NARRATOR: On Bondi Rescue...
seconds can make the difference between life and death.
Thought I had a bit more time. He was in a bad way.
Bondi's biggest party.
(REVELLERS CHEER, CALL OUT)
We haven't done anything like this at night before, lifeguarding.
And Hoppo celebrates a milestone.
Thanks, guys. See how many more years I can go.
(ALL CHEER)
(HELICOPTER ROTORS WHIRR)
# Take me back to the The sweet times
# The hot nights
# Everything's gonna be alright
# In the summertime
# Baby, in the summertime
# That is where I'll be... #
MAN: What an incredible way to start your day.
As the sun's rising,
you can't help but be inspired.
It's a very magical, magical place in the morning.
It's about starting the day grounding yourself in nature.
People exercising, jogging,
swimming,
paddling, surfing,
meditating and doing yoga.
You could almost set your watch by who's doing what.
There's a good vibe in the air.
People are happy to be here.
Bondi is the best wellness centre on earth
and you don't have to pay to use it.
On the next inhale, we'll breathe in, two, three, four
and then we'll breathe out for five -
two, three, four, five,
then there'll be a one-second pause.
Lifeguards have their own stresses to manage.
Lifeguard Dean Gladstone is also a breathing coach
and teaches the Wim Hof technique.
Slow breathing - this is where the body affects the mind.
'Cause you're telling your body that you're OK
by deliberately breathing slow
and that lets your mind know that you're not in a stressful situation.
Lifeguards go through
so many different traumatic situations down here.
Days earlier, lifeguards resuscitated an infant
that was clinically dead.
When you're in a traumatic situation and you don't remain calm,
your thought train goes completely out the window.
As I was oxygenating the baby, I was actually oxygenating myself,
to calm myself down,
to deliver an outcome that is successful and positive.
Mate, lifeless baby. Poor thing. That was gnarly.
Lifeguarding is a career now for a lot of us
and you want to stay present, relevant, fit.
It's important we start looking after ourselves a little bit better.
A classic summer Sunday.
Thousands have flocked to the beach.
I love Bondi lifeguards!
(WOMEN CHEER)
But a solid southerly swell
has lifeguards on edge.
When Bondi gets to 3, 4 foot,
it starts to get really dangerous.
This is a non-swimming area.
South Bondi in particular, on this day, is super dangerous.
Three or four big rips.
It was just a matter of time and when it was gonna pop off.
As the tide drops,
Chappo's prediction proved correct.
But then there's another one. There's another one.
Lifeguards perform multiple rescues.
I just got caught in the current - I'm moving my arms but...
I'm not getting any closer.
Brocky is rescuing a surfer from the south corner.
This is a dangerous area.
We've been doing a few rescues here.
To try and prevent tragedy,
Chappo stands guard at the notorious Backpackers rip.
You try and manage it with a megaphone as best as you can,
by talking to them, giving warnings.
Inevitably, someone will slip off the back
and they're in trouble.
Three swimmers caught in a rip struggle to get back to shore.
My plan is to rescue all the three people.
If I need back-up, I'll either wave or get someone's attention
or the tower will realise and send somebody else down.
It's hard to bring three people in.
It's almost impossible.
Arriving at the first patient,
Chappo makes a critical decision.
When the man indicates he's OK,
Chappo decides the swimmer furthest out is in the most danger.
Chappo's got a girl, it seems.
With the young woman safely on board,
the two men still need rescuing.
Thought I had a bit more time but when I got back,
one was in a bad way.
I'm sorry. You're right.
Chappo attempts to rescue three swimmers caught in a rip.
After rescuing a young woman...
..two men remain in trouble.
Well, he can't get to the other two - that's the problem.
One signals the other needs urgent help.
When I got there,
he was in a lot worse way than he was when I left him.
He was in a bad way.
I didn't expect him to go downhill so quickly.
I thought I had a bit more time
but when I got back there, I was like, "Oh...
"this guy needs real help."
A volunteer lifesaver joins the rescue.
The volunteer lifesaver rescues the man in most trouble.
Chappo decides the second man, in goggles,
can make it back to safety on his own.
He looked like a swimmer - he had his goggles on,
so I thought he was gonna be OK.
Rough conditions make the rescues extremely difficult.
You know, you get the patient on the board and...
you're getting hit by waves.
It's very easy to roll.
MAN: No. No, you're right.
Nah, good.
It's Leah's first time at Bondi
and her first time stuck in a rip.
While Leah is safely ashore,
Chappo realises he's needed back in the water.
The volunteer lifesaver struggles to bring in his patient.
The second man has been unable to make it to shore.
I think he thought he could handle our ocean
but the rip was too strong and he was now in trouble.
A surfer has come to the rescue.
When there's waves and, you know, a lot of water moving,
sometimes just doesn't go smoothly.
Relentless waves complicate the rescue.
Over we go.
After 10 minutes of chaos,
Chappo finally gets the last patient back to shore.
Troy is Canadian,
living in Bondi.
He was no match for the conditions.
I'm a pretty good swimmer but...
..this is just next-level.
The current here in Australia is one of a kind.
I never experienced anything like it before.
