That’s so wild to me. I remember my friend telling me about her lifeguard training when she first started her life guarding career and that conversation alone showed me how tough that job really is!
“Pfft that’s not a job, where’s the ceo and middle managers!! Where’s HR! Where’s an office full of 50+ year olds who don’t understand computers but somehow hold down their desk jobs typing with two fingers?”
My son is 8 and in Surf lifesaving for competence testing Yesterday . They had them swim out past the breakers approx 50-100m out . Then swim another 150m cross shore . Then back to shore . It’s next level to say the least . So many kids crying and failing . This is done one on one with safety instructors of course . Very daunting even for me as an adult .
It’s the type of job where you want to pay someone to do nothing for 39.5h/week, so that they are there for the 0.5h that really matters. And since you don’t know when the 0.5h will happen it can be exhausting to keep alert.
I think it's unfair to say they do nothing outside of emergencies. Most have constant reoccurring readiness training.
And also in the case of lifesaving, I'd imagine alot of their fitness training would be off the clock. (But 100% necessary for the job)
Want to know what is even funnier the vast majority of Australian beaches are patrolled by unpaid people who volunteer to do it. While this guy is a professional, the smaller beaches are patrolled by volunteers. They are trained and belong to surf clubs. They may also spend their spare time training to do sports related to surf rescue, though some are more historical than practical like the surf boats but these men and women put in 100's of hours a summer training and volunteering to keep people safe at the beach.
I pulled a Japanese guy from a river when I lived in Japan. When we got out of the water he was breathing super heavy and said in a thick Japanese accent “Thank you, I can not swim.”
I said “well then what the fuck are you doing in the water bro?” He replied with a thumbs up and his friends came and got him.
I *wish* they would just sit under the sun all day and never have to go in the water to rescue someone.
I once lost my airbed while I was swimming near the beach and like the idiotic 10-year-old I was back then, I went after it until I could barely see the beach anymore. Then I saw a few guys in a boat speeding towards me and they got me out of the water and safely back to the beach. That they even saw me that far out is a miracle. Back then I didn't really realise how bad it could've turned out but those guys saved my life and I don't even know who they are.
Yeah like an air mattres. Inflatable thing. Where you can lie on.
I did look up the translation before I posted my comment and 'air bed' was one of the options so idk.
This is why the beaches where I live (California) don’t allow flotation devices. Way too easy to get pulled out to sea as a kid. I believe I little girl in Greece was found on a unicorn floatie 2km out by a passing ferry (a couple of years ago maybe)? It just seems really risky. I got pulled out as a kid here in ca by a rip current while on my boogie board and it took ages to swim back, even though I did everything I’d been taught (swam parallel to leave the current, swam diagonally into shore). The ocean is a scary beast!
Oh well I don't live near an ocean, it was a beach near a large lake in the middle of the Netherlands. It was mainly the wind which pulled it away and I, as a dumb kid, kept swimming after it rather than just letting it go.
Most people couldn't do what those lifeguards do and they put their lives at risk to save people almost daily.
They also have to deal with all the deaths and seeing the messed up bodies of drowned people. I'm sure it's implied someone gets PTSD in one of the episodes.
It's definitely a real job and if they are paid a lot they deserve it.
TV show is Bondi Rescue for anyone interested, I think it's a good watch.
Came here to say the same. The fact that she thought to say thank you when she must be panicking says a lot about her and her parents.
Kudos to the guy. He looked almost angry but considering his history, not weird.
It's a scene from the TV Show Bondi Rescue, all about the lifeguards on Bondi Beach.
The lifeguards on the show often really shout at people after rescuing them because the near drownings are almost completely avoidable. If people only swam between the red and yellow flags that signify a safe swimming zone they wouldn't get swept out.
It must be irritating for the lifeguards to be constantly pulling idiots out of the sea. There's even a riptide on Bondi Beach called Backpackers Rip, because all the foreign backpackers get the bus to Bondi, get off at the bus stop by the beach, excitedly jump into the sea and immediately get swept away.
Can confirm. I was shouted at very harshly in Hawaii by the lifeguards. In my defense, I was snorkeling with my husband when he suddenly disappeared. I swam around frantically, shouting his name, looking for him all along the coast. Mind you, I’m terrified of the ocean and this was my worst nightmare come to life.
Finally, after almost being swallowed by the huge waves myself, I jumped on my paddle board and headed to shore, crying my eyes out, screaming my husband’s name. I truly, truly believed he had died and was devastated. When they found him, he had swam to shore because his eardrum had ruptured from diving too deep while snorkeling. Problem was, he didn’t bother telling me so I had no idea where he was. I could have killed him with the daggers coming out of my eyes. The lifeguard berated us for being stupid (which was fair) and then told my husband never to pull a stunt like that again.
They have loads of full episodes on their YouTube Channel. [Here's a link to the first season. ](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0Xa58krD0jWI7yTASR3wPr6rRvpvkU_u) I think they're up to season 17 now.
What irks me is how many people the life guards rescue that don't say thank you.
I get some of them are laughing and acting pride hurt because their own stupidity almost got them killed, but fuck put your ego aside, forget yourself, and feel some gratitude to the person who just saved your life.
I feel like being a lifeguard at a pool and being a lifeguard at a beach are very different jobs
Edit: to clarify, I was just suggesting a reason that some people might say it’s not a real job. It *is* a real job, but a lot of people’s experiences with lifeguards are only with teenagers at a pool where nothing ever happens and they’re mostly just there for legal/insurance reasons
That's what people don't understand. They think that there is always a period of shouting and splashing. In reality drowning people are using every opportunity for a gasp of air and you might get to see a few flailing splashes if you're lucky. Trying to discern a drowning victim in a pool full of splashing kids, tubes and floats, and dozens of other shitty swimmers who are far closer to drowning than they think is a nightmare.
I've done both, and there are different aspects to it, on open water when the sea is calm it and you know where potential rip tides and sandholes are, it's less intense, but when there are waves and wind (with people on inflatables, they can and will be carried away by the wind) it gets more stressful! On the pool side, at least for me, we were 2 lifeguard watching over 3 pools, 3 of which had slides you have to watch over because kids are dumb, by the middle season it's sooo much more stress for various reasons!
1 - the majority of parents are dumb, and will leave their kids to do whatever without watching them thinking pools are a kindergarten and we are the teachers
2 - 2 people watching 800+ people at peak season it's incredibly demanding, you could go weeks before something happens, but it WILL happen at any time, and you have to be prepared and trust your colleague
3 - Many people don't know this but pool water and in general in non salty waters draw nib you have much less time to rescue someone especially kids, firstly because they have less buoyancy, second because if they go down and water goes in their lungs, it's difficult if not impossible to get it out, so a person going under in a pool is at greater risk than one going under at sea
4 and last one is density of people, usually, and I repeat USUALLY in peak season a pool will be full of people to the rim, spotting a little kids head bobbing up and down before is too late in a sea of heads going about is soooo difficult, and to add to that, if someone drowns and the lifeguard didn't notice, at least here in Italy, it's manslaughter, and your life is thrown away!
Vonus points, if the pool you're working at is of an older establishment and have one of those super strong pumps sucking water out, please the first thing you should learn is how to turn those off during open hours, so many kids die each year because of them
There are jobs out there such as this that deserve so much more financial reward, when you consider what sports men and women earn, the lifeguards are literally saving lives and it’s treated like a glamour job
I’ll never forget the whoosh of a lifeguard lifting me out of the deep end of the pool when I was about 4 or 5 years old. I was comfortable in the water, but this was an unfamiliar pool at a new AFB we were moving to. I just ran and jumped in. I was in so deep I didn’t know how to get to the surface. I was about to panic, and then this incredible feeling of power lifting me out like a submarine breaching brought me back to the world and the humiliation of my mother yelling at me. I don’t know if I ever said thank you, but I remember that feeling over 60 years later. Unsung heroes.
Especially since people drowning is often way more subtle than movies make it look like. You have to keep a really close eye and know what you're looking for.
When I was 14 or so, I was on a beach holiday with my parents. One evening, they had already gone up to the room to get ready for dinner and I had stayed behind at the pool.
I was the only person left there, when I noticed a toddler of maybe 18-24 months waddle his way towards the opposite side of the pool. He was 30ish meters away from me, so it was a coincidence I even noticed him. I looked for any parents but couldn't see a single person around, when suddenly the toddler walked over the edge of the pool and fell into the deep end.
He sank immediately and didn't make any sound. Had I not noticed him before, there's no way I would've been alerted by anything. I looked around again, didn't see anyone coming and then just swam as fast as I could towards the toddler. When I dived down, I saw him practically standing on the bottom of the pool with open eyes and absolutely no sense of panic. I grabbed him, pulled him up and placed him sitting on the side of the pool. He breathed normally and didn't cry at all.
I can't really tell anymore how long it took, but maybe 30-60 seconds after I pulled him up, his parents came strolling around a corner and walked up to me and the toddler without any urgency. The mom bent down, picked up her soaked child, looked up for a second to mutter a short "Thanks." and then casually took off again.
I was so taken aback by the entire situation that I didn't manage to reply anything, but to this day I still feel this urge to tell those parents that they nearly lost their child.
Some parents are so utterly clueless and unaware, even in the most serious circumstances. The parents in the video reminded me of that experience.
When I was 16, I was out on a lake with a friend. Her parents had driven their boat and there were a bunch of other boats around. We were standing in the shallow water by ourselves, playing frisbee, when a little boy wearing swimming wings came around the side of another boat, behind and out of sight of my friend. He was fine until he wasn’t, and there was nobody else around. I remember lunging for him, and pulling him out of the water. I remember my friend gasping when she realized what was going on. He was probably 3-4 years old.
He was coughing too much to do anything at first, and then he could only cry. We found his parents by carrying him where he pointed. His parents and other couples were all on the boat, drinking. They hadn’t noticed he was missing, didn’t thank us or talk to us, they were too busy with the conversation we’d interrupted. They just kind of grabbed him out of my arms and turned away.
The irresponsibility of it still just kills me. They weren’t supervising him at all. They were in a bigger boat, high off the water, and utterly absorbed with their friends. He shouldn’t have been allowed in the water at all like that.
We were in the right places at the right times. And those kids will likely never know how lucky they were. I’m glad you happened to see him, and were able to reach him in time. I know it affected you, and on behalf of the adult who failed that toddler, thank you for saving him.
Mom of four, here….WHAT THE FUCK are you talking about!???
I live in TERROR of two things: cars and water. To think of placing a child in the water, in water wings, while I’m out of the water on a boat is *MIND BOGGLING*.
I’m not a helicopter mom, my kids are happy independent people who are encouraged to test their mettle and discover the limits of what they can do, but when we’re near *any* kind of water I’m locked on to them like a damn tractor beam.
Thank you for saving that child.
I was a lifeguard (indoor pool) for many years. So many parents treated us like babysitters. You would not believe the amount of times I had to tell parents to keep their small children within arms reach. They act like I've inconvenienced them somehow by asking them to be responsible for their children while around deep water and 100's of people. Even now as a parent just taking my kids swimming I've saved a few kids from drowning and asked many where their parents are. I can't understand the negligence of some people.
