around. We'll see you Sunday night
for
OSHER GUNSBERG: On Bondi Rescue,
concern for a missing man...
LIFEGUARD: He didn't come in from the water.
Copy.
..when rescues go wrong...
LIFEGUARD: This is by far the most embarrassing moment of my career.
Go!
..and the biggest challenge of the season -
lifeguard against lifeguard.
Joel's definitely the one to beat.
But Harrison has a secret weapon.
HARRISON: It's the era of technology.
(DEVICE WHISTLES)
Wow.
(CHOPPER WHIRRS)
SONG: # Take me back to the
# Sweet times, the hot nights
# Everything is gonna be alright
# In the summertime
# Baby, in the summertime
# That is where I'll be. #
(SOMBRE MUSIC)
BEARDY: Being a part of a lifeguard service
is...is the essence of what a team is made up of
and you create bonds and friendships
that last a lifetime.
And recently, we lost one of our best - Terry McDermott.
Terry was just 63 when he died
after a battle with prostate cancer.
(SINGS) # That's the way it's gonna be, little darlin'
# You'll be riding on the horses
# Yeah, yeah... #
Yeah! That's what's keeping us... at the old chemotherapy ward today.
We've... It just can't get us.
We're too happy. Cancer can't get us.
It's... We're too happy. (WOMAN LAUGHS)
BEARDY: Terry's career as a lifeguard spanned over 30 years
and over 10 of those years was down here at Bondi.
And over that time, he would've saved thousands of people.
Terry was just an old soul.
He was such a nice guy. He used to look after me.
He used to look after all the young blokes, as he used to say.
When it come to lifeguarding, he taught me so much.
You've found out the hard way
why we want people to swim between the flags.
His patience, his way he interacted with people was amazing.
This scene at the south, I've never seen anything like it.
Terry was one of the most amazing lifeguards that we've had down here.
Each season, it's not just one thing.
It's several things get thrown up
that always stretch your level of experience and expertise,
no matter how long you've been in the job.
I remember when I first started on the traineeship,
he would invest so much time teaching you the ways.
Even little things like the weather
and how to read when the swells are coming.
Black clouds out to the south there,
and that's that low moving offshore.
I've seen him perform some amazing rescues.
Yeah, Terry's in.
I love it and I'm passionate about lifeguarding.
And what we do is actually quite honourable.
It's something that makes you feel proud
and makes you feel good at the end of the day.
Yeah! Whoo! (ALL LAUGH AND CHEER)
It's a testament to Tezz to see people
from all up and down the coast, of all ages.
He was a really loved guy, so it'll be a nice moment.
I'll get emotional.
Lifeguards, family and friends farewell Terry
in a traditional Bondi ritual.
We're gonna be paddling out as a big group
and then we'll be forming a massive circle
with the rescue boards, surfboards, bodyboards,
and we'll be saying our final goodbyes.
It's really a circle of respect that we do as surfers, water users.
You know, you're sending Terry off with all those positive thoughts.
Wherever he is, he's at peace.
(PEACEFUL MUSIC)
Everyone's going through the same thing, I think, in their head.
Just sharing their own personal memories of Terry.
(PEACEFUL MUSIC CONTINUES)
Really emotional, you know?
I, um... (SNIFFLES) ..miss him a lot.
And, um, yeah, it kind of hit home down here at Bondi.
Like, this is where we worked together for, like, forever.
So bringing back all the memories of
what we shared together over the years, um...
Yeah, it was a...
It was a great... (CLEARS THROAT)
..great time, great years down here around then
and, um...
(EXHALES) ..all that kind of come flooding back.
(POIGNANT MUSIC)
You know, Terry will forever have a place in our hearts.
(POIGNANT MUSIC)
(WATER LAPS GENTLY)
The ocean has been crashing against these shores for an eternity.
When the tide and swell match up,
there's a hidden danger at Bondi's north end.
A rip nicknamed the Escalator can drag you out to sea.
LIFEGUARD:
HARRISON:
It was late in the afternoon
we noticed a girl in the rip in the north corner
struggling to get back in.
I paddle out. She's a long way out.
The woman is 50 metres from the beach
and making no progress against the rip.
You OK?
Are you OK?
Here we go. You're gonna jump on, lie down like a surfboard, OK?
(GROANS)
You right? Yes.
Gotta jump up, lie down like a surfboard.
Oop. (WOMAN GROANS)
Bring your legs around to me.
(LAUGHS)
(SIGHS)
Ah!
(LAUGHS)
(SHRIEKS)
Come here. You've gotta come here.
