Respect: this lifeguard, and others like her, can seriously save your life

Big swell today in Cornwall. Carnage in the water in many places and, as ever, members of the Birmingham Navy showing little (or, more often, no) gratitude to those who save them from certain death. What, I wondered, do the lifeguards make of their lot? Here's lifeguard - and writer - Hannah May with a few thoughts.

First off, let's get one thing straight. It’s not Baywatch. For those shocked by this revelation, I'm not sure that I'm sorry. It is, though, a classic and alarmingly common misconception. I'll admit that I have been known to find a compliment or two in the Baywatch comparison, but the fact of the matter is that there’s a vast difference between public perception and occupational reality. If I can't entirely blame a fantasy US TV series for priming popular opinion on what we are or should be, I can, with iron-cast conviction, say this: lifeguards are not superfluous pot-headed beach bums or posey himbos. To brand us in this way is an insult and if you want to know why, read on.

The lifeguard service (and let’s all remember that a service it is) is provided by a collection of highly trained, multi-skilled beings motivated by a genuine desire to protect and preserve beyond ego and image. The job may appear to be an easy breeze, but consideration of what is involved even at the inception point should spark the burgeoning of at least some respect. Induction comprises a series of static physical tests – beach runs, surf paddles and sea swims, weighted dummy tows, timed 400m swims, spinal turns and lifts. Follow this with a catalogue of first aid and advanced resuscitation - the mastering of defibrillation, oxygen and suction training alongside emergency action protocols, radio communications and beach management theory. Add equipment handling – ATVs, jet skis and R.I.B.s – and it’s a touch more complicated than the one-day refresher some may erroneously assume is all it takes.

Prerequisites accomplished and theory over, managing a beach is actually a pretty heavy business. It is a professional practice which, like so much else in life, is also an art. A beach is far more than a stretch of sand fringed by ocean. There are rips, tides, swells, banks, channels, currents, washes, pools and rocks to contend with. But once the topography has been tackled and conditions deftly considered, there lurks the biggest danger of all: people.

Today’s beach populace comprises a vast and diverse crowd. Bathers, surfers, kite-surfers, windsurfers, wake boarders, jet skiers, boaters, sailors, kayakers, sand buggiers… The list is seemingly endless. When someone once told me that there should be separate areas for all of these people (including dogs), I don’t think he had quite grasped the entire picture.

The bottom line is that our job is to control (a word I use advisedly) and maintain an environment where all people can safely enjoy the marvels of our coastline. We are at the mercy of nature's caprices but try our utmost to figure out the best and safest way for people to enjoy the sea. We're not deliberate killjoys. Sure, yesterday might’ve been flat, but today is a different story. Things change, and when it’s overhead and ripped to hell trust me when I insist – “keep out please.”

We expect to have to explain the situation, but do not want our decision to be debated. Question asking is fine, and answering questions an accepted part of the job. But timing is crucial. Whilst on the way to rescue someone from an impromptu flash rip, you’ll only become hotly undesired human traffic by lurching at us with some random chestnut such as, “What time will the dolphins be here today?”

Which reminds me of what we're not. We are not some strange breed of coast-dwelling, fortune-telling sages. We're not meteorologists, oceanographers or geologists. We're just a bunch of people with a healthy love and better-than-average knowledge of most things oceanic. Through intuition and experience, we can guide, inform, suggest and, indeed, direct you. However, there is a marked difference between experienced and expert and while I can tell you that it will rain soon, I am unfortunately unable to give you a precise ETA or exact period of duration for said anticipated precipitation.

Having said that, we are often entertained by non-offensive public ignorance. When a man once rushed to tell me that a giant squid had landed on my beach, I was genuinely amused to encounter an innocuous little jellyfish on the water’s edge. It’s the beach-goer’s childlike inquisitiveness and pleasure-seeking that we appreciate (and aim to preserve), rather than our being afflicted with a superiority complex.

The problem, it seems to me, is that it all gets a little Carnivalesque. Going to the beach somehow amounts to a break from everyday norms and restrictions. People think the the usual rules don’t apply and a weird type of madness abounds. Those who ordinarily don’t even walk anywhere suddenly believe themselves to be the next Kelly Slater/Ian Thorpe/Linford Kristie. I’ve seen it happen. It’s great to have a newfound energy for sports (not to mention, revived swimwear fashion, including Speedos worn twenty years ago), but there are limits (and good taste). Take it from me: flouting them rapidly spirals into danger.

Quite why our profession is so regularly called into question - and our skills refuted outright by people who have barely set foot on sand - is a mystery that perhaps a land-locked pen-pusher might be on the brink of solving. But the crux of why we are there is, quite simply, to help. We work by a code of constantly reviewed procedural operations that have repeatedly saved lives.

OK, fine. Why the rant? It’s because we cop a lot of flack, and there’s no need for it. Although the job generally attracts a laid-back crowd it doesn’t automatically follow that we are idle morons. It may sometimes appear that we reside on our derrieres all day, but the point is that we are always thinking, always looking. If we were on constant high alert, sprinting around frantically expecting death at every turn (as opposed to our standard cool strut), you would not enjoy your beach experience and actual emergencies could be undermined. Fraught nerves will also not do us any favours when the responsibility and accountability of thousands of peoples’ lives rests on our shoulders for an entire season or more.