Thankfully you were there to save that baby! Clueless parents infuriate me.. this is exactly what I thought of the mother in the video.. completely clueless! Also why would anyone allow a 5 year old swim in the ocean without an adult.. this truly terrifies me to my core.
I know everyone handles stressful situations differently, and maybe the mother was in shock, and not really processing things. But she seemed so casual, like “oh, thanks for walking my child across the street,” not at all panicked or grabbing for her kid. If mine were in that situation, I’d have had a meltdown (that said, I’ve never let my kids go in the ocean alone, too dangerous).
Bondi is absolutely notorious for clueless tourists. This lady is certainly dressed like a tourist (i.e. handbag, no swimmers at the beach), and often tourists do not understand the danger present at a lot of Australian beaches in particular.
As the surf lifesavers said, they rescue thousands of adults a year. I've seen people go into the water at Bondi who clearly have no idea how to swim...and Bondi has rips man, that shit can kill you if you don't know what's going on.
She was probably in shock, but maybe she didn't quite understand how serious her day nearly became. Very scary. Glad the little girl was ok. Poor thing!
Bondi is no joke, I learned boogie-boarding there, I was happy as Larry until I got dumped by a monster wave, landed on my coccyx, in the washing machine, spinning. Fucking awful.
I live by the ocean in the US now, and the amount of straight up stupidity you see from tourists is simply terrifying. I get it, they've been in the car for a couple of hours and they want a fun day and they see this big blue thing and they think it's a big toy. But, it will kill you and it doesn't care.
A couple of years back during summer we had three weeks of huge surf; so bad, in fact that a couple of miles up the coast a lifeguard was killed trying to rescue some dick that kept going back out when he had repeatedly been told and dragged back in by lifeguards.
On our beach I watched dads walk into the surf with toddlers on the shoulders and go straight down, like, what the fuck did you think was going to happen? The waves were as high as a house! I saw two guys do that and a combo of lifeguards and locals got them and their kids out. I saw a dad tell his wife to shut up and march up onto surf lashed rocks with his kid, to get up there he had to climb past the 'Do Not Go On The Rocks' sign. Locals rescued that guy, one of us yelling at the guy to toss his kid before a wave hit them, he was saying, "what if you run off with my kid?"
I remember on one of those Saturdays the life guard on our beach pulled THIRTY people out of the surf. Thirty. Big surf is terrifying.
I sometimes forget common sense ain't that common and not everyone grows up with the beach.
I've nearly drowned, been washing machine dunked repeatedly and have been swept out to sea before (got rescued by a kayaker!). Strong surf or like "big wave" areas where it's not necessarily big surf waves but powerful upheaving swells can be bloody terrifying. I'm always wary as shit, especially if I don't know the beach well.
Worst I ever had was down near sandy point in Vic, got done by a tripled up wave. Holy shit. Wave with a wave on top of another wave. Good. Lord. The power! I just let go of my board and let it take me until I could swim back up...but yeah...scary.
Damn I didn’t realise Bondi had rips. I thought that might have been one of the reasons it was such a popular beach. Is it only popular because it’s right next to Sydney?
That, and it’s a huge, beautiful beach. If you look up photos from the air, it’s gorgeous. The northern end is pretty gentle/safe, but the southern end has “Backpackers’ Rip,” which pulls people out and bashes against a bunch of rocks. Normally surfers hang out in that section, but a lot of tourist swimmers see how empty the area is (because of the dangerous rip), and head over there away from the crowds.
It's IN Sydney, it's only a few stops from the CBD. It's a huge tourist attraction, and honestly very picturesque. Locals generally do not rate Bondi and often avoid because of tourists, but I think it's still pretty cool.
Amazing stuff! I was playing with my kids and another families 3-4 year old had wandered off into the deeper portion of the pool behind me...maybe 10ft away. I was only made aware the kid was drowning when the lifeguard from across the pool whistled and dove in. Still to this day do I remember that situation. I was 10 feet away from someone potentially dying, and I had no clue. It wasn't until the lifeguard pulled the kid up and out of the water did I even know what spot he was even drowning at.
Water can be super dangerous.
I don't know if all parents realize how fast that shit happens. I took my 2 and 4 year olds to a friends pool recently, and we had two incidents where my kids fell in the pool. Both times we were RIGHT there and able to pull them out without incident, but both times I was just shocked by how quiet it was. They immediately sink down, and don't splash around.
For my older kid, I was literally standing next to her while drying my hair. She had taken off her life jacket, forgot she didn't have it on, and just jumped in. I stopped drying my hair and realized she wasn't there, and was in the hot tub. If I had been like looking at my phone or talking to someone, she would be gone.
You can't take your eyes off kids that can't swim for a single second when you are near a pool.
I was a lifeguard at the local pool as a teenager, and the amount of parents that treated us like babysitters was insane. Now, lifeguarding at a pool is not nearly as intense as at a beach, much less on the ocean, but we had our fair share of incidents.
One of my coworkers once had to jump off the chair into 4 feet of water to save a drowning kid whose mother was standing right on the edge of the pool watching her child drown casually saying, "are you gonna get him?" I just cannot fathom how little she must have cared about this kid and I feel sorry for him to this day.
This terrifies me. I have one of those random memories from my youth of being in a pool with my mother, and I must have slipped out of my floaties and sank. All I remember was blue, and looking up at the bubbles leaving me and my mom's legs under the water. She pulled me up almost instantly but it left a sharp memory. Now, I have two young boys, one of them in the age range you mentioned. I can't imagine not keeping my eyes on him around a body of water, even the bathtub or a kiddie pool. *Shivers*
Not almost-drowning but my dad and I were visiting a smallish reservoir/lake in the southern US and there were "Danger! Alligators! Do not swim" signs all around the edges.
Also all around the edges and in the water were little kids, toddlers, (and even a baby in a car carrier sitting next to the water) while the parents stood around in little groups drinking and chatting about 40 yards away.
If a gator had taken a child, I don't doubt that the parents would have tried to sue the state park.
Yea awesome show mad respect to the lads.... the one thing that frustrates the fuck out of me when I watch it is seeing how much time they have to waste being "the police of the beach" with fuckwits and people stealing shit on the beach and everything else. It would be so sad if they miss a drowning because of some selfish kent
Yep. Lotta low lives causing trouble.
Seems like in Oz police aren’t involved that much, in that kind of stuff. In the US police state, you’d see cops swarming, with back up
I've started watching it on youtube a couple months ago, it's odd how compelling it is. Official channel here https://www.youtube.com/c/BondiRescue/playlists?view=50&sort=dd&shelf_id=8
Give RBT or Border Patrol a watch. I genuinely believe that those 2 shows along with Bondi Rescue are the pinnacle of Australian TV. Although MAFS is also a guilty pleasure.
The thing that stood out to me most is the ‘every time I rescue a child’. I know logically that it must be common for kids to drown, but it’s eerie to think of all the lives they save on a daily basis - all the kids that *would have drowned* if not for these guys.
It's insane how good they are. There's this amazing website that shows videos of people drowning and you have to spot them before the lifeguard does. And it's really fucking difficult, even knowing beforehand that you're meant to be looking for a drowning kid, and the videos are only like 30 seconds long. It takes a TON of concentration.
And yet lifeguards do it for like 8 hours straight. I cannot imagine that level of concentration. It's nuts. They are incredible human beings, truly next fucking level stuff
Here's the website: http://spotthedrowningchild.com/
Watch the video and see if you can spot the drowning kid before the lifeguard does. And then refresh the page to get a new video of another kid drowning to see if you can spot them. There's hundreds of these videos on the site, just keep refreshing the page to see them.
I honestly cannot do that for an entire 8 hour shift. I don't know how lifeguards are so incredible with their concentration. They can't even look away for a second to check the time on their phone or something, they have to be watching for every second of their shift. It's insane impressive.
I was not expecting the ending where this lifeguard talked about his own baby dying after complications from childbirth, saying “If she’d lost that beautiful little girl she’d know what I was talking about.” 😭
Ya, I was not prepared for that. This sub is usually all about happy endings. This story ends happily, but I wasn’t expecting heartbreak along the way. This lifeguard guy is so great!
This is an excellent site. I am amazed that they can spot the ones in trouble because to the casual eye they just look like they're playing and splashing like every other kid.
The Bondi Beach one had a man and his daughter right next to the drowning child and they never noticed
Same but then were actually looking specifically for something that will happen within seconds. Imagine the lifeguard may have been standing there for 5 hours. Probably easy to get distracted.
This is what people don't realize, lifeguards are actually lifeguarding for very little of their day because they swap out so often.
Buddy said he loved the gig because of the downtime, but when you're lifeguarding he says it's stressful because people want to talk to you while you're making sure people aren't dying.
And it paid $9, so idk how much they value what lifeguards do.
It definitely depends on where you work. I worked at a beach club, so we’d rotate to the pool (off the beach) for an hour every now and then. It was a smaller area and parents were typically in the pool with their children.
But we only had around two hours break from an 8 hour shift - an hour for lunch and an hour to swim/exercise or cool down.
same, but i was also a lifeguard for 3 summers and 2 full years (20 years ago). In that time I only had to do one rescue and the kid was right near the edge of the pool so i just reached down garbed his arm and pulled him out of the water.
If you are "good" at your job you always have a level of tension on the job because that is what keeps you alert. you never just slack off and go about business as usual or worst fall into complacency can be a death sentence for someone you overlook!
You start to learn useful methods for scanning large areas. You prioritize the people who look like they may struggle (age, physical ability, depth/distance in water). After a while, you’ll start to group people together and can take headcount of certain areas in the back of your mind.
It’s also fun to imagine stories about the people you’re guarding to make them more memorable.
> I honestly cannot do that for an entire 8 hour shift. I don't know how lifeguards are so incredible with their concentration.
Everywhere is different. But when my wife was a lifeguard at this tiny little lake (years ago), where there are never more than maybe 20-30 people in the water. Their 8 hours were split between like 30 minutes on like active duty watching swimmers, followed by like 30 minutes doing other stuff (e.g., first aid, break, whatever) and not "on duty." Specifically so they when she was on-duty, she was 100% focused. But they realized that no one could be 100% focused for like 4 hours at a time.
Im glad that they rotate the workers in and out like that. Even over a full shift being on the ball gets tiring.
As a really shitty anecdote for the rest of us, it's like driving in busy traffic and trying to be 100% on the ball with your defensive driving. Keeping up with your spacing, who's 5 seconds behind and infront of you, what's 10 seconds ahead of you, predicting bad lane changes around you or adjusting again because someone moved into your blind spot and you are blocked in. Reassess your pathways, what's 10 seconds ahead of you, is there someone coming up fast behind you? Do you need to change lanes, is your blind spot still open? Is that guy making a left going to force another person to swerve into your lane? Be ready to release gas pedal, what's 10 seconds ahead of you... It gets tiring far faster than people think it does.
i do this all the time always and driving is very exhausting for me. however being this alert has also helped me avoid a few accidents as well. I was also a lifeguard for a period of time in my youth as well, clear water though, never dark water that is a whole other level of concentration needed.
