When I was a teenager, I was a lifeguard at a local pool. Because of it, I thought I was the coolest guy ever. I’d stand there with my athlete’s foot, stinky mesh tank top, and fanny pack full of bandaids thinking that I was a hero. I was not. I made two rescues, both of which were probably unnecessary. I gave out a lot of freezies (not the blue ones, because those were for me), and I put a shit load of bandaids onto stinky, ungrateful kids with thick ropes of chlorinated snot dangling from their noses. The guys in the video above are actual heroes.
If you’re a lifeguard, I imagine that being one on Oahu would be a very prestigious position, especially on the North Shore (imagine being the one sitting in the tower at Waimea?!) and at places like Makaha. Back on the 15th of January, a Brazilian big wave surfer drowned at the latter place. I can’t figure out who the surfer is, but he would surely be dead if it weren’t for the West Side lifeguards.
After victim was run over by a surfer, he was knocked unconscious. The lifeguards sprang into action, dragged him back to shore, and commenced nearly ten minutes of CPR. If you’ve done CPR, you know that it is exhausting. According the guy behind the camera, the surfer is in a coma in the hospital, and is listed in critical condition. Hopefully, he’ll come out of it and make a full recovery–and because of the heroic actions of the lifeguards on the beach that day, he’s got a fighting chance.
