# 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. #
Every lifeguard will tell you,
patrolling Bondi Beach is in their blood.
But they don't all make a living saving lives.
Hello. Over there.
Part-timers also have jobs well away from the sand.
Reidy was once a garbo.
Harries, a flight attendant.
Maxi also works as a firefighter.
And Bondi's newest recruit, Mitch Palmer,
is a teacher.
Thanks, buddy. On you get, over here.
I've been a primary school teacher now
for about four years. It's great working with kids...
Yippee-ay-yay!
..'cause I feel like I'm a big kid anyway.
And action!
# Rocks in the treetops all day long...
I love listening to music.
# Rocking and a-bobbing And a-singing his song. #
I love just sitting in the buggy
and having a bit of a bop and sing along.
# Making my dreams come true. #
I've got a pretty eclectic taste in music.
I love a bit of '80s, a bit of '90s...
# Snoop Dogg! La-la, la-la-la. #
..a bit of traditional Irish music,
(IRISH FLUTE PLAYS)
..and sometimes there's a bit of Mongolian throat singing
that gets thrown in there, as well.
(MONGOLIAN THROAT SINGING PLAYS)
I'm not sure about Mitch's singing,
but he's a great asset to the team.
Between the flags.
As a school teacher, Mitch knows how to talk to kids...
Boo! Argh!
..and they love him,
so come school holidays, it's a great asset to have.
Today, the beach is packed with children.
What's your name? GIRL: Savannah.
Mitch and Mario are called to a young child in distress.
Yeah, we're going to find your mum. Come with us.
Come on. You can come and sit right next to me. OK?
Good.
I need help driving. Are you a good driver?
A really, really small girl was brought over to us,
knee high to a grasshopper,
lost her mum and visibly upset about that, as well.
She was really, really upset when she came over,
so it was just about trying to keep her really calm
and try and get some information from her about, you know,
what mum looked like and where she last was.
Every kid at that age,
you want to be older than what you are,
so a few questions like that can be a bit of a distraction.
(WOMAN SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY)
Mitch's distraction technique pays off.
Yeah. Where were you? Over there?
Savannah calms down and the search begins.
What's your mum's name?
Serena. Zoeena.
Serena. Serena.
Well, let's go and find Serena. Yeah.
Well, we're gonna start over there.
Serena, just have your little girl with us,
the buggy.
That Mum?
Here you go! (MUM CRIES) Hi.
Savannah and her mum, Serena, have only just arrived
from the Philippines.
It was so quick.
Thank you.
Late afternoon,
it's a bunch of bigger kids that need Mitch's help.
The teenagers are hundreds of metres offshore in a powerful rip
on a flimsy air mattress.
If it deflates, they'll struggle to return to shore.
Well, this will be good.
How long you guys been lost at sea?
Ages?
At what point did you think, "We're a little bit too far out"?
I think they're oblivious to actually how far they'd drifted out.
We had really strong winds that day.
There's four of you, there's one of me.
One of you might have to kick!
I did leg day today, so I'll be knackered.
I hope someone's kicking! Is someone kicking?
Mitch tries a little psychology to coax the boys to paddle faster.
I guess I may have mentioned sharks
just to see what kind of reaction I got,
for my own enjoyment.
(BOY SCREAMS)
Alright, go get a wave in.
Go! Kick! Paddle!
17-year-old Mustafa and Abbas are from western Sydney.
We got caught by a massive rip, current's way too strong.
Yeah, too strong there, up there, too strong.
We went out, like, an hour ago, but now we tried to get back,
it was impossible.
A blow-up mattress,
definitely something you don't see every day at Bondi.
Mitch thinks he's finished his workout for the day,
but he's not done yet.
I was in the buggy up north...
..and I was approached by a mother
that was pretty concerned about her son.
Do find out the teenage boy doesn't speak English,
autistic, non-verbal.
That's reason for concern, especially looking at
how far he is out the back.
The child was told he could swim to the red buoy,
but he's gone way past it...
And he's swimming out further.
..and he's now 200m from shore.
We've been watching him on the shore.
We've been watching him from the tower.
Mum really was quite concerned.
And so we'd head out there
and all I had at that stage was his name.
If he continued to swim out,
he might start to panic and stress out...
..which definitely makes the situation more serious.
Mitch is paddling hundreds of metres offshore
to save an autistic boy way out the back.
I started paddling out and I was thinking
a stranger coming out might cause him to panic.
So, I guess just trying to be really calm
so we could get him on the board
and then getting him back to shore.
Yungwan!
Hello?
Yungwan!
Yeah, Yungwan.
On you get!
OK.
Very good. Good, good, good.
Lie down.
So when I got out the back,
I actually noticed that he was totally oblivious to Mum
and how she was feeling on the shore.
He was having the time of his life out the back.
Your chest down here.
Aha. Yes, yes.
Oh, very good, very good.
Oh, my gosh!
Yungwan is finally safe,
so Mitch decides to make his day.