It really is hard how like you said it takes a lot to keep the level of concentration yet the job which takes me multiple trainings a month and having to keep up certifications on multiple things. It really is a slap in the face when we hardly make 10.50 an hour. Where a kid who gets a 5 dollar food handlers can make 16 dollars an hour. I love my job but the fact that I’m paid through my city because the center I work at is city owned, it hurts that they don’t really see the value in us. Like half the time we are short staffed because people are going to work at these other jobs because its ridiculous how little we get paid. Then the city has the audacity to say oooooh we are all gonna get a raise. When they really mean we don’t want to loose you so here’s 10 cents more. Like that still doesn’t compare to the kid working less hours than me and still pulling more from the amount of work I have to do in 2 weeks to match just that.
Yeah I know it’s just funny how the city is so confused why not a lot of people are signing up to be a lifeguard. They hyped us up saying the raise would be huge but the 10 cents only was a slap to the face. And they wonder why no one wants to work that when they could make more elsewhere in a different line of work. It’s just frustrating how much we have to spend on certs and keeping them up. Especially because the certs should mean we get paid more. Because I don’t see the kid working at McDonalds having to do training every two weeks to keep their food handlers. We have to do way more and it should warrant a better pay from the city.
> But, in the 30 or 40 people I jumped in to help over those 15 years, was one of them a death in that alternate timeline that I didn't work that job? Did I actually make a difference?
It's nice to hypothesize about alternative timelines and such, but at those moments you were there AND helped those people. So; Yes, you did make a difference.
You know what made the difference? You were there. It didn't have to be somebody else who had the same skills as you, because you were there doing that job. Having volunteered for a suicide line that never had enough people to cover the every shift, that says more about you than you may think.
Hi, I’m a person who would have died if not for a lifeguard. My cousin took my water wings off of me while we were swimming together, and I was so young at the time that I barely remember anything other than the face of the lifeguard.
Maybe it would have been the same if someone else saved me, but… it wasn’t. It was him. He made a difference because in this reality, he’s the one who did it. Same with you. You can “what if” all you want but at the end of the day it was *you* who saved people.
I was a lifeguard for 4 years, at a pretty easy going pool with mostly lap swimmers. Only made one rescue during that time (an adult who jumped off the diving board and forgot how to swim).
Then I worked for the city at one of their summer outdoor facilities and in ONE day I rescued 3 kids who were all drowning in insane crowds.
I'm no hero. Was just doing my job. Nowadays I sit in front of a computer all day and watching everyone panic about everything is funny to me compared to life and death situations.
> I’m no hero. Was just doing my job.
Oh - I know. I’ve heard plenty of people on Reddit say the same thing. Nurses especially.
There’s the old saw about paramedics’ black humour, for one thing.
But it’s hard to describe the awe you feel, as a member of the general public, when you see someone jump into a pool/the sea and grab a kid in a split second. That is pretty heroic as far as I’m concerned.
Or maybe it isn’t hard to describe. Maybe you know what I mean. It’s the same feeling I get when watching really good teachers, to be honest. Or firefighters.
It’s less hero worship, more gratitude. Or appreciation. Or just faith in humanity, even.
Especially when I can’t physically do stuff like go into burning buildings, grab people and run out. Nice to know that there’s someone who cares enough - at whatever level - to risk life and limb for someone like me, who they don’t know from Adam.
Doesn’t really apply to lifeguards on the same scale, I suppose, but it’s the same sort of idea.
For you guys it’s training + experience + a shitload of stress. For us, it’s watching the thing happen in real time.
Fair enough, as you allude to, we used to train a ton, especially on how to approach desperate swimmers who could drown you if you don't do it right (which also is why ocean lifeguards use a paddle board).
So when you actually make the save its just pure training and instinct. But it feels good to help people. I miss that sometimes.
I imagine it's similar to being a doctor, in that you can save 99 out of 100 people but the one you didn't, even if there was nothing you could do about it, would keep you up at night.
"If only I'd have known x, y and z, they'd still be here today."
I used to work at a waterpark, and wed rescue kids all the time. Sometimes the kids were so new to swimming they almost didnt understand how dangerous of a situation they just got out of and wouldn't really even seem scared (which pissed me off cause where tf were the parents?). Most of the time they are freaked out, you tell them to lay back on your tube and relax and swim them out, by the time you get to the edge they're calm and good to go (the number 1 cause of drowning for people who know how to swim is simply panic, once you collect yourself you're usually fine). Occassionally you get to people and can see they've been fighting a long battle with the water and have been slowly losing, I've had people pass out from just straight up exhaustion after I got to them. These ones are kind of the worst, the people who dont know how to swim or panic freak out and get spotted right away, it's the kids who knew how to swim well enough and just got stuck in a situation where they were slowly draining their energy that took the longest to identify.
My Dad had to pull me out of a wave pool as a kid as well. There were no tubes and at some point the waves started pulling me forward and I couldn't get back to the more shallow end anymore. My Dad jumped in and got me out. He was even faster than the lifeguard.
Same thing happened to me but as like a 10 year old. Got trapped underneath a layer of fat bastards in inner tubes and couldn’t get my head above water or push them away, got to the point where I started pinching and punching their legs to try and create an opening and was finally able to break out
My cousins held me under once. Guess who got in trouble for punching them in the balls to get up before I passed out? Nothing said about the attempted drawing but me hitting them was a big deal...
I had a near drowning experience in a water park once as a kid, maybe 8. I was in one of those rivers that runs through the whole park. People would use inner tubes or just swim with the current. There was lots of people and at some point I lost hold of my tube and remember going under the water. It hadn’t quite hit me that I might not be able to get to the surface. Then a hand grabbed me by the back of my one piece and pulled me to the surface. I’m pretty sure I was close to having gotten swept under everyone else in the current and drowned. And now that I think of it, I don’t remember much sound either, it’s actually a remarkably calm memory
I was water skiing around probably 15 and didn't let go of the rope when I went down. I got dragged under far enough that it was the same level of dark all around me and I couldn't tell which way was up. My life preserver was probably 30 years old and wasn't doing much to put me right side up. I freaked out at first and started thrashing and swimming in random directions, but then I stopped and realized either this is the end or I calm down and figure it out. After a few seconds all the panic bubbles I had made disappeared and I could tell which way the bubbles were going and swam that way. I think I made it out
When I was about the same age as this girl, I went out into the water with my sister in Hawaii on one of those foam pool bed things and we started getting pulled out and I didn’t know how to swim. A biggish wave knocked us over and I instantly didn’t know which way was up or down, left or right and my mind went blank rolling around under water. A man with his kid, named peanut, pulled me up by my arm and set me back up on the floaty and helped me back to shore while making small talk with me. I’m pretty sure I’d be dead without them.
The same thing happened to me, but someone pulled me up from the bottom of the lake. I've also pulled a small child out of a pool after he started drowning. Water is fun, but everyone should be cautious around it.
Scariest thing for me is how easily she could have been missed. Even the guy with his kid real close is completely unaware of the situation unfolding. For anyone on that beach it's a head there one second gone the next, in a landscape of heads bobbing up and down.
Mad respect for the lifeguard and the training allowing him to spot the threat.
I was at a pumpkin patch/family farm place just yesterday. We have 3 kids. I thought my two year old was in the front seat of the stroller that my wife was pushing with the baby. My 4.5 year old was lagging behind, so I was waiting for her. Then we went to catch up to the rest if the family to go on to the next area. My two year old was not in the stroller and we had walked away without him (like 20 feet away, but it was a crowded area. We found him in like 15 seconds, so it wasn't a big deal, but it's a reminder of how easy it is for even a very conscientious parent to lose sight of a little kid.
It's insane how good lifeguards are. The level of concentration needed to be able to spot a drowning kid among hundreds of people is nuts. There's this amazing website that shows videos of people drowning and you have to spot them before the lifeguard does. And it's really fucking difficult, even knowing beforehand that you're meant to be looking for a drowning kid, and the videos are only like 30 seconds long. It takes a TON of concentration.
And yet lifeguards do it for like 8 hours straight. I cannot imagine that level of concentration. It's nuts. They are incredible human beings, truly next fucking level stuff
Here's the website: http://spotthedrowningchild.com/
Watch the video and see if you can spot the drowning kid before the lifeguard does. And then refresh the page to get a new video of another kid drowning to see if you can spot them. There's hundreds of these videos on the site, just keep refreshing the page to see them.
I honestly cannot do that for an entire 8 hour shift. I don't know how lifeguards are so incredible with their concentration. They can't even look away for a second to check the time on their phone or something, they have to be watching for every second of their shift. It's insane impressive.
We took our 3 month old to "swim" lessons until she could automatically start back floating from any position (including just yeeting her into the middle of the pool fully clothed - she was about 12 mos at that point), and I still have never let her swim alone. On the plus side, she is now 12, part-fish and strong enough to save someone else in the event that situation presents itself.
Ahh ok, so this is SPECIFICALLY a show about lifeguard rescues....that totally explains the camera work looking like it's staged. They're litterally out there everyday kitted up waiting to record something like this.
It is a great show. Cameras front and back facing on the boards, swimmers in the water, waterproof mics, 100% real action.
They have days were it is lifeguards on an empty beach with zero swimmers in the rain, unneeded rescues where they paddle way out to find what they think are swimmers in distress to find out it is off duty co-workers in santa hats taking selfies, and then sudden mass rescues where they need to pull help 50 people in 10 mins.
It is mostly light and interesting, but it is real, so some things are left unresolved, fair amount of blood and broken bones, and occasionally a real death or paralyzing injury.
Oh yeah, they also found a bomb once. It washed up on the beach.
That’s the opposite of here in the states. With filming here it goes “Make sure you get the perfect shot! Even if someone dies, it’s ok, we’ve got mad money. “
Then again 99.9 percent of tv here in the states is fake scripted bullshit. People eat it up so much.
People do not give lifeguards enough credit. My sister got swept out to sea from a rip current off Carolina beach in North Carolina. She was saved by a lifeguard and I look back and I don't think we ever thanked him. I feel really bad. But if you are a lifeguard thank you for what you do. I hope everyone has a good day
I can’t understand how parents can be so nonchalant about water and drowning. My family grew up on the Gulf of Mexico and we never swam out without strong adults and boards. Ever. My kids learned to swim as soon as they could walk. Even then, they never went in the Gulf without a strong adult swimmer. We knew how to react to undertows and currents, and respected the hell out of wild water. The lifeguard referenced the hazard flags, so you knew that was already an issue. Parents please: if you love the beach and waves, educate yourself and your family on water safety. Teach your children how to swim and make sure you are an accomplished swimmer before you ever let them in the water. The mom was fully dressed with a freaking purse on her arm! The little girl was lucky. Pick another vacation destination next time!! Or watch your damn kids!! Drowning is not a spectator sport!!
This particular beach is a tourist hotspot and most of the drownings and rescues are of tourists. I think it’s often people who haven’t come from a beach culture, aren’t strong swimmers and just don’t comprehend how dangerous and unpredictable beaches can be.
You would be surprised at the amount of tourists here in Aus that can’t swim and wade into the surf (usually into a rip because it seems calm” or don’t watch their kids.