(LAUGHS)
That's just where everything went downhill pretty quickly.
You've gotta face that way.
And I noticed, uh, I'm not in for, uh...
I'm not in for an easy one here.
Jump up.
(LAUGHS) Oh!
To make matters worse,
they are still on the Escalator,
now 80 metres from the beach.
Sorry, give me your arm. Give me your arm.
We're gonna be out in New Zealand soon.
They just keep drifting further out.
(LAUGHS) Come on.
HARRISON: I thought, "Alright, there's only one option for this."
Lifeguards have a technique that we use for unconscious patients,
where you roll the board upside down
and we'd drag their hands on top of the board.
Ready? Yeah.
Then roll the board over to get half of their torso on the board,
where you can spin them round, which works.
You've gotta face... So bring your leg to me, OK?
(LAUGHS)
Bring your leg to me. (BOTH LAUGH)
Come on, bring... Come on, I've gotta go back to shore.
Oh, no!
This technique didn't even work.
Come here. You've gotta come here. (SHRIEKS, LAUGHS)
You've gotta jump on, lie down like a surfboard, OK?
At North Bondi, you've got the grassy knoll in the afternoon.
It's like being in a theatre and everyone's watching you.
You're onstage.
What's going on there? That's weird.
I know the boys are watching from the tower.
Face that way.
Who would've thought that the worst rescue in lifeguard history
could get even worse?
(COMICAL MUSIC) (WOMAN LAUGHS)
OSHER: The notorious Escalator
is taking Harrison and his rescue victim for a ride.
It's now the longest rescue of Harrison's career.
Gonna face...
Come on, bring... (LAUGHS)
I would hate to think how long I was in the water for,
just trying to get this girl in - it's a nightmare.
And we've still drifted further and further out
and I still haven't even got her on the rescue board.
For me, being out on the water,
that's time away from being on the radio
and if something else does happen, you know,
we can't respond to that incident.
This is drastic now.
We need to go to the last resort.
So the last resort is just...
.."Hang onto the handles
"and I'll somehow try and drag you in."
Oh!
And so she grabs the handles and I start paddling.
(WOMAN SHRIEKS)
She just lets go straightaway.
Come on. Hold on.
Stay holding onto the handles.
I'm alright, mate. Don't try... Just don't try and get up.
Don't try and get up. Just hold onto the handles.
(BLEEP) hell.
I've done a lot of rescues. I reckon you're the worst one I've ever had.
Alright, just hold on there. Don't move. Don't move.
OK. Just don't move.
This is by far the most embarrassing moment of my career.
(LAUGHS)
I think I might've invented a new technique
and I'm gonna have to give Hop a call
because we need to redo the manual, Hop.
Thank you, my friend.
You OK? Yes.
HARRISON:
WOMAN:
MAN: Thank you.
HARRISON:
I've never been so excited
to feel and touch dry land and the sand before in my life.
LIFEGUARD:
(ALL LAUGH)
That was, hands down, the worst rescue I have ever done.
The shadows lengthen.
As beachgoers head home,
two young women approach lifeguards.
Their friend is missing.
WOMAN:
Is it a guy that you're looking for? Yeah.
What's his name? Lorenzo.
Lorenzo? Yep.
Jacinta and Madison last saw Lorenzo in the water
40 minutes ago.
Give us a description of the guy.
Joel relays his description to lifeguard coordinator Beardy.
South buggy to Central.
Copy.
We've just got two girls with us here. They're missing their friend.
He's 22, tanned, and he had blue-and-white board shorts on.
They reckon that he didn't come in from the water.
Copy.
Then some disturbing information.
WOMAN:
Yeah.
Like, just... How upset? Like...like...
Really? WOMEN: Yeah.
When they said that he was upset, that's when I got quite worried.
You've gotta take mental health stuff pretty serious.
He's probably gone somewhere, like, just to be on his own, yeah?
In situations like this, I'm just trying to keep the girls calm.
So I send the girls to see if his stuff's still there.
WOMAN:
Everything's still here - his keys, wallet, phone.
All his stuff's still there.
That's when me and Mitch, we start to get really worried
about the situation.
He hasn't gone home because he's been really upset,
so we don't know if he's done anything or he's left.
But so...
He hasn't left or anything. We just don't know where he is.
It's getting towards an hour since Lorenzo's been missing.
An hour's a long time for someone to be missing.
With so little information,
Joel and Mitch are reluctant to launch a full-scale search.
Lorenzo's friends start to fear the worst.
Is his phone here?
He's missing.
