroken sand flat for over a mile before merging into Wilsthorpe and then Fraisthorpe beaches, and much of the foreshore dries out to firm sand at low water.

This stretch sits at the northern end of the Holderness coast, which runs 61 kilometres from Flamborough Head to Spurn Point and is among the fastest-eroding coastlines in Europe, losing an average of around two metres a year of soft glacial till, with roughly 29 villages lost along it since Roman times. Bridlington's own frontage is defended against this with a sea wall and a field of groynes, unlike the largely undefended arable cliffs further south.

Landmarks visible from the water include Bridlington Spa immediately behind the launch and, a little further north, the Bridlington RNLI lifeboat station, a £3 million facility opened on the seafront in 2017 that houses both the all-weather and inshore lifeboats. Beyond the harbour, the Grade II listed South Pier, built to a design by James Walker between 1843 and 1848, closes the view north, with the white chalk cliffs of Flamborough Head on the horizon further still.