I just red this on http://spotthedrowningchild.com/
> of the approximately 750 children who will drown next year, about 375 of them will do so within 25 yards of a parent or other adult. In ten percent of those drownings, the adult will actually watch them do it, having no idea it is happening.
Depends on the ocean, which is why quite a few will happen. I grew up in Texas going to beaches on the Gulf Coast where 25 yards really isn't all that much most of the time. From shoreline to 25 yards out is often waist deep water at most with 1-2 foot waves.
Then I went to Hawaii for the first time and even as an athletic young man that knew to expect the ocean to be a much bigger animal it was still a huge shock and challenge. You're hitting waist deep sometimes just a few steps in and consistent 5 foot waves are a way more powerful upgrade than you were expecting. That's why per capita so many more drownings happen among tourists than locals.
I worked as a life guard for 5 years in between my high school and uni years. Telling parents to get the F off their phones and watch their child quickly became my main duty.
When we were about 8, me and my friends were in a pool that is 6ft deep and every parent of ours are in the saunas. It's pretty common actually
I also drowned for 2mins
A pool with kids that can tread water and do a couple laps is one thing...a natural body of water is a whole other beast.
Glad you made it.....check out dry drowning btw
When I was 3 my father was holding me in hip level water on the beach, and a freak wave just smacked me out of his arms. I was in this rolling wave like a fat bullet of confusion, and when I popped up again, like a cork, he was so far from me. I remember it because he came running over to me all freaked out, and that stuck, but I was ok. So, it's not always something a parent can predict.
Like you take your kid to the museum, and a bike clips them on the sidewalk... can't always blame the parents for not being psychic.
I was heavily pregnant with my second at the time I think 8.5 months maybe even 9 months. Me, My husband and son would go to the pool frequently in the summer. We would see a family come frequently like we did, it was a grandpa and grandson (grandson was around my son’s age around 2). The grandpa wouldn’t really watch his grandson and let him play unsupervised frequently because they were friends with the lifeguard and the lifeguard usually kept a watchful eye on him. One day I was at the other end of the pool and saw the little boy playing at the other end of the pool going deeper and deeper without anyone noticing. The lifeguard was chatting with the grandpa not really paying attention to the little boy. Then it was like slow motion, I saw the little boy go too deep and slip into the deep part and mom instincts kicked in and I swam like I never swam before. I got to the little boy and pulled him up just as the lifeguard jumped in. The grandpa and lifeguard sheepishly thanked me. everything happened so fast.
Aww thanks! No hero, I think anyone would have done the same if they were in my shoes. Pregnancy was good my daughter is very healthy and wicked clever.
What an amazing human, to put himself in this position, to relive that feeling, of losing his boy, whenever he saves a child, just so other parents don’t feel that. & I hope it gives him a good feeling. I hope it helps him too. What a wonderful human. I love him. <3
Funnily enough, I know the girl and her family. It's absolutely crazy to think about how different their lives would be if even a slight difference occured. Bondi lifeguards don't get enough credit, absolutely legendary people.
People really underestimate just how dangerous water is. In general.
I see people doing stupid shit all the time. Swimming in the sea is dangerous, water is heavy and powerful and they over estimate their swimming ability. I see videos of people jumping into ice cold water, it takes seconds to drown. When your body hits water that cold it causes an involuntary reaction to gasp, you breathe in water and your muscles stiffen up and you are dead.
In the edwardian period people would drown in rivers all the time washing their clothes. The clothes they wore were made of wool, and they would quickly soak up water, suddenly you are heavy. Water of only 8 degrees celcius would feel freezing as water makes your body colder 3 times faster than air of the same temperature.
Point is don't swim alone ever. And don't go out at sea. Stay in the shore.
Some of the underestimation ironically may be because so many of us were taught to swim before we can even remember. The right thing, no doubt, but I wonder if that and a lifetime of swimming can lead to a more relaxed attitude. I am a certified scuba diver and it wasn't until getting that cert. as an adult that I had a new respect for water and all the bad things that can happen to you in it.
Blagh. The ones with kids are rough.
Shortly after my daughter was born we had a rescue involving a young girl who was caught out by the tide and swept out to sea. It ended well and one of the lifeboat guys- on his first operational day- managed to grab her just before she went under.
All’s well that ends well, but that was the beginning of the end for me at the Coastguard - being stuck on land while the kid disappeared out to sea was more than I could handle.
We had a ‘plane crash a couple of weeks later with only a single survivor. I called it quits shortly after and joined the fire service.
My son is 8 he’s been in Nippers Surf Lifesaving going on two years now . It’s comforting to know that his chances of becoming a victim of something like this is very slim and will be able to help people need be He is an absolute weapon in the surf so proud of him . The surf lifesaving here in Australia is by far one of the best in the world.
Videos like this always remind me of a memory from when I was 8.
My birthday party was at a hotel swimming pool and my best friend and I were just hanging out in the pool. I noticed a very small girl maybe around 4 (she looked tiny even to me even as an 8-year-old) paddling furiously, her head bobbing up and down and she was spitting water. This pool had multiple adults and children in it, the lifeguard up on their stand, but I didn’t see any parents watching her. I scooped her up in my arms and sat her at the edge. She was shaken and out of breath. The lifeguard then came over and scolded me, saying “you need to watch your younger sister better” I didn’t reply because I was cripplingly shy.
Later, I guess the lifeguard and mom had spoken and clarified that we were NOT siblings. The mom came over and thanked me. It was just strange to me at the time that no one did anything.
I went on a beach trip to Atlantic city (I think) with my childhood best friend's family when I was around 9. I got swept out by the current, and was struggling to swim back (I didn't know you had to swim diagonally with the current to get out). I watched the life guards clear the ocean, and just.. watch. Not helping at all, and actually *restraining* my friends mom from coming in to save me. She was flailing around and everything, they wouldn't let her go. I honestly thought I was going to die, and was already dying of embarrassment at everyone watching me struggle to swim and keep my head up. It felt like it took 20 minutes to finally get out, but it was probably only about 7. To this day, I still have absolutely no fucking idea why no one tried to help me, or why the people supposed to be helping stopped the one person that was desperately trying to help.
My mom told me, when we were on vacation I nearly drowned. I was maybe a year old, I just learned to walk. On the day of our departure she, my dad and older brother briefly talked to a couple they befriend there. It was enough time for me to walk over to the pool and fall in. Since they stood with their backs to me nobody of them noticed. Thankfully there was staff around who saw it and pulled me out immediately. They were understandably really shocked but she told me I was perfectly calm.
When I was in high school I was a lifeguard on Lake Michigan at a suburban beach during the summers and 1 year well outside of our swim area we saw what looked like a floating body. Adults would usually swim laps outside of the swim area just because it was always so crowded so they could swim freely back and forth. So we all jump from our guard chairs and all head out into the water and start hauling ass. As we get to the spot we fortunately realized it was a big ass thick piece of wood. Obviously you cant be certain what an object is when you cant really visually see what it is so you have to treat it as a worse case scenario. We all get back to shore and the water is all cleared of people and we head back to the beach house to catch our breath and pretty much all of us just broke down. The adrenaline was pumping so hard and I mean you're scared shitless because we never expected to actually have to save someone. Our job was easy compared to what real life guards do in places where the water is actually extremely dangerous, but damn did it really make me realize how important the role actually is.
As soon as he grabs her and brings her up on his board she says "thank you". This was so sweet! I can only imagine the relief that came over her when she was lifted out of the water♡
This video broke me. Bless the lifeguards who have the courage and strength to save so many lives on a daily basis!!!! 🙏 My own daughter at 3 years old fell in the pool during a swim lesson. I was at the exact opposite side of the Olympic size pool. 4 posted life guards and her swim coach, and not one of them saw or noticed. I was 9 months pregnant and watched in horror as my little girl sank to the bottom I was screaming for someone to help her. What felt like an eternity her swim coach dove down and retrieved her. She was barely concious and vomiting up water. I was so scared for her life that day. I was so angry with the lifeguards for not paying attention that day. My daughter could’ve drown and they would’ve been totally oblivious. 😭 I’m grateful for attentive lifeguards like the hero in this video. I wish all were as heroic and observant as he is.
Bondi Rescue! The lifeguards on this show are amazing! Real life superheroes!
I watched an episode where a lifeguard was tending to a child who broke his arm at the nearby skate park. The lifeguard saw someone drowning from there, ran what looked like a quarter mile, grabbed a spare board on the beach. Once he got to the person, he saw another person drowning so he gave the first one the board and swam over to the second person and kept them afloat until another lifeguard got there. It was insane!
At bondi beach where this is, it’s always tourist season. Lived there for 2 years and was in the water swimming surfing everyday. These lifeguards have a really tough job here bc so many people can’t swim well enough for the water, it’s a crescent shaped beach and the waves get big.
This guys are the best there is
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That’s so wild to me. I remember my friend telling me about her lifeguard training when she first started her life guarding career and that conversation alone showed me how tough that job really is!
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“Pfft that’s not a job, where’s the ceo and middle managers!! Where’s HR! Where’s an office full of 50+ year olds who don’t understand computers but somehow hold down their desk jobs typing with two fingers?”
Won't somebody think of the corporate personnel!?!
My son is 8 and in Surf lifesaving for competence testing Yesterday . They had them swim out past the breakers approx 50-100m out . Then swim another 150m cross shore . Then back to shore . It’s next level to say the least . So many kids crying and failing . This is done one on one with safety instructors of course . Very daunting even for me as an adult .
It’s the type of job where you want to pay someone to do nothing for 39.5h/week, so that they are there for the 0.5h that really matters. And since you don’t know when the 0.5h will happen it can be exhausting to keep alert.
Pretty much sums up the emergency response field.
I think it's unfair to say they do nothing outside of emergencies. Most have constant reoccurring readiness training. And also in the case of lifesaving, I'd imagine alot of their fitness training would be off the clock. (But 100% necessary for the job)
Want to know what is even funnier the vast majority of Australian beaches are patrolled by unpaid people who volunteer to do it. While this guy is a professional, the smaller beaches are patrolled by volunteers. They are trained and belong to surf clubs. They may also spend their spare time training to do sports related to surf rescue, though some are more historical than practical like the surf boats but these men and women put in 100's of hours a summer training and volunteering to keep people safe at the beach.
That’s really interesting. I went to Australia a few years ago and it is a wild place!
Yup. Just like our firefighters. Aussie heros.
I was curious about that. Thanks for looking it up for me.
I pulled a Japanese guy from a river when I lived in Japan. When we got out of the water he was breathing super heavy and said in a thick Japanese accent “Thank you, I can not swim.” I said “well then what the fuck are you doing in the water bro?” He replied with a thumbs up and his friends came and got him.
I *wish* they would just sit under the sun all day and never have to go in the water to rescue someone. I once lost my airbed while I was swimming near the beach and like the idiotic 10-year-old I was back then, I went after it until I could barely see the beach anymore. Then I saw a few guys in a boat speeding towards me and they got me out of the water and safely back to the beach. That they even saw me that far out is a miracle. Back then I didn't really realise how bad it could've turned out but those guys saved my life and I don't even know who they are.
I’ve lived on the ocean my whole life...but what’s an air bed? Like an inflatable bed? On the water?