One last thought. The lifeguards I've been lucky enough to work with – past and present - include doctors, lawyers, writers, paramedics, policemen, sports scientists, professional skaters and surfers, world surf life saving champions and international swimmers. So next time you pass one, refrain from clichéd typecasting and remember this: you might well be standing next to an Olympic contender, or maybe a trainee solicitor, or perhaps a legendary surfer, or maybe a world-class athlete.

Who knows? You'll probably never find out. But one thing's for certain. That David Hasselhoff/Pamela Anderson doppelganger could seriously save your arse.

Hannah May works as a lifeguard at Hayle beach in Cornwall. She is also a writer. She is pictured with fellow Hayle lifeguards Alice Nicholas and Oli Green.

Comments

[CCA]

Here's an interesting point I noted when I was lifeguarding at Whitesands back in the 80s.

The guy in the expensive BMW who hangs on your every word (good for him...) would probably not even give you the time of day were you to pass him outside his office on a busy London street.

So it's quite refreshing to feel that even though in the larger scheme of things the empty headed bleached haired surfer dude image still prevails there are times when that very same image can command the respect it often deserves.

Good luck with the rest of the season Hannah!

[simon jayham]

This is a well written rant which covers many important issues. Unfortunately, Leisure, Tourism, Sport and Travel are not and have never been taken seriously as an industry here in the Uk.

Even though the national papers each weekend have articles on extreme or not so extreme activities that one can participate in along our wave rich coastline.

The working environment Hannah and other guys like her work in can be compared to a very busy leisure centre.

Imagine if you opened a new Leisure centre and simply opened the doors with out any guidelines, management or time tables then put a couple of guys on the poolside and gave them the brief of 'do what you can but we are not going to give you any powers...' (They have plenty of power and respect in France, Hawaii etc)

You would probably end up with the sub aqua club, diving club and water polo team plus all other random leisure activities claiming their slot in your pool. End result = chaos

This is what happens along our coastline day in day out, even though some Councils and the RNLI have had a go at implementing 'pool timetables' they have no teeth to implement it.

Unfortunately, when people visit beaches all their common sense goes out of the window and a 'buckets and spades' attitude kicks in.

This I must say also includes school teachers taking their young people in swimming out of the flagged areas, simply because they had no idea of what red and yellows mean.

We are a coastal people living on an Island with a coastline environment and top lifeguards that should be listened to and admired for their dedication.

Unfortunately without Govt' backing and poor education of the masses on the do's and dont's when you visit the seaside then guys like Hannah are always going to have their work cut out for them.

With a general election coming soon, perhaps we should start bringing up this subject more with the politicians.

Here are a few funny questions that I have been asked when I used to lifeguard.

1) Excuse me is that the Welsh national flag? (pointing at the red and yellows.

2) Excuse me do jelly fish have legs? No they havn't. Oh, well how did they get up there then, pointing at the high tide mark.

Good luck Hannah and all the beach guards with their very difficult job of social control.

[Metro Jethro]

All fair enough but not everyone who comes down from the cities has no idea about the sea. Some of us might once have lived there too and some lifeguards can be OTT in telling us about, eg, the tide, when we know full well what it is. Maybe a little diplomacy wouldn't be a bad thing. But overall, Hannah and Simon, you're right. Even if it's painful to admit it.

Good luck

[simon jayham]

Yes, good point mate, sorry did not mean to make a sweeping statement. Just that the fundamental problem is the delicate balance that needs to be taken on board of how many rules, regs we need and then giving the correct amount of power to prevention' rather than cure. have a good weekend at a beach near you, rgds simon @ GSD

[Giles Hodge Gilbert]

Although I'm not entirely sure I agree with the swim wear revival crit. (I happen to be an anti fashion fan) I entirely agree that the anarchy that prevails on the sand endangers lives when extended to the water.

The carnivalesque is unique as the environment is unique, for that reason mixed reactions (as they are) are inevitable. The funny questions are brilliant and I think show a mutual respect when dealt with correctly. I consider the greatest problems with beach services often begin within the system, more often than not from above by administrative morons that have the precise preconceptions mentioned of their own emplyees jeopardising the development and perception of the service as a whole resulting in stinted progress particularly in relation to other emergency services of whom recipients (customers) have absolutly nothing but the utmost respect. We have only Baywatch to thank for blend of envy, hatred and admiration of the The Fun Police, and maybe one or two other minor factors, hmm.

Happy September swells all!

[James Rodger]

Well a rather well written and descriptive article, I was left wondering if the said Hannah May wasn't just whinging to an adept crowd. Her article should be better placed on the tube so that the "pen pushers" could better understand her point of view. As for the baywatch distinction, she was probably the lifeguard that inspired the series.

[ABA]

well written and a true joy to finally find an article that is honest and precise in its delivery! well done hannah may....... WHOEVER YOU ARE