We started to make our way back in,
and there were some really, really fun waves that day
and we were lucky enough to snag one on the way in.
Oh!
It was the wave of my summer!
I didn't nosedive, he didn't fall off.
Tick, tick, tick.
The mother and son are on holidays from South Korea.
Good outcome. He had a great swim.
He was on his way to New Zealand,
but we managed to get him back in again.
Lost Kid Reunion Services!
Parent Finders dot com!
OK! Slash AU!
Slosh-ah!
A powerful rip is running right in front of the tower
and Will spots a swimmer in trouble.
WILL: You could see that this bloke was with two surfboards
and he was panicked.
I just had to get out there and bring him back in.
So when I got out there, he was a bit shocked,
but he had a smile on his face.
Yeah, told him to jump on the board.
He was just stoked to be alive, I think.
He was extremely grateful that he made it back to land.
And he was, "Thank you, thank you."
You know, that's why we're here. That's what we do.
It might be a day's work for Will, but for Sydney resident, David,
it's a brush with death.
Hey, guys, please move out of this area.
Go swim up between the flags.
I got back to the buggy, sort of looked over,
and I saw him coming towards me
and I just couldn't believe what I was saying.
It was so strange.
David is so grateful, he has a surprise for Will.
So I looked over, saw that he was holding a parrot.
I'd never seen anyone on the beach holding a parrot.
Especially after a rescue.
What's his name? Happy.
Happy? Yeah.
I've seen lots of dogs down the beach,
I haven't seen many birds.
Do you reckon he's having a good time?
I think so. Yeah? Think so.
I think Happy was stoked.
There's nothing sad about Happy or his owner!
My God, the life is so good.
Pretty cool to see his energy, his outlook on life,
and then, to name his bird Happy...
I really want to say thank you.
No, it's OK, mate, honestly. That's what we do.
Thank you. Thanks. No worries, buddy. Enjoy!
The weather has turned.
The only people braving the elements today -
a football team training in the rain,
and sisters testing the sacred waters of the South End.
It's been a rainy afternoon, big swell.
We hadn't really had anybody down south at all.
And then I see the guy sort of behaving a little erratically,
not your normal swimming behaviour,
so I thought I'd drive down.
We wanted to get him out of the water pretty quickly.
It was pretty dangerous.
Get closer and closer and I'm like,
"Oh, OK, he's stumbling, falling over,
he may have had one or two drinks."
Back to shore. Out.
Out. You're drifting into the rip.
The more times I PA'd him, the more I started to realise
he's actually so drunk he can't even stand up on his own.
Drinking is actually prohibited on Bondi Beach
purely for this exact reason.
Drinking and the ocean does not mix.
I was like, "Alright, clothes off now.
"I've got to run in and get him before a wave bowls him over
"and takes him back out again."
The guy could barely walk on stable land,
and he's going for a swim
when there's eight-foot swell coming through.
Oh, my God, he's still wearing socks.
He's in jocks and socks,
he's stumbling up the beach.
It can get really, really frustrating.
Half the time down here, it seems like we're saving people
from their own mistakes.
HARRISON: I was watching on, and I noticed
that he was with another group of intoxicated people.
WOMAN:
(BLEEP)
I think this was alcohol-fuelled violence.
(WOMAN SCREAMS) MAN: Hey!
(WOMAN SHOUTS INCOHERENTLY)
Minutes after Jack rescued a drunk swimmer,
a woman is lashing out at the Bondi Rescue camera crew.
I think this was alcohol-fuelled violence.
Take them off us!
(SCREAMS) Get them off us!
We're so lucky that the police are right there.
After that incident, your heart rate's up,
you know, the adrenaline is pumping
because it's something that doesn't happen every day.
While police calm things down,
Jack keeps an eye on his rescued swimmer.
So, it turns out the guy that I helped,
his name was Jack also.
I'd say the only thing we have in common
is we love a swim in the afternoon, but that's about it.
(DRUNKENLY) Yeah, it's my birthday.
Yeah, just having a couple of drinks, yeah.
He's in a bit of a state.
He just started spewing his guts up, so ambulance is here,
they're treating him now.
Hopefully, next year when you come back
for your birthday, you're a year wiser
and a bit smarter.
Maybe no alcohol before you swim and swim between the flags.
Bondi lifeguards pride themselves as the best in the business.
Today, a team has come from across the world
to challenge that title.
The Californian all-star lifeguards,
the OG Baywatch.
LIFEGUARD: Never been to Bondi, super cool beach.
It should be fun racing.
Looks like we got a little bit of surf.
There is a lot on the line today - bragging rights, you know,
especially in our home advantage, at our own beach.
LIFEGUARD: We were sort of sussing the competition,
having a look how fit they were.
And, yeah, immediately we thought, you know,
"We're going to have a bit of a tussle on our hands."
How you going? What leg are you going to do?
I'm the run leg.
They're looking like tough competitors.
But, hey, you can have washboard abs if you can't move the board...
All show and no go! All show and no go!
One. Two. Three. Team California!