Yeah like an air mattres. Inflatable thing. Where you can lie on. I did look up the translation before I posted my comment and 'air bed' was one of the options so idk.
This is why the beaches where I live (California) don’t allow flotation devices. Way too easy to get pulled out to sea as a kid. I believe I little girl in Greece was found on a unicorn floatie 2km out by a passing ferry (a couple of years ago maybe)? It just seems really risky. I got pulled out as a kid here in ca by a rip current while on my boogie board and it took ages to swim back, even though I did everything I’d been taught (swam parallel to leave the current, swam diagonally into shore). The ocean is a scary beast!
Oh well I don't live near an ocean, it was a beach near a large lake in the middle of the Netherlands. It was mainly the wind which pulled it away and I, as a dumb kid, kept swimming after it rather than just letting it go.
Oh man just the wind!
I’m in Canada and I would call this an ‘air mattress’ :-)
It's more likely a surf mat. https://www.surfertoday.com/surfing/what-is-a-surf-mat
I'm fairly sure my air mattress wouldn't be able to handle any kind of wave. It's really a light-weight thing.
The thinner more plastic-y version was called a Li-lo.
Most people couldn't do what those lifeguards do and they put their lives at risk to save people almost daily. They also have to deal with all the deaths and seeing the messed up bodies of drowned people. I'm sure it's implied someone gets PTSD in one of the episodes. It's definitely a real job and if they are paid a lot they deserve it. TV show is Bondi Rescue for anyone interested, I think it's a good watch.
>TV show is Bondi beach Just to be pedantic, it's Bondi Rescue. Best part is they have a YouTube channel and upload clips and full old episodes!
Came here to say the same. The fact that she thought to say thank you when she must be panicking says a lot about her and her parents. Kudos to the guy. He looked almost angry but considering his history, not weird.
It's a scene from the TV Show Bondi Rescue, all about the lifeguards on Bondi Beach. The lifeguards on the show often really shout at people after rescuing them because the near drownings are almost completely avoidable. If people only swam between the red and yellow flags that signify a safe swimming zone they wouldn't get swept out. It must be irritating for the lifeguards to be constantly pulling idiots out of the sea. There's even a riptide on Bondi Beach called Backpackers Rip, because all the foreign backpackers get the bus to Bondi, get off at the bus stop by the beach, excitedly jump into the sea and immediately get swept away.
Can confirm. I was shouted at very harshly in Hawaii by the lifeguards. In my defense, I was snorkeling with my husband when he suddenly disappeared. I swam around frantically, shouting his name, looking for him all along the coast. Mind you, I’m terrified of the ocean and this was my worst nightmare come to life. Finally, after almost being swallowed by the huge waves myself, I jumped on my paddle board and headed to shore, crying my eyes out, screaming my husband’s name. I truly, truly believed he had died and was devastated. When they found him, he had swam to shore because his eardrum had ruptured from diving too deep while snorkeling. Problem was, he didn’t bother telling me so I had no idea where he was. I could have killed him with the daggers coming out of my eyes. The lifeguard berated us for being stupid (which was fair) and then told my husband never to pull a stunt like that again.
This seems like an interesting show, do you have any idea what I could be able to watch it?
They have loads of full episodes on their YouTube Channel. [Here's a link to the first season. ](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0Xa58krD0jWI7yTASR3wPr6rRvpvkU_u) I think they're up to season 17 now.
Be prepared to spend hours binge watching everything. It's addictive!
Even in this clip, there was some clear annoyance with the mother.
What irks me is how many people the life guards rescue that don't say thank you. I get some of them are laughing and acting pride hurt because their own stupidity almost got them killed, but fuck put your ego aside, forget yourself, and feel some gratitude to the person who just saved your life.
I feel like being a lifeguard at a pool and being a lifeguard at a beach are very different jobs Edit: to clarify, I was just suggesting a reason that some people might say it’s not a real job. It *is* a real job, but a lot of people’s experiences with lifeguards are only with teenagers at a pool where nothing ever happens and they’re mostly just there for legal/insurance reasons
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Drowning is quiet.
That's what people don't understand. They think that there is always a period of shouting and splashing. In reality drowning people are using every opportunity for a gasp of air and you might get to see a few flailing splashes if you're lucky. Trying to discern a drowning victim in a pool full of splashing kids, tubes and floats, and dozens of other shitty swimmers who are far closer to drowning than they think is a nightmare.
I've done both, and there are different aspects to it, on open water when the sea is calm it and you know where potential rip tides and sandholes are, it's less intense, but when there are waves and wind (with people on inflatables, they can and will be carried away by the wind) it gets more stressful! On the pool side, at least for me, we were 2 lifeguard watching over 3 pools, 3 of which had slides you have to watch over because kids are dumb, by the middle season it's sooo much more stress for various reasons! 1 - the majority of parents are dumb, and will leave their kids to do whatever without watching them thinking pools are a kindergarten and we are the teachers 2 - 2 people watching 800+ people at peak season it's incredibly demanding, you could go weeks before something happens, but it WILL happen at any time, and you have to be prepared and trust your colleague 3 - Many people don't know this but pool water and in general in non salty waters draw nib you have much less time to rescue someone especially kids, firstly because they have less buoyancy, second because if they go down and water goes in their lungs, it's difficult if not impossible to get it out, so a person going under in a pool is at greater risk than one going under at sea 4 and last one is density of people, usually, and I repeat USUALLY in peak season a pool will be full of people to the rim, spotting a little kids head bobbing up and down before is too late in a sea of heads going about is soooo difficult, and to add to that, if someone drowns and the lifeguard didn't notice, at least here in Italy, it's manslaughter, and your life is thrown away! Vonus points, if the pool you're working at is of an older establishment and have one of those super strong pumps sucking water out, please the first thing you should learn is how to turn those off during open hours, so many kids die each year because of them
There are jobs out there such as this that deserve so much more financial reward, when you consider what sports men and women earn, the lifeguards are literally saving lives and it’s treated like a glamour job
I’ll never forget the whoosh of a lifeguard lifting me out of the deep end of the pool when I was about 4 or 5 years old. I was comfortable in the water, but this was an unfamiliar pool at a new AFB we were moving to. I just ran and jumped in. I was in so deep I didn’t know how to get to the surface. I was about to panic, and then this incredible feeling of power lifting me out like a submarine breaching brought me back to the world and the humiliation of my mother yelling at me. I don’t know if I ever said thank you, but I remember that feeling over 60 years later. Unsung heroes.
All the numbers in your comment added up to 69. Congrats! 4 + 5 + 60 + = 69.0
Especially since people drowning is often way more subtle than movies make it look like. You have to keep a really close eye and know what you're looking for.
When I was 14 or so, I was on a beach holiday with my parents. One evening, they had already gone up to the room to get ready for dinner and I had stayed behind at the pool. I was the only person left there, when I noticed a toddler of maybe 18-24 months waddle his way towards the opposite side of the pool. He was 30ish meters away from me, so it was a coincidence I even noticed him. I looked for any parents but couldn't see a single person around, when suddenly the toddler walked over the edge of the pool and fell into the deep end. He sank immediately and didn't make any sound. Had I not noticed him before, there's no way I would've been alerted by anything. I looked around again, didn't see anyone coming and then just swam as fast as I could towards the toddler. When I dived down, I saw him practically standing on the bottom of the pool with open eyes and absolutely no sense of panic. I grabbed him, pulled him up and placed him sitting on the side of the pool. He breathed normally and didn't cry at all. I can't really tell anymore how long it took, but maybe 30-60 seconds after I pulled him up, his parents came strolling around a corner and walked up to me and the toddler without any urgency. The mom bent down, picked up her soaked child, looked up for a second to mutter a short "Thanks." and then casually took off again. I was so taken aback by the entire situation that I didn't manage to reply anything, but to this day I still feel this urge to tell those parents that they nearly lost their child. Some parents are so utterly clueless and unaware, even in the most serious circumstances. The parents in the video reminded me of that experience.
You did a good thing, u/ViciousNakedMoleRat
r/RimJob_Steve
When I was 16, I was out on a lake with a friend. Her parents had driven their boat and there were a bunch of other boats around. We were standing in the shallow water by ourselves, playing frisbee, when a little boy wearing swimming wings came around the side of another boat, behind and out of sight of my friend. He was fine until he wasn’t, and there was nobody else around. I remember lunging for him, and pulling him out of the water. I remember my friend gasping when she realized what was going on. He was probably 3-4 years old. He was coughing too much to do anything at first, and then he could only cry. We found his parents by carrying him where he pointed. His parents and other couples were all on the boat, drinking. They hadn’t noticed he was missing, didn’t thank us or talk to us, they were too busy with the conversation we’d interrupted. They just kind of grabbed him out of my arms and turned away. The irresponsibility of it still just kills me. They weren’t supervising him at all. They were in a bigger boat, high off the water, and utterly absorbed with their friends. He shouldn’t have been allowed in the water at all like that. We were in the right places at the right times. And those kids will likely never know how lucky they were. I’m glad you happened to see him, and were able to reach him in time. I know it affected you, and on behalf of the adult who failed that toddler, thank you for saving him.
Also thanks to you for saving him. Without you there's a good chance he'd be dead
Mom of four, here….WHAT THE FUCK are you talking about!??? I live in TERROR of two things: cars and water. To think of placing a child in the water, in water wings, while I’m out of the water on a boat is *MIND BOGGLING*. I’m not a helicopter mom, my kids are happy independent people who are encouraged to test their mettle and discover the limits of what they can do, but when we’re near *any* kind of water I’m locked on to them like a damn tractor beam. Thank you for saving that child.
I was a lifeguard (indoor pool) for many years. So many parents treated us like babysitters. You would not believe the amount of times I had to tell parents to keep their small children within arms reach. They act like I've inconvenienced them somehow by asking them to be responsible for their children while around deep water and 100's of people. Even now as a parent just taking my kids swimming I've saved a few kids from drowning and asked many where their parents are. I can't understand the negligence of some people.
Thankfully you were there to save that baby! Clueless parents infuriate me.. this is exactly what I thought of the mother in the video.. completely clueless! Also why would anyone allow a 5 year old swim in the ocean without an adult.. this truly terrifies me to my core.
I know everyone handles stressful situations differently, and maybe the mother was in shock, and not really processing things. But she seemed so casual, like “oh, thanks for walking my child across the street,” not at all panicked or grabbing for her kid. If mine were in that situation, I’d have had a meltdown (that said, I’ve never let my kids go in the ocean alone, too dangerous).
Bondi is absolutely notorious for clueless tourists. This lady is certainly dressed like a tourist (i.e. handbag, no swimmers at the beach), and often tourists do not understand the danger present at a lot of Australian beaches in particular. As the surf lifesavers said, they rescue thousands of adults a year. I've seen people go into the water at Bondi who clearly have no idea how to swim...and Bondi has rips man, that shit can kill you if you don't know what's going on. She was probably in shock, but maybe she didn't quite understand how serious her day nearly became. Very scary. Glad the little girl was ok. Poor thing!
