Real Lifeguards Do Bathrooms, Too

Thanks to Hollywood, the world thinks lifeguards are in it for the sun, the sex and the swimwear.

But Sarah Gray, the senior lifeguard at Hayden Lake’s Honeysuckle Beach, said college friends who think her life is anything like the television show “Baywatch” “aren’t here for the training or the cleaning of the bathrooms.”

“It’s amazing how many times I call the sheriff for parking violations,” she said.

To do the job right, lifeguards can’t wear French-cut swimsuits like those seen on the TV show, said Nancy Taylor, Honeysuckle Beach manager. Straps that might slip off shoulders interfere with swimming, she explained.

Instead of organizing beach parties and volleyball tournaments, real lifeguards spend a good deal of their time passing out bandages and sunscreen, picking up broken glass and teaching kids to swim. They keep a close eye on adults who stagger on the beach - a sign they may be violating prohibitions against drinking.

“You’re constantly scanning, counting kids,” said Shawna Benner, head lifeguard at Sandpoint City Beach. “It’s mentally exhausting.”

Dramatic rescues are rare, while warnings - usually to parents who aren’t watching their own kids - are common.

And real lifeguards eventually grow out of the job, which pays $6 to $10 an hour at Hayden Lake. Most North Idaho lifeguards are in high school or college; “Baywatch” star David Hasselhoff is 46.

Local lifeguards gave mixed reviews of the most-watched television show on the planet.

Gray acknowledged she used to watch the show until she saw so many flaws that “it made me mad.”

“Some of the skills aren’t exactly real skills,” Benner agreed. “But some of it is really good. It gets kids excited” about lifeguards.

Taylor doubts the show has any value beyond titillation.

“How many people do you know who watch ‘Baywatch’ because they want to see the saving of lives?” she asked.

Whatever the opinion of individual lifeguards, the profession isn’t divorcing itself from its television image. Among the offerings in a U.S. Lifesaving Association fund-raising auction are a day on the “Baywatch” set and swimsuits worn by some of the stars.