But it's 25-year-old student Aresh
who was closest to drowning.
Do you want me to give you some oxygen?
For a little while? That might help.
Yeah, that's most probably a good thing to do
but what I'll do is, I've got some oxygen that I can have on...
Aresh has swallowed seawater.
He may also have ingested water into his lungs.
You've gotta treat it pretty seriously.
Kind of think, Do we need an ambulance?
Yeah. Is that it? Uh...
Do you feel light-headed? Yeah.
I gave him oxygen and he was in quite a bad way.
It took him a long time to get back to normal.
You right, mate? Yeah.
OK. Good. Thank you.
Three swimmers back on shore.
Three lives saved.
Wow.
Everyone in this area - hey, guys. Out of the water.
Our safe area's at the other end of the beach.
This end is not safe.
I gotta lie down.
Bondi is a non-stop playground.
Now it's about to host the biggest party the beach has ever seen.
As a lovely local lady,
I'd love to wish everyone a very big welcome to World Pride 2023,
here at the gorgeous Bondi Beach.
REVELLERS: Happy World Pride!
World Pride event was held in Sydney over two weeks.
Lot of activities and parties
and the last event, to kind of tie everything up,
was held at Bondi Beach.
Welcome to World Pride at Bondi Beach!
The lifeguard shift normally ends at 7:00pm
but with thousands of revellers partying into the night,
the first-ever late shift has come on duty.
MAN: We've got about seven of us down here now
just to oversee the beach.
So, there's a few of us spread from north to south
and the middle of the beach,
so we'll rotate throughout the night
and make sure that, uh, everyone stays safe.
(DISCO MUSIC)
15,000 party-goers -
some alcohol- and drug-affected -
all partying at a notoriously dangerous beach.
It's a potentially lethal mix.
Lifeguards have gone undercover.
We're not in uniform,
because we didn't want to be out on the beach in uniform,
'cause it'd keep people out there,
wanting to go swimming if they know we're still around,
so we're in plain clothes.
Yeah? Canada!
(REVELLERS CALL OUT)
The safety strategy is to keep party-goers out of the water.
Everyone's having a good time.
Everyone's been doing, you know, the right thing
but three key blokes here, keen to get wet if we need to.
It's 24 degrees too, so...
Yes. Beautiful.
It's the first time lifeguards have patrolled Bondi after dark.
If someone was to jump in the water and get stuck in a rip,
the challenges were - a lot of it would be second-hand information.
So if there was a police officer,
or someone came and said,
"Hey, my friend just got stuck in a rip - they're yelling out for help,"
it could be 2, 3, 5 minutes after the fact.
The worst-case scenario is someone drowns.
We'd have to call in the PolAir
to do their searches and look for a missing person.
Wouldn't be a good night for anyone.
15,000 revellers have descended on Bondi
to celebrate the World Pride Beach Party.
Lifeguards patrol Bondi after dark,
to keep party-goers out of the water.
Two down there. There's another one here.
Yeah, the ocean's a little bit scary tonight,
'cause you can't see much but, um...
We're quite lucky tonight - the moon's out, it's a clear night.
Our plan and strategy to keep people out of the water
was using a spotlight, or we would yell out to them,
explain to them that it is very dangerous tonight
and we're not here to watch over your swim -
we're here to prevent you from swimming.
Are we on Bondi Rescue?
A few people kept swimming anyway
but they did stay up to their knees and their waist
and we stayed in that position until they were out of the water.
Are they serious? No, they're right as.
Another one in the sea.
Never done anything like this at night before, lifeguarding.
It's not like your typical day in sunlight, you know?
In the darkness, you can't see much.
WOMAN: Happy Pride! MAN: Happy Pride!
Oh, it was amazing. The best time. It was an amazing time.
The Pussycat Dolls are incredible.
Well, Nicole, anyway.
Yeah, no, it just...it's a good time all round. Lots of love.
Time for a little relax on the beach?
Heaps of fun. Yeah.
Bit of debrief. Time for a bit of a chill-out.
You know, a bit of a debrief and then we'll go to kick-ons.
Thank you.
As the party winds up,
the strategy has gone exactly to plan.
We were incident-free - how good's that?
Good planning, good incident management
and no issues.
One lifeguard got to experience the event first-hand.
Seeing Eddie come out put a big smile on our faces.
That's a good time!
It was a great event and everyone had a good time.
Yeah. Job well done.
In a summer of celebrations,
there's also a special milestone in the lifeguard team.
Bruce Hopkins joined the Bondi lifeguards
as a fresh-faced 25-year-old.
HOPPO: Mother Nature just picks you up
and puts you wherever it wants to put you.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) (SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY)
When I started lifeguarding 30 years ago,
my plan was to be here for five years,
because back when I started,
it was always known as a job you did before you went and got a real job.
Got handed a pair of shorts, a shirt and a whistle
and off I went - didn't know what I was doing.
From there, the job just changed
and it sort of then started becoming a bit more professional.
There's a bit of competition there - the young blokes try to push harder
to knock the old blokes off their perch.
I actually suggested he should be bronzed the other day,
which, of course, he liked the idea of!
What a man - the fact that he's still here, leading a team...