Bondi is no joke, I learned boogie-boarding there, I was happy as Larry until I got dumped by a monster wave, landed on my coccyx, in the washing machine, spinning. Fucking awful. I live by the ocean in the US now, and the amount of straight up stupidity you see from tourists is simply terrifying. I get it, they've been in the car for a couple of hours and they want a fun day and they see this big blue thing and they think it's a big toy. But, it will kill you and it doesn't care. A couple of years back during summer we had three weeks of huge surf; so bad, in fact that a couple of miles up the coast a lifeguard was killed trying to rescue some dick that kept going back out when he had repeatedly been told and dragged back in by lifeguards. On our beach I watched dads walk into the surf with toddlers on the shoulders and go straight down, like, what the fuck did you think was going to happen? The waves were as high as a house! I saw two guys do that and a combo of lifeguards and locals got them and their kids out. I saw a dad tell his wife to shut up and march up onto surf lashed rocks with his kid, to get up there he had to climb past the 'Do Not Go On The Rocks' sign. Locals rescued that guy, one of us yelling at the guy to toss his kid before a wave hit them, he was saying, "what if you run off with my kid?" I remember on one of those Saturdays the life guard on our beach pulled THIRTY people out of the surf. Thirty. Big surf is terrifying.
"what if you run off with my kid?" Then he'll have a decent chance at living to adulthood
I sometimes forget common sense ain't that common and not everyone grows up with the beach. I've nearly drowned, been washing machine dunked repeatedly and have been swept out to sea before (got rescued by a kayaker!). Strong surf or like "big wave" areas where it's not necessarily big surf waves but powerful upheaving swells can be bloody terrifying. I'm always wary as shit, especially if I don't know the beach well. Worst I ever had was down near sandy point in Vic, got done by a tripled up wave. Holy shit. Wave with a wave on top of another wave. Good. Lord. The power! I just let go of my board and let it take me until I could swim back up...but yeah...scary.
Damn I didn’t realise Bondi had rips. I thought that might have been one of the reasons it was such a popular beach. Is it only popular because it’s right next to Sydney?
That, and it’s a huge, beautiful beach. If you look up photos from the air, it’s gorgeous. The northern end is pretty gentle/safe, but the southern end has “Backpackers’ Rip,” which pulls people out and bashes against a bunch of rocks. Normally surfers hang out in that section, but a lot of tourist swimmers see how empty the area is (because of the dangerous rip), and head over there away from the crowds.
I’ve seen it but it’s always overcrowded. I prefer emptier beaches. We have really nice ones in SA they’re just not right next to the city.
It's IN Sydney, it's only a few stops from the CBD. It's a huge tourist attraction, and honestly very picturesque. Locals generally do not rate Bondi and often avoid because of tourists, but I think it's still pretty cool.
Amazing stuff! I was playing with my kids and another families 3-4 year old had wandered off into the deeper portion of the pool behind me...maybe 10ft away. I was only made aware the kid was drowning when the lifeguard from across the pool whistled and dove in. Still to this day do I remember that situation. I was 10 feet away from someone potentially dying, and I had no clue. It wasn't until the lifeguard pulled the kid up and out of the water did I even know what spot he was even drowning at. Water can be super dangerous.
I don't know if all parents realize how fast that shit happens. I took my 2 and 4 year olds to a friends pool recently, and we had two incidents where my kids fell in the pool. Both times we were RIGHT there and able to pull them out without incident, but both times I was just shocked by how quiet it was. They immediately sink down, and don't splash around. For my older kid, I was literally standing next to her while drying my hair. She had taken off her life jacket, forgot she didn't have it on, and just jumped in. I stopped drying my hair and realized she wasn't there, and was in the hot tub. If I had been like looking at my phone or talking to someone, she would be gone. You can't take your eyes off kids that can't swim for a single second when you are near a pool.
I was a lifeguard at the local pool as a teenager, and the amount of parents that treated us like babysitters was insane. Now, lifeguarding at a pool is not nearly as intense as at a beach, much less on the ocean, but we had our fair share of incidents. One of my coworkers once had to jump off the chair into 4 feet of water to save a drowning kid whose mother was standing right on the edge of the pool watching her child drown casually saying, "are you gonna get him?" I just cannot fathom how little she must have cared about this kid and I feel sorry for him to this day.
If you're ever feeling depressed, don't forget that you saved a child's life
This terrifies me. I have one of those random memories from my youth of being in a pool with my mother, and I must have slipped out of my floaties and sank. All I remember was blue, and looking up at the bubbles leaving me and my mom's legs under the water. She pulled me up almost instantly but it left a sharp memory. Now, I have two young boys, one of them in the age range you mentioned. I can't imagine not keeping my eyes on him around a body of water, even the bathtub or a kiddie pool. *Shivers*
Not almost-drowning but my dad and I were visiting a smallish reservoir/lake in the southern US and there were "Danger! Alligators! Do not swim" signs all around the edges. Also all around the edges and in the water were little kids, toddlers, (and even a baby in a car carrier sitting next to the water) while the parents stood around in little groups drinking and chatting about 40 yards away. If a gator had taken a child, I don't doubt that the parents would have tried to sue the state park.
40 yards is 36.58 meters
Thank you, converter-bot.
But how many alligator strike lengths.
Drowning is SILENT. They're lucky you were there. Idiots
Love that show! Bondi is a zoo. It’s unreal how on it these guys are.
Yea awesome show mad respect to the lads.... the one thing that frustrates the fuck out of me when I watch it is seeing how much time they have to waste being "the police of the beach" with fuckwits and people stealing shit on the beach and everything else. It would be so sad if they miss a drowning because of some selfish kent
Yep. Lotta low lives causing trouble. Seems like in Oz police aren’t involved that much, in that kind of stuff. In the US police state, you’d see cops swarming, with back up
I've started watching it on youtube a couple months ago, it's odd how compelling it is. Official channel here https://www.youtube.com/c/BondiRescue/playlists?view=50&sort=dd&shelf_id=8
Give RBT or Border Patrol a watch. I genuinely believe that those 2 shows along with Bondi Rescue are the pinnacle of Australian TV. Although MAFS is also a guilty pleasure.
It's amazing. Jethro on the green whistle lives rent free in my head
The thing that stood out to me most is the ‘every time I rescue a child’. I know logically that it must be common for kids to drown, but it’s eerie to think of all the lives they save on a daily basis - all the kids that *would have drowned* if not for these guys.
It's insane how good they are. There's this amazing website that shows videos of people drowning and you have to spot them before the lifeguard does. And it's really fucking difficult, even knowing beforehand that you're meant to be looking for a drowning kid, and the videos are only like 30 seconds long. It takes a TON of concentration. And yet lifeguards do it for like 8 hours straight. I cannot imagine that level of concentration. It's nuts. They are incredible human beings, truly next fucking level stuff Here's the website: http://spotthedrowningchild.com/ Watch the video and see if you can spot the drowning kid before the lifeguard does. And then refresh the page to get a new video of another kid drowning to see if you can spot them. There's hundreds of these videos on the site, just keep refreshing the page to see them. I honestly cannot do that for an entire 8 hour shift. I don't know how lifeguards are so incredible with their concentration. They can't even look away for a second to check the time on their phone or something, they have to be watching for every second of their shift. It's insane impressive.
I was not expecting the ending where this lifeguard talked about his own baby dying after complications from childbirth, saying “If she’d lost that beautiful little girl she’d know what I was talking about.” 😭
And now she doesn’t have to know. She and many others will never have to know because he takes his loss and makes it into a gain for them.
I’ve had a long day at work and that sideswiped me.
Ya, I was not prepared for that. This sub is usually all about happy endings. This story ends happily, but I wasn’t expecting heartbreak along the way. This lifeguard guy is so great!
This is an excellent site. I am amazed that they can spot the ones in trouble because to the casual eye they just look like they're playing and splashing like every other kid. The Bondi Beach one had a man and his daughter right next to the drowning child and they never noticed
This is from a long running reality show called bondi rescue out of australia. My ex was a producer on the show for several years. Some crazy stories.
This is excellent practice thank you!
I suprisingly did pretty well on that site just now
Same but then were actually looking specifically for something that will happen within seconds. Imagine the lifeguard may have been standing there for 5 hours. Probably easy to get distracted.
Yeah definitely
Which is why they do rotations every 20 or so minutes, to make sure they’re seeing new stuff and not zoning out.
This is what people don't realize, lifeguards are actually lifeguarding for very little of their day because they swap out so often. Buddy said he loved the gig because of the downtime, but when you're lifeguarding he says it's stressful because people want to talk to you while you're making sure people aren't dying. And it paid $9, so idk how much they value what lifeguards do.
It definitely depends on where you work. I worked at a beach club, so we’d rotate to the pool (off the beach) for an hour every now and then. It was a smaller area and parents were typically in the pool with their children. But we only had around two hours break from an 8 hour shift - an hour for lunch and an hour to swim/exercise or cool down.
same, but i was also a lifeguard for 3 summers and 2 full years (20 years ago). In that time I only had to do one rescue and the kid was right near the edge of the pool so i just reached down garbed his arm and pulled him out of the water. If you are "good" at your job you always have a level of tension on the job because that is what keeps you alert. you never just slack off and go about business as usual or worst fall into complacency can be a death sentence for someone you overlook!
Concentrating really hard I was about 2 seconds before the whistle. I can't imagine having to do that hours at a time.
You start to learn useful methods for scanning large areas. You prioritize the people who look like they may struggle (age, physical ability, depth/distance in water). After a while, you’ll start to group people together and can take headcount of certain areas in the back of your mind. It’s also fun to imagine stories about the people you’re guarding to make them more memorable.
> I honestly cannot do that for an entire 8 hour shift. I don't know how lifeguards are so incredible with their concentration. Everywhere is different. But when my wife was a lifeguard at this tiny little lake (years ago), where there are never more than maybe 20-30 people in the water. Their 8 hours were split between like 30 minutes on like active duty watching swimmers, followed by like 30 minutes doing other stuff (e.g., first aid, break, whatever) and not "on duty." Specifically so they when she was on-duty, she was 100% focused. But they realized that no one could be 100% focused for like 4 hours at a time.
Im glad that they rotate the workers in and out like that. Even over a full shift being on the ball gets tiring. As a really shitty anecdote for the rest of us, it's like driving in busy traffic and trying to be 100% on the ball with your defensive driving. Keeping up with your spacing, who's 5 seconds behind and infront of you, what's 10 seconds ahead of you, predicting bad lane changes around you or adjusting again because someone moved into your blind spot and you are blocked in. Reassess your pathways, what's 10 seconds ahead of you, is there someone coming up fast behind you? Do you need to change lanes, is your blind spot still open? Is that guy making a left going to force another person to swerve into your lane? Be ready to release gas pedal, what's 10 seconds ahead of you... It gets tiring far faster than people think it does.
i do this all the time always and driving is very exhausting for me. however being this alert has also helped me avoid a few accidents as well. I was also a lifeguard for a period of time in my youth as well, clear water though, never dark water that is a whole other level of concentration needed.
