That sound reasonable, although having done that on a cruise one time the individual, who was in the gym, called security who deescalated the situation and told me that it was always wiser to have the pool attendants remove the articles.
You only do what's necessary. For me, it's usually seeing an unoccupied chair with items on them in the shade. I find a near by seat or roam around waiting for their return while timing them to return. Unless their partner was monitoring their chair there's no reason it should go unused for 45 minutes.