Gave me a great opportunity.
A great lifeguard, great mentor, great person.
Instead of letting his emotions take over,
he always comes at it from a point of logic.
When you've got a leader like that,
that stuff flows down through the team and keeps the team really calm.
I thought you might need the altern to back up.
Yeah. (LAUGHS)
Yeah, he's a great guy, Hoppo, and a really good leader as well.
Fun to work with.
I think he gets the best out of people.
I think that's really important as a leader.
No-one wants to leave.
It's a job now that...
people sort of want to be here forever.
I've never really heard him say a bad thing about anyone.
He told me they've lost a group of monks.
What? A group of monks.
Oh. Thank you for the feedback.
He's just been such a rock for this service for so long.
Yeah, we rely on him daily down here.
He's always, kind of, got your back
and yeah, he just makes you feel trusted in what you do.
You know, we've all become what we are today because of him.
As senior lifeguard, Hoppo normally leaves the chores to the young guns.
Today they've told him it's his turn to pack up.
They asked me to pack up and I thought it was a bit unusual
and I thought, "Oh, there's probably a stitch-up coming somewhere."
Skilful. Skilful.
I said, "Yeah, I'll pack up and show 'em how to do it."
They're trying to say it's the, uh, first pack-up in 30 years.
(LAUGHS)
Right.
But the last challenge might be the trickiest of all.
When you finish packing up, you go back to the tunnel,
where you back the trailer in with all the gear.
They gave it to me to do,
'cause they know I hadn't done it for a long time.
There's always been a bit of competition and banter
for backing the buggy in
and a little bit different this time too,
because we've had the tunnels re-done,
so they're a lot thinner than what they, uh, have been.
The big competition is to get it in first go.
Been a while since I've backed it in.
Quite a bit of pressure on.
I reckon I had about 10 or 12 lifeguards give me banter
as I was trying to do it.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Hey, hey!
Want some more? Come on, mate.
That's hitting the side wall. That's no good.
Oh, watch the left... Oh! Hey!
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Whoa!
(LIFEGUARDS CHEER) That's three goes.
They've shortened the wall since I last did it.
Three goes, mate.
I probably didn't go as well as I should have.
Whoa! This could take a while.
Whoa... Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!
(BANG!) Oh! I heard a crunch.
Oh, yeah!
As senior lifeguard,
Hoppo has cleverly avoided many daily chores.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!
Today, after 30 years on the beach,
his mates have decided it's his turn to pack away the buggy.
(BANG!) Oh!
I heard a crunch. This could take a while.
They've shortened the wall since I last did it.
Three goes! (LAUGHS)
I hadn't done it for a long time, backed the trailer in.
Quite a bit of pressure on.
Oh, hey, hey!
Oh, that's close, mate. How close to that wall?
It spins every time!
They've set it up, mate.
Oh, yeah!
He's got it. He's got that.
Hoppo! Not bad, mate.
I don't know - last time I backed in,
it was probably about 10 years ago.
I've done 30 years here.
Yeah, I've made a lot of friends
and worked with a hell of a lot of lifeguards.
(LIFEGUARDS CHEER)
They all lined up, like a guard of honour, up the stairs.
(CHEERING CONTINUES)
I haven't had a guard of honour in my 30 years,
so...there's always a first time, isn't there?
(LAUGHTER) Like the toupee?
(LAUGHTER)
Hoppo, you love it.
Speech! Nah, thanks, guys, for coming.
It's, uh...it's just nice. It's been a great 30 years.
There's been a lot of ups and downs and long rides
and some great, uh, rescues
and I've got plenty of memories
and plenty of great friends as well, on the way,
so thanks - it's been, uh...
I'll see how many more years I can go.
(CHEERING)
I got a bit emotional, because it was just something I didn't expect.
A great moment for me.
I was quite proud that they actually thought about it
and that's something that will stick with me for the rest of my life.
You're still going. You're in it for life.
After three seasons of lockdowns and La Nina rain,
Bondi finally got its mojo back.
Merry Christmas!
It was a classic Bondi summer.
Breathe.
The green whistle worked its magic pretty quick on Dan.
I love you.
The highlight of this season, for me,
was getting nude on Bondi Beach legally.
Hey, guys!
The highlight of my summer this year
was a rescue that we did at South Bondi.
WOMAN: Where's number 4? There seems to be a swimmer missing.
That is the worst scenario.
There he is. He's there.
Relief. Relief came over all of us. It was huge.
When you're ready.
Being a lifeguard, we are first responders.
We always come up against confronting situations.
Didn't come in from the water. Hoppy.
One of the most challenging incidents this year
was the incident with the baby,
especially a few of us with kids, that had to deal with that.
You put yourself in that moment and help as much as you can.
Hopefully going in, yeah.
Hey - open your eyes.
Come in here.
I'm feeling a bit nervous at this point.
Wow. How good, mate!
The team camaraderie was really good.
The whole team really pulled together this year.
Whoo!
The best thing about this summer was everyone coming back to the beach.
Seeing the crowds flood down the hill again,
you got that sense that...it's back.
We're back.
Felt like home.
Captions by Red Bee Media