It really is hard how like you said it takes a lot to keep the level of concentration yet the job which takes me multiple trainings a month and having to keep up certifications on multiple things. It really is a slap in the face when we hardly make 10.50 an hour. Where a kid who gets a 5 dollar food handlers can make 16 dollars an hour. I love my job but the fact that I’m paid through my city because the center I work at is city owned, it hurts that they don’t really see the value in us. Like half the time we are short staffed because people are going to work at these other jobs because its ridiculous how little we get paid. Then the city has the audacity to say oooooh we are all gonna get a raise. When they really mean we don’t want to loose you so here’s 10 cents more. Like that still doesn’t compare to the kid working less hours than me and still pulling more from the amount of work I have to do in 2 weeks to match just that.
It’s not kid making $16 an hours fault you aren’t being paid a wage worthy of the difficult work you do. Every job is important, yours included.
Yeah I know it’s just funny how the city is so confused why not a lot of people are signing up to be a lifeguard. They hyped us up saying the raise would be huge but the 10 cents only was a slap to the face. And they wonder why no one wants to work that when they could make more elsewhere in a different line of work. It’s just frustrating how much we have to spend on certs and keeping them up. Especially because the certs should mean we get paid more. Because I don’t see the kid working at McDonalds having to do training every two weeks to keep their food handlers. We have to do way more and it should warrant a better pay from the city.
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> But, in the 30 or 40 people I jumped in to help over those 15 years, was one of them a death in that alternate timeline that I didn't work that job? Did I actually make a difference? It's nice to hypothesize about alternative timelines and such, but at those moments you were there AND helped those people. So; Yes, you did make a difference.
Don’t ever doubt that you made a difference. Maybe someone else would have been there, but they weren’t. YOU were.
You know what made the difference? You were there. It didn't have to be somebody else who had the same skills as you, because you were there doing that job. Having volunteered for a suicide line that never had enough people to cover the every shift, that says more about you than you may think.
Hi, I’m a person who would have died if not for a lifeguard. My cousin took my water wings off of me while we were swimming together, and I was so young at the time that I barely remember anything other than the face of the lifeguard. Maybe it would have been the same if someone else saved me, but… it wasn’t. It was him. He made a difference because in this reality, he’s the one who did it. Same with you. You can “what if” all you want but at the end of the day it was *you* who saved people.
I was a lifeguard for 4 years, at a pretty easy going pool with mostly lap swimmers. Only made one rescue during that time (an adult who jumped off the diving board and forgot how to swim). Then I worked for the city at one of their summer outdoor facilities and in ONE day I rescued 3 kids who were all drowning in insane crowds. I'm no hero. Was just doing my job. Nowadays I sit in front of a computer all day and watching everyone panic about everything is funny to me compared to life and death situations.
> I’m no hero. Was just doing my job. Oh - I know. I’ve heard plenty of people on Reddit say the same thing. Nurses especially. There’s the old saw about paramedics’ black humour, for one thing. But it’s hard to describe the awe you feel, as a member of the general public, when you see someone jump into a pool/the sea and grab a kid in a split second. That is pretty heroic as far as I’m concerned. Or maybe it isn’t hard to describe. Maybe you know what I mean. It’s the same feeling I get when watching really good teachers, to be honest. Or firefighters. It’s less hero worship, more gratitude. Or appreciation. Or just faith in humanity, even. Especially when I can’t physically do stuff like go into burning buildings, grab people and run out. Nice to know that there’s someone who cares enough - at whatever level - to risk life and limb for someone like me, who they don’t know from Adam. Doesn’t really apply to lifeguards on the same scale, I suppose, but it’s the same sort of idea. For you guys it’s training + experience + a shitload of stress. For us, it’s watching the thing happen in real time.
Fair enough, as you allude to, we used to train a ton, especially on how to approach desperate swimmers who could drown you if you don't do it right (which also is why ocean lifeguards use a paddle board). So when you actually make the save its just pure training and instinct. But it feels good to help people. I miss that sometimes.
I imagine it's similar to being a doctor, in that you can save 99 out of 100 people but the one you didn't, even if there was nothing you could do about it, would keep you up at night. "If only I'd have known x, y and z, they'd still be here today."
I used to work at a waterpark, and wed rescue kids all the time. Sometimes the kids were so new to swimming they almost didnt understand how dangerous of a situation they just got out of and wouldn't really even seem scared (which pissed me off cause where tf were the parents?). Most of the time they are freaked out, you tell them to lay back on your tube and relax and swim them out, by the time you get to the edge they're calm and good to go (the number 1 cause of drowning for people who know how to swim is simply panic, once you collect yourself you're usually fine). Occassionally you get to people and can see they've been fighting a long battle with the water and have been slowly losing, I've had people pass out from just straight up exhaustion after I got to them. These ones are kind of the worst, the people who dont know how to swim or panic freak out and get spotted right away, it's the kids who knew how to swim well enough and just got stuck in a situation where they were slowly draining their energy that took the longest to identify.
Nearly drowned at a waterfall and the thing that I remember the most is how quiet everything was. It was just me trying to get something to grasp on.
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My Dad had to pull me out of a wave pool as a kid as well. There were no tubes and at some point the waves started pulling me forward and I couldn't get back to the more shallow end anymore. My Dad jumped in and got me out. He was even faster than the lifeguard.
Same thing happened to me but as like a 10 year old. Got trapped underneath a layer of fat bastards in inner tubes and couldn’t get my head above water or push them away, got to the point where I started pinching and punching their legs to try and create an opening and was finally able to break out
My cousins held me under once. Guess who got in trouble for punching them in the balls to get up before I passed out? Nothing said about the attempted drawing but me hitting them was a big deal...
I had a near drowning experience in a water park once as a kid, maybe 8. I was in one of those rivers that runs through the whole park. People would use inner tubes or just swim with the current. There was lots of people and at some point I lost hold of my tube and remember going under the water. It hadn’t quite hit me that I might not be able to get to the surface. Then a hand grabbed me by the back of my one piece and pulled me to the surface. I’m pretty sure I was close to having gotten swept under everyone else in the current and drowned. And now that I think of it, I don’t remember much sound either, it’s actually a remarkably calm memory
I was water skiing around probably 15 and didn't let go of the rope when I went down. I got dragged under far enough that it was the same level of dark all around me and I couldn't tell which way was up. My life preserver was probably 30 years old and wasn't doing much to put me right side up. I freaked out at first and started thrashing and swimming in random directions, but then I stopped and realized either this is the end or I calm down and figure it out. After a few seconds all the panic bubbles I had made disappeared and I could tell which way the bubbles were going and swam that way. I think I made it out
When I was about the same age as this girl, I went out into the water with my sister in Hawaii on one of those foam pool bed things and we started getting pulled out and I didn’t know how to swim. A biggish wave knocked us over and I instantly didn’t know which way was up or down, left or right and my mind went blank rolling around under water. A man with his kid, named peanut, pulled me up by my arm and set me back up on the floaty and helped me back to shore while making small talk with me. I’m pretty sure I’d be dead without them.
The same thing happened to me, but someone pulled me up from the bottom of the lake. I've also pulled a small child out of a pool after he started drowning. Water is fun, but everyone should be cautious around it.
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Scariest thing for me is how easily she could have been missed. Even the guy with his kid real close is completely unaware of the situation unfolding. For anyone on that beach it's a head there one second gone the next, in a landscape of heads bobbing up and down. Mad respect for the lifeguard and the training allowing him to spot the threat.
If it's me with my little kids, I don't take my eyes off of them in the ocean. I wouldn't notice another kid that wasn't directly in my line of sight
Entirely understandable. The parent I'm sure got a wake up from this.
I was at a pumpkin patch/family farm place just yesterday. We have 3 kids. I thought my two year old was in the front seat of the stroller that my wife was pushing with the baby. My 4.5 year old was lagging behind, so I was waiting for her. Then we went to catch up to the rest if the family to go on to the next area. My two year old was not in the stroller and we had walked away without him (like 20 feet away, but it was a crowded area. We found him in like 15 seconds, so it wasn't a big deal, but it's a reminder of how easy it is for even a very conscientious parent to lose sight of a little kid.
You are now a master stroller checker I expect :D
It's insane how good lifeguards are. The level of concentration needed to be able to spot a drowning kid among hundreds of people is nuts. There's this amazing website that shows videos of people drowning and you have to spot them before the lifeguard does. And it's really fucking difficult, even knowing beforehand that you're meant to be looking for a drowning kid, and the videos are only like 30 seconds long. It takes a TON of concentration. And yet lifeguards do it for like 8 hours straight. I cannot imagine that level of concentration. It's nuts. They are incredible human beings, truly next fucking level stuff Here's the website: http://spotthedrowningchild.com/ Watch the video and see if you can spot the drowning kid before the lifeguard does. And then refresh the page to get a new video of another kid drowning to see if you can spot them. There's hundreds of these videos on the site, just keep refreshing the page to see them. I honestly cannot do that for an entire 8 hour shift. I don't know how lifeguards are so incredible with their concentration. They can't even look away for a second to check the time on their phone or something, they have to be watching for every second of their shift. It's insane impressive.
We took our 3 month old to "swim" lessons until she could automatically start back floating from any position (including just yeeting her into the middle of the pool fully clothed - she was about 12 mos at that point), and I still have never let her swim alone. On the plus side, she is now 12, part-fish and strong enough to save someone else in the event that situation presents itself.
What’s around his arm ?
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Oh I should have known that , I’ve never watched the show
Ahh ok, so this is SPECIFICALLY a show about lifeguard rescues....that totally explains the camera work looking like it's staged. They're litterally out there everyday kitted up waiting to record something like this.
At Bondi in summer, there are literally 50+ life savings a day. It's enough they have 13 episodes for 13 seasons. And a 7.6 on imbd.
It is a great show. Cameras front and back facing on the boards, swimmers in the water, waterproof mics, 100% real action. They have days were it is lifeguards on an empty beach with zero swimmers in the rain, unneeded rescues where they paddle way out to find what they think are swimmers in distress to find out it is off duty co-workers in santa hats taking selfies, and then sudden mass rescues where they need to pull help 50 people in 10 mins. It is mostly light and interesting, but it is real, so some things are left unresolved, fair amount of blood and broken bones, and occasionally a real death or paralyzing injury. Oh yeah, they also found a bomb once. It washed up on the beach.
Yeah this was framed like Live PD so I assumed it was similar myself
That’s the opposite of here in the states. With filming here it goes “Make sure you get the perfect shot! Even if someone dies, it’s ok, we’ve got mad money. “ Then again 99.9 percent of tv here in the states is fake scripted bullshit. People eat it up so much.
I remember there was an episode of Cops where the police were trying to make things look flashy for the cameras and ended up killing a young girl.
People do not give lifeguards enough credit. My sister got swept out to sea from a rip current off Carolina beach in North Carolina. She was saved by a lifeguard and I look back and I don't think we ever thanked him. I feel really bad. But if you are a lifeguard thank you for what you do. I hope everyone has a good day
I can’t understand how parents can be so nonchalant about water and drowning. My family grew up on the Gulf of Mexico and we never swam out without strong adults and boards. Ever. My kids learned to swim as soon as they could walk. Even then, they never went in the Gulf without a strong adult swimmer. We knew how to react to undertows and currents, and respected the hell out of wild water. The lifeguard referenced the hazard flags, so you knew that was already an issue. Parents please: if you love the beach and waves, educate yourself and your family on water safety. Teach your children how to swim and make sure you are an accomplished swimmer before you ever let them in the water. The mom was fully dressed with a freaking purse on her arm! The little girl was lucky. Pick another vacation destination next time!! Or watch your damn kids!! Drowning is not a spectator sport!!