(SOMBRE MUSIC)
OSHER: For Jacinta and Madison,
a fun trip to Bondi
has turned deadly serious.
Their friend Lorenzo has been missing for nearly an hour
and was last seen in the surf.
They're also concerned about his state of mind.
He's missing.
Lorenzo had an argument with a girl.
His phone, keys and other belongings are still on the beach.
We'll do a quick drive up and down the beach.
Yep. We'll let you know what we find.
If we can't find him, it might be a police matter.
Yeah. Um...
If he's upset, like, he could've gone anywhere.
Yeah.
All we can do is check the beach for you and we'll go from there.
OK, thank you.
JOEL OVER P.A.: Uh, just attention, everyone.
If Lorenzo is here, your friends are looking for you, mate.
Lorenzo, we need to find you, buddy.
JOEL: We're quite worried and we just wanted to find him
so the girls could go home and we could go home
and everything could be like a happy ending.
I'll stay up here. One of us needs to stay here.
Just as his friends are about to file
a missing person report with police...
(BLEEP) you! Are you serious?!
(WOMAN GROANS FURIOUSLY)
Lorenzo's not sure what the fuss is all about.
(LAUGHS INCREDULOUSLY) Don't talk to me.
Nah, we found him. Lorenzo's been found.
Thank you so much!
It was great to see Lorenzo show up.
He had no idea what had been going on.
He had no idea that everyone had been looking for him.
Bro!
(GROANS) You've done my head in.
The girls did the right thing coming up to us.
If your mate's not in a good state
and they've been missing for a while,
you've always gotta... you've gotta check on your mates.
You've gotta be there for your mates.
You've gotta...you've gotta always worry about your mates.
Everybody goes through ups and downs.
You've gotta hope that when you're not feeling your best
that there's someone there
that's gonna look after you and be there for you.
That's a happy ending to the day.
JOEL:
The toilet. The toilet.
Oh, my... (ALL LAUGH)
I came out of the water. I went for a walk.
And then I realised I had to go to the bathroom.
Then after that, I ran into an old friend of mine from high school.
And then I forgot where we were sitting.
Next time, I'll take my phone with me
so at least then I've got actually something with me
so that way I can actually call someone.
He owes me ice cream and... And KFC.
I'll get KFC. And KFC.
Yep. (FRIENDS LAUGH)
No, actually, get away!
(FRIENDS LAUGH)
It turns out Lorenzo was just in the toilet.
(QUIRKY MUSIC)
Guess everyone's relieved now.
Let's go! Yeah, we're out of here.
MAN: Oi!
OSHER: The bond between lifeguards is normally watertight.
Not today!
HARRISON: The annual lifeguard race,
it's one of the biggest events on the lifeguarding calendar.
27 lifeguards will tackle the brutal course.
The first leg is a 1.5km run
from Bondi to Tamarama,
then a 500m swim to Bronte,
a 2.5km board paddle back to Bondi,
finally a beach sprint to the finish line.
There's bragging rights that come with it,
so it's massive for the lifeguards.
And, look, if anyone says they're just gonna take it easy,
that's the biggest lie you could ever hear,
because once the starter goes,
ha, it's on and everyone wants to get that first place.
Definitely not the favourite.
No, those days are gone. Way gone.
Joel's definitely the one to beat.
The bloke is just a weapon. He's super fit.
Jackson... Jackson's been training the house down this year.
Actually, they're... Jackson's my favourite.
Everyone's sort of saying,
"Oh, no, I haven't been training. I haven't been training."
But you know, secretly, a couple of weeks out,
the boys are getting their boards out, like, sneaking out the corners.
HARRISON: My name's definitely not in the favourites,
but I will say it's 2023 and it's the era of technology.
So I'll leave it at that. (LAUGHS)
The lifeguard race has had its share of skulduggery.
Sand in runners' shoes.
Oh! (LAUGHS) Vaseline on his board.
Sabotaging paddleboards.
This year, Harrison is taking subterfuge to new lows.
I did some research and I've come across this.
(DEVICE TRILLS AND WHISTLES)
Wow.
(UPBEAT MUSIC)
CHAPPO: Tommy, Bunning, Moley and Quigley are all off go.
Yoo! Go, Moley.
Moley's basically new to the service,
so he was a little bit of an unknown for me.
So I put him off go.
Coops, Harrison, Chappo, Jack and Reidy are off three minutes.
Alright, we ready? We're ready!
Set. Go!
(EXCITING MUSIC) Go, Robbie!
Alright, Muzza, you're up next.
Go! (MEN LAUGH)
Alright, Coops, Harrison, Chappo and Reidy.