The boys will tussle it out over four stages -
a paddle, a swim, a run, and a board rescue.
Team Bondi, ready?
Team California, ready?
On your marks. Get set.
Go!
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
The first leg is a 500m board paddle.
Go, Joel. And Joel has a cunning plan.
MAXI: Joel had a bit of a strategy to sit on the tail
of one of the board paddlers.
Kind of similar to cycling,
where you can kind of get the drag behind.
DEANO: Yeah, sitting on the wash gives you a 10%, 15% advantage,
so you can conserve a bit of energy,
let the other paddler do the work.
It was neck and neck pretty much all the way up to the buoy.
Go Joely! Yes, Joel!
Let's go, Joel.
Yeah, Joel, I could see how dialled-in he was.
He's a great board paddler.
He trains very hard.
Joel's board skills give Bondi the upper hand.
Joel's actually... He's off the board first.
Let's go, let's go!
Let's go, Joely! Hey, Joel!
Joel's come back in pretty much neck-and-neck with the American,
and he's tagged Wally on the swim, and Wally's on his way out.
Nice paddle! That did hurt!
Got the heart rate up!
Californians know a thing or two about swimming,
so Wally has work to do.
It's a solid swim.
Huge swim.
It looks like he's just sitting on him now.
Same tactic.
As long as it looks, yeah. They're coming in now.
AMERICAN LIFEGUARD: Someone's out in front.
I think you guys are out in front, just.
It's a big kick.
And then Wally's just angling back towards the sandbank.
Just on the way in, he's just lost the American guy.
Yeah, you guys have got your noses in front.
It looks like he's swimming away from Wally, I think.
Yeah, we're in trouble now.
You'll be behind, Maxi!
Unfortunate with the wave selection.
The California lifeguard got a bit of a wave in.
Team Bondi is well behind at the start of the run.
Let's go, let's go!
Go on! Push it, push it!
32-year-old Maxi is up against it.
His opponent is 19.
I was actually quite nervous because it's been a little while
since I've raced and I'm quite competitive.
AMERICAN 1: Here he comes, he's right here.
AMERICAN 2: Oh, my God, he's beasting! (SHOUTS) Yeah!
Whoo!
JACKSON: Pulled him up a little bit, eh? I reckon.
I thought Maxi had such a good run.
He really pinned him back a little bit.
They've definitely got about a 20m lead,
so we're going to need a big final leg.
But Deano is a power swimmer, so we're banking on that.
The pressure is on.
Maxi proves age is no barrier.
He's made up ground on the young Californian.
Let's go, Deano! Get on him, Deano!
Got to stick with you, mate. I was looking back.
I could just hear your breath on the back of my back.
I was like, "Oh, no! He's coming."
For the final leg, Deano must swim to the buoy,
then signal Jackson to paddle out and bring him back in.
The first pair back win the race.
Dean's got a lot of local knowledge, and he noticed
that there was actually a sandbank to the northern side.
So he actually took a nice line.
And by the time he was finished dolphin-diving over the sandbank,
he found himself tying with the lead.
Super-fish Deano approaches the buoy.
Team Bondi is back in the race!
It's the final leg of Bondi versus Baywatch.
Deano's super swim has put the lifeguards on level pegging.
It's close!
AMERICAN: There we go. Let's go!
Now, Jackson and his Californian counterpart
have to pick up the swimmers and sprint home.
Jacko's having an amazing paddle.
We're still in front. Still in front.
Deano and Jacko bringing it home.
Board-rescue style, mate.
As I'm pulling Dean on the board, I literally forgot how limby he is.
He's like an octopus.
Dean's six foot six.
And I just realised we're going to have to share this board
and paddle in together, and we've never done it before.
Go right!
Finding a bit of unison was tough.
Go to the bank! Go to the bank!
California might just have a slight lead now.
We just passed him. We just passed him.
Wind is helping us come in. Let's see, though.
Little bit of an edge.
We can still get lucky.
Come on!
Don't write the boys off. We'll come home.
The Bondi boys can't get in sync.
I'm on it.
We didn't really have the rhythm
to keep up with the Californian guys.
They'd obviously paddled together before
and it's such a big thing to know your partner's rating
and what their strengths are.
Whereas Dean and I were foreign to paddling together.
You did well!
MAXI: What's up, boys?
AMERICAN: Team California won!
Come on, boys! Bring it home!
Came in, bit of a sombre feeling.
Dean and I are running up the beach,
we'd just been pipped by the Californian lifeguards,
but, you know, it was all in good fun and such a great event.
To the victor, goes the spoils.
The Californians take home a culturally appropriate trophy -
a pair of Bondi budgie-smugglers!
It's an absolute blast, I would love to come back here
and do it again with them. It was just a good crew at Bondi.
Unreal, boys! Thanks. Thanks, you guys.
Yeah, thank you!
JACKSON: At the end of the day, congratulations to California.
You came away with the goods.
Next time, we'd like a bit more swell.
Feel like we'd have the upper hand!