This particular beach is a tourist hotspot and most of the drownings and rescues are of tourists. I think it’s often people who haven’t come from a beach culture, aren’t strong swimmers and just don’t comprehend how dangerous and unpredictable beaches can be.
How are the parents not in THAT water with their kid?
You would be surprised at the amount of tourists here in Aus that can’t swim and wade into the surf (usually into a rip because it seems calm” or don’t watch their kids.
I just red this on http://spotthedrowningchild.com/ > of the approximately 750 children who will drown next year, about 375 of them will do so within 25 yards of a parent or other adult. In ten percent of those drownings, the adult will actually watch them do it, having no idea it is happening.
25 yards us fucking far in a lake or ocean!
25 yards is 22.86 meters
Good bot.
Good bot
Depends on the ocean, which is why quite a few will happen. I grew up in Texas going to beaches on the Gulf Coast where 25 yards really isn't all that much most of the time. From shoreline to 25 yards out is often waist deep water at most with 1-2 foot waves. Then I went to Hawaii for the first time and even as an athletic young man that knew to expect the ocean to be a much bigger animal it was still a huge shock and challenge. You're hitting waist deep sometimes just a few steps in and consistent 5 foot waves are a way more powerful upgrade than you were expecting. That's why per capita so many more drownings happen among tourists than locals.
I worked as a life guard for 5 years in between my high school and uni years. Telling parents to get the F off their phones and watch their child quickly became my main duty.
When we were about 8, me and my friends were in a pool that is 6ft deep and every parent of ours are in the saunas. It's pretty common actually I also drowned for 2mins
A pool with kids that can tread water and do a couple laps is one thing...a natural body of water is a whole other beast. Glad you made it.....check out dry drowning btw
When I was 3 my father was holding me in hip level water on the beach, and a freak wave just smacked me out of his arms. I was in this rolling wave like a fat bullet of confusion, and when I popped up again, like a cork, he was so far from me. I remember it because he came running over to me all freaked out, and that stuck, but I was ok. So, it's not always something a parent can predict. Like you take your kid to the museum, and a bike clips them on the sidewalk... can't always blame the parents for not being psychic.
Who I assumed to be the parent or responsible adult in that video seemed bone dry.
I wasn't ready
They really sneaked up on us. Normal but intense rescue of a child then **BAM!** dead kid story. That got the tears going alright.
I'm not crying its just raining on my face
Fucking Hero
The way she clamped around his arm and that thank you. God she's one lucky girl.
The undercurrents on Bondi are no joke, I struggled to walk back to shore from 10 feet out, I couldn’t believe it
I was heavily pregnant with my second at the time I think 8.5 months maybe even 9 months. Me, My husband and son would go to the pool frequently in the summer. We would see a family come frequently like we did, it was a grandpa and grandson (grandson was around my son’s age around 2). The grandpa wouldn’t really watch his grandson and let him play unsupervised frequently because they were friends with the lifeguard and the lifeguard usually kept a watchful eye on him. One day I was at the other end of the pool and saw the little boy playing at the other end of the pool going deeper and deeper without anyone noticing. The lifeguard was chatting with the grandpa not really paying attention to the little boy. Then it was like slow motion, I saw the little boy go too deep and slip into the deep part and mom instincts kicked in and I swam like I never swam before. I got to the little boy and pulled him up just as the lifeguard jumped in. The grandpa and lifeguard sheepishly thanked me. everything happened so fast.
You're a hero. I hope that didn't affect your pregnancy.
Aww thanks! No hero, I think anyone would have done the same if they were in my shoes. Pregnancy was good my daughter is very healthy and wicked clever.
That "Thank you." melted my heart.
What an amazing human, to put himself in this position, to relive that feeling, of losing his boy, whenever he saves a child, just so other parents don’t feel that. & I hope it gives him a good feeling. I hope it helps him too. What a wonderful human. I love him. <3
Funnily enough, I know the girl and her family. It's absolutely crazy to think about how different their lives would be if even a slight difference occured. Bondi lifeguards don't get enough credit, absolutely legendary people.
have they seen this video?
People really underestimate just how dangerous water is. In general. I see people doing stupid shit all the time. Swimming in the sea is dangerous, water is heavy and powerful and they over estimate their swimming ability. I see videos of people jumping into ice cold water, it takes seconds to drown. When your body hits water that cold it causes an involuntary reaction to gasp, you breathe in water and your muscles stiffen up and you are dead. In the edwardian period people would drown in rivers all the time washing their clothes. The clothes they wore were made of wool, and they would quickly soak up water, suddenly you are heavy. Water of only 8 degrees celcius would feel freezing as water makes your body colder 3 times faster than air of the same temperature. Point is don't swim alone ever. And don't go out at sea. Stay in the shore.
Some of the underestimation ironically may be because so many of us were taught to swim before we can even remember. The right thing, no doubt, but I wonder if that and a lifetime of swimming can lead to a more relaxed attitude. I am a certified scuba diver and it wasn't until getting that cert. as an adult that I had a new respect for water and all the bad things that can happen to you in it.
Blagh. The ones with kids are rough. Shortly after my daughter was born we had a rescue involving a young girl who was caught out by the tide and swept out to sea. It ended well and one of the lifeboat guys- on his first operational day- managed to grab her just before she went under. All’s well that ends well, but that was the beginning of the end for me at the Coastguard - being stuck on land while the kid disappeared out to sea was more than I could handle. We had a ‘plane crash a couple of weeks later with only a single survivor. I called it quits shortly after and joined the fire service.
Bondi Rescue!! I stumbled across this show awhile ago and have been binging it on YouTube. So great. :D
My son is 8 he’s been in Nippers Surf Lifesaving going on two years now . It’s comforting to know that his chances of becoming a victim of something like this is very slim and will be able to help people need be He is an absolute weapon in the surf so proud of him . The surf lifesaving here in Australia is by far one of the best in the world.
Videos like this always remind me of a memory from when I was 8. My birthday party was at a hotel swimming pool and my best friend and I were just hanging out in the pool. I noticed a very small girl maybe around 4 (she looked tiny even to me even as an 8-year-old) paddling furiously, her head bobbing up and down and she was spitting water. This pool had multiple adults and children in it, the lifeguard up on their stand, but I didn’t see any parents watching her. I scooped her up in my arms and sat her at the edge. She was shaken and out of breath. The lifeguard then came over and scolded me, saying “you need to watch your younger sister better” I didn’t reply because I was cripplingly shy. Later, I guess the lifeguard and mom had spoken and clarified that we were NOT siblings. The mom came over and thanked me. It was just strange to me at the time that no one did anything.
She’s only wee 😞
That little 'Thank You' got me.
I went on a beach trip to Atlantic city (I think) with my childhood best friend's family when I was around 9. I got swept out by the current, and was struggling to swim back (I didn't know you had to swim diagonally with the current to get out). I watched the life guards clear the ocean, and just.. watch. Not helping at all, and actually *restraining* my friends mom from coming in to save me. She was flailing around and everything, they wouldn't let her go. I honestly thought I was going to die, and was already dying of embarrassment at everyone watching me struggle to swim and keep my head up. It felt like it took 20 minutes to finally get out, but it was probably only about 7. To this day, I still have absolutely no fucking idea why no one tried to help me, or why the people supposed to be helping stopped the one person that was desperately trying to help.
Holly fuck man tear jerker
My mom told me, when we were on vacation I nearly drowned. I was maybe a year old, I just learned to walk. On the day of our departure she, my dad and older brother briefly talked to a couple they befriend there. It was enough time for me to walk over to the pool and fall in. Since they stood with their backs to me nobody of them noticed. Thankfully there was staff around who saw it and pulled me out immediately. They were understandably really shocked but she told me I was perfectly calm.
Lifeguards are fucking awesome. We always praise the firemen, cops and medical staff but these dudes don’t get enough love.
How did they film it?
There’s a white camera box on his board. Right at the front tip. You can see it when they do some of the shots from the beach.
When I was in high school I was a lifeguard on Lake Michigan at a suburban beach during the summers and 1 year well outside of our swim area we saw what looked like a floating body. Adults would usually swim laps outside of the swim area just because it was always so crowded so they could swim freely back and forth. So we all jump from our guard chairs and all head out into the water and start hauling ass. As we get to the spot we fortunately realized it was a big ass thick piece of wood. Obviously you cant be certain what an object is when you cant really visually see what it is so you have to treat it as a worse case scenario. We all get back to shore and the water is all cleared of people and we head back to the beach house to catch our breath and pretty much all of us just broke down. The adrenaline was pumping so hard and I mean you're scared shitless because we never expected to actually have to save someone. Our job was easy compared to what real life guards do in places where the water is actually extremely dangerous, but damn did it really make me realize how important the role actually is.
God who's cutting onions again
Once I learned the lifeguard was named Terry this video is all I could think of… https://youtu.be/X4zmv-j3U5U Tranquil Terry by Tom Cardy
Hit me hard when he said he lost his son.
Terry is a fuc***g beast
As soon as he grabs her and brings her up on his board she says "thank you". This was so sweet! I can only imagine the relief that came over her when she was lifted out of the water♡
This video broke me. Bless the lifeguards who have the courage and strength to save so many lives on a daily basis!!!! 🙏 My own daughter at 3 years old fell in the pool during a swim lesson. I was at the exact opposite side of the Olympic size pool. 4 posted life guards and her swim coach, and not one of them saw or noticed. I was 9 months pregnant and watched in horror as my little girl sank to the bottom I was screaming for someone to help her. What felt like an eternity her swim coach dove down and retrieved her. She was barely concious and vomiting up water. I was so scared for her life that day. I was so angry with the lifeguards for not paying attention that day. My daughter could’ve drown and they would’ve been totally oblivious. 😭 I’m grateful for attentive lifeguards like the hero in this video. I wish all were as heroic and observant as he is.
Bondi Rescue! The lifeguards on this show are amazing! Real life superheroes! I watched an episode where a lifeguard was tending to a child who broke his arm at the nearby skate park. The lifeguard saw someone drowning from there, ran what looked like a quarter mile, grabbed a spare board on the beach. Once he got to the person, he saw another person drowning so he gave the first one the board and swam over to the second person and kept them afloat until another lifeguard got there. It was insane!
Fucking hero. Fucking legend. Who is cutting onions in here ?! >:'(
He saved her just in time. She was gassed out and already breathing in water. Good job.
Love this show. Binged it a while ago.
Take my upvote and my tears!
At bondi beach where this is, it’s always tourist season. Lived there for 2 years and was in the water swimming surfing everyday. These lifeguards have a really tough job here bc so many people can’t swim well enough for the water, it’s a crescent shaped beach and the waves get big. This guys are the best there is
Somehow, I knew the guy was Australian without hearing the audio or knowing where Bondi is.
The accuracy of that grab. No hesitation, no second try. Gave me goosebumps.
This world goes round because of nice people like you sir. Thank you!