Cruising Narragansett Bay aboard the Bay Queen is one of the favorite summertime activities
of Rhode Islanders.
Second, maybe only to bronzing your body on the beach.
And if you like to spend a lot of time at the beach, it's nice to know that there's
somebody out there looking out for you.
Lifeguards.
You might be surprised to learn just how much training they go through.
In Southern California, life is a beach.
It's recreation, sports, fashion, and some behaviors too strange to explain.
And yet, with all that goes on here, the Los Angeles County beaches are the safest in the
country.
This is due mainly to a group of individuals for whom a day at the beach is no day at the
beach.
The Los Angeles County lifeguards.
I think being able to save another human being from certain death is probably one of the
most rewarding things any other human can have.
There's two good points about being a lifeguard.
First you get to lay out and get a tan, and second of all you get to check out the chicks.
Now there's the big public relations challenge for the lifeguards.
Nobody believes that a guy with the best view of the beach and high powered binoculars is
going to spend all his time preventing trouble and none of his time getting into it.
Assistant Chief Lifeguard Howard Lee.
People accuse us of looking at all the women, but we do.
We check them all out.
But we do, we check out the men too.
Lifeguards are not only interested in what the girls are wearing, or their lady lifeguards
are looking at the men to see what they're wearing nowadays.
We're very much like you might say the fire department who will go out and inspect places
and try to prevent a fire.
But we do the same thing on the beach.
We'll try and detect the kind of people or anticipate which person that comes down on
that beach or persons are going to have a problem if they get near that water.
Howard not only has 35 years experience, his son Greg has been a lifeguard for the past
eight years.
When I was growing up I'd ask kids, what does your dad do?
And they'd say, gosh, I don't know.
And I always knew what my dad did.
I had little sweatshirts with lifeguard patches on the shoulders that I'd wear at school.
Unlike most lifeguards, Kevin McBerry usually wears a suit and tie to work as a lawyer.
I was a lifeguard long before I became a lawyer.
And it was one of the things that helped pay my way through college as well as law school.
After five days cooped up in an office or in a courtroom, I come on out here, nothing
better.
I find that there's doctors, airline pilots, pharmacists, university professors, and others.
It's not unique at all.
Last year the LA County lifeguards made almost 7,000 rescues with only five drownings.
They think of themselves as professionals and they're paid like it too.
The average salary for a career lifeguard is $31,000 a year and even rookies start at
over $10 per hour.
This year out of 300 hopeful, 75 recruits including seven women made it to this their
final testing.
Okay, Jay, when you see your victim struggling, you go ahead and make sure you knock the phone
off the hook.
Swimming speed and strength got them here, but now they must show they've learned all
the proper rescue and first aid techniques they've been drilled on in the last week.
All aspects of lifeguarding are combined in this one test here.
The recruits take turns being the victim and when they hit the shore they feign unconsciousness
to make the rescue more difficult.
The only addition to your procedure that I'd like to see you do next time is let's not
go into the saddle.
Five years ago, Louis Fink was playing basketball in the Venice Beach court when he suffered
a cardiac arrest.
Don Rosenthal and his son Vic answered the call.
They worked on him until paramedics arrived and revived him with electric shock.
We weren't too sure of his chances when they put him in the ambulance, but fortunately
for him and happily for us, he survived and is with us today.
Very plain and simple.
I owe my life to them.
That's all.
At 55, Don Rosenthal is the oldest full-time lifeguard on the beach.
In the 35 to 40 life and death situations he's faced, he's never lost a victim.
I would say based on those 35 or 40 that I have mentioned, maybe two have actually said
thank you.
Most individuals are totally embarrassed.
In fact, we've even swum out to some people and they would say they were okay, they didn't
need any help when in fact they were just at eyebrow level going under.
David Zeitlin can speak about the effectiveness of the LA County lifeguards as well as anyone
he and his grandson Jake were about to crash his 16 foot sloop into the rocks when a group
of lifeguards jumped in and pulled his boat to safety.
It's like so many other things.
You don't need a policeman until you're in distress.
You don't need a doctor until you're sick.
You don't need a lifeguard until you're in distress.
Boy, when you have a problem and they're there, it means everything.
Well, when it comes to hiring lifeguards, the West Coast can't afford to be choosy.
I mean, literally hundreds of people apply for the job on the East Coast.
It's a whole other story.
That's right.
And the paywall is not all that great.
In Massachusetts, lifeguards are in $6.50 an hour, but in Pennsylvania, they earn just
$3.75.
But you won't need any money if you come aboard the Bay Queen because this buffet is included
in your cruise.
That's right.
If you want to do this with a friend, well, stay tuned because when we get back, we'll
show you the easy way to win.
As you can see, we've settled into the buffet here.
You look like Mr. Potato Head.
Well, I am Mr. Potato Head.
I love potatoes.
And you know something else is true.
My mother always told me, he who eats the most potatoes gets the most meat.
Good for you, Spud.
If you think that, that makes a lot of good sense.
And what we're going to tell you right now makes good sense too.
That's right.
If you want to win a cruise for the romantic and popular Bay Queen, it is very easy to
win.
All you have to do is send us a brief letter and in that letter, tell us why you would
enjoy doing this with a friend.
And remember now, the winner is going to be the most creative entry.
And you can send your entries, tell us why you'd like to come aboard the Bay Queen to
Hot Fun in the Summertime, PM Magazine, 111 Doran Street, Providence, Rhode Island, 02903.
Only one entry per person.
Include your name, address, home and business, telephone numbers.
And remember, please include your age.
You must be 18 years or older to enter.
Any entry that's not legible will be automatically disqualified.
Nothing will be returned to entrance and certain time specifications may apply to specific
crisis.
And of course, employees and their relatives of WJAR and the Bay Queen are not eligible
to win this contest.
But the rest of you are and you have one week to tell us why you'd like to come aboard the
Bay Queen.
Now the deadline for entries for this specific Hot Fun in the Summertime adventure is next
Tuesday, one week from tonight, August 4th at 12 noon.
Now during the afternoon, the PM Magazine crew will be reading all the letters that
come in.
We'll pick out the most creative and we'll announce that on the air next Tuesday night.
And don't forget, we've already been hot air ballooning with Balloon Adventures.
You're still eligible for that one, so send in a letter for that if that's what you'd
like to do.
And there'll be more adventures coming up all this week.
Tomorrow night?
You have to wait until tomorrow night for that.
But tomorrow night on PM Magazine, we're going to take a look at a whole new idea in commercials.
We'll take a look at the winning television commercials, the Clio winners here on Abroad.
And then we'll meet the little big man in a world of giants.
His name is Mugsy Bogues.
He's only five foot three.
Boy, can he play basketball.
All that and more tomorrow night on PM Magazine.
Remember, get those letters in.
That's right.
Is it now time for me to eat all these potatoes?
Yeah.
Your mom's watching.
Stay tuned for your lot of bucks, everybody.
Bye bye.
Terry Gard talks about her upcoming movie, plus world famous impressionist Rich Little
test drives Hollywood's hottest cars.
And entertainment tonight coming up next here on Channel 10.
The most interesting things you've ever seen keep coming your way, keep coming your way,
keep coming your way.