Yoo! (MEN LAUGH)
First, the 1.5km run.
(UPBEAT MUSIC)
(SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY)
Yep! Whoo-hoo!
That's the top of the hill.
50-year-old Moley keeps his lead at the end of the run leg.
But young guns Jackson and Joel are moving up the field.
I was swimming from Tama to Bronte.
Joel hadn't caught me yet.
And all I was thinking about was just when he was gonna come
because I knew there was gonna be a time
where he'd rear up from behind me.
(SHOUTS AND LAUGHS)
Harrison's doing it tough in the middle of the pack.
But he has a wicked plan.
HARRISON: There were some faces that were hurting
and I was probably the only face that had a smile on it
knowing that I was gonna get some assistance getting back to Bondi
'cause I've got a secret weapon up my sleeve.
Yeah, the swim's gonna sort 'em
'cause it's pretty bumpy today.
Moley keeps his lead after the swim leg.
Looks like Moley, Quiggers and Mouse
have all come out of the swim together.
That's good. And they've got the lead.
How are you going, Moley? Oh, tired, buddy.
Tired!
Moley could win this!
(LAUGHS) The over-50s!
After a leisurely swim,
Harrison cruises in the middle of the pack.
The swim was just beautiful.
When I came out, there was few guys in front of me
and also a few guys behind.
And running up the beach and there it was -
my board there waiting for me.
I pushed the button and heard the thing start up,
and away I went.
(DEVICE WHINES)
Oh, my God.
The way I describe it was like a breeze.
You know, it was like going for a leisurely Sunday paddle.
But I was still keeping up with the guys.
At one stage, I was doing just one-hand paddling
and I was still overtaking people.
CHAPPO: I went into the water at Bronte with Harrison,
and I consider myself a bit of a paddler
but Harrison's just kind of almost paddling with one arm
and I can't catch him.
(DEVICE WHIRRS)
HARRISON: No-one was onto me.
No-one had any idea what was going on.
The biggest challenge now is for me to finish this race
and to get away with no-one looking what's underneath my rescue board.
(UPBEAT MUSIC)
OSHER: It's the hotly contested annual lifeguard challenge.
This year, Harrison has a performance-enhancing supplement...
..a battery-powered propeller.
Whoo!
It was like a breeze.
You know, it was like going for a leisurely Sunday paddle,
but I was still keeping up with the guys.
Like, Harrison's not the fittest-looking dude in the world
and he was on a slow board
and he was just ahead of me and he was just...kept going.
How are you, Chappo?
(LAUGHS) I was just checking them off as I went round.
But Harrison hasn't caught race leader, 50-year-old Moley.
Behind him, Jackson and Joel are fighting it out for second place.
On the final sprint,
it looks like a victory for the old-timers.
What a weapon, for 50+ years old.
(PEOPLE CHEER)
I kinda underestimated him. He smashed it.
(PEOPLE CHEER)
Ohh! Exhausted.
(PEOPLE CHEER) Joel beats Jackson into second place.
Go on, Jacko. Finish it, mate.
(PEOPLE CHEER AND CLAP)
Battery-powered Harrison still only manages a top-10 finish.
I thought I would sneakily put my board away.
And we were standing around and having the presentation...
Before we do the prezzo,
there's been a disqualification.
LIFEGUARDS: Ohhh! Moley!
And everyone started calling out Moley's name
and I thought, "How good's this?"
MAN: Moley! MAN 2: Moley!
(DEVICE WHIRRS AND WHISTLES) (LIFEGUARDS EXCLAIM)
MAN: Whose is that?
It's Harrison's. (LIFEGUARDS SHOUT)
The old Sleepmaker!
(LAUGHS) MAN: He still came last!
(ALL TALK AT ONCE)
HARRISON: I was caught out big-time.
But I think, of all the guys that I passed,
they were relieved to know that it wasn't just me.
There was actually some extra help, so...
MAN: Yeah, Moley! (PEOPLE CHEER AND CLAP)
You did well, Moley!
OSHER: Moley is the oldest lifeguard to claim the coveted title.
All jokes aside and fun and games that we play down here,
the biggest thing we take from this race
is the whole team coming together,
'cause it doesn't happen very often.
(POIGNANT MUSIC)
And recently losing Terry, it makes us realise that life is short
and, you know, that the team we've got
and the bond we've got down here
is nothing short of amazing.
Next time...
..a mass rescue.
But one man is missing.
Where's your fourth friend?
Has someone drowned?
And...
I saw that.
..a menace between the flags.
This guy was like a shark.
Captions by Red Bee Media