Open waters training, first course: 8/29

Duration: --

It was 6 am, early in the morning when the sun's not even completely up yet and the streetlights still shine above the dark grey street, illuminating the place with rays of yellow. I had some difficulty getting up – I haven't had to wake up that early in almost a month. I gathered my equipment and dumped all of it on my bed.

The faithful rash guard I had for over two years now is currently a shade of washed-out, faded purple rather than deep sea blue, and sewn-up holes peppered the fabric here and there. The scuba diving equipment had worn out some color owing to the prolonged scorching from the sun as well, and grains of sand still stuck in places out of cleansing reach. It smelled faintly of sand, saltiness, burnt plastic and rubber. I took the MRT, again with everyone watching me as if I was glowing neon.

Half an hour later, I found myself in a car with a coach and another unknown university student in lifeguard clothing too, speeding towards the destination at a hundred kilometers an hour. It's a partly secluded area near a mountain in Keelung, fairly deep without many waves, perfect for scuba diving and of course, professional training. Not really safe for tourists mostly because it's still an open sea and there are no lifeguards nearby.

I got off the car, and waves of intense heat immediately blasted in my face without mercy. I completely forgot what it's like to step out onto a beach with the sun right above you at the end of summer. No more than fifteen minutes later, I'm already half-soaked in my own sweat. I changed into my rash guard, then joined the huge group of more than a hundred lifeguards and coaches for the gathering. 

It's not that only our group's here for training. From what I've heard, the entire association's branches in Taipei came to train, 019 is here too(I belong in team 3729 from last year, the current team has no number yet for some reason), along with another two groups of thirty that I never will remember the number of. Starts with two thousand. Also, our head coach isn't here.

I was surprised to see my former teammates here as well, wearing black pants, red shirts and geared up to the hilt. Turns out most of them went to the coaches' course and are now getting their hands-on experience of teaching a huge group. I'm both happy that they're in charge rather than anyone else, but also jealous that they've got to the coaches' class and I'm still going to be stuck with the lifeguards for another four years.

Half an hour later, after the coaches had their words with us about safety and signals and more, Everyone waded into the water. Some yelled about the cold, most complained about the saltiness. I tried not to facepalm. Firstly, the cold is nothing compared to the river and secondly, this is my third time training in the sea, you get used to it. 

They were almost tolerable until we proceeded to swim into the deep end. By deep I meant not only you cannot touch the ground, but you also can't even see the ground either, although the sea is clear. Probably five to eight meters.

I'll have to mention first that our group was the only one who trains for the test; the rest trains for leisure. As a result, as soon as the group got the message they have no ground from now on, everyone except our team panicked. 

It was as if they completely forgot how to tread water or even float, and I had to break formation and swim for the coaches, not because I need help, but because I technically can be one of them and because I need to keep myself at a distance with the raging pandemonium of more than a hundred people scrambling for something to grab on and kicking each other to prevent others from doing so. Seawater splashed everywhere, stinging my mouth, nose, and eyes with extreme saltiness. I had to suppress the urge to gag. It was unpleasant.

While behind me, it. was. Chaos. I rapid-fired a bunch of very specific opinions and suggestions in my head to the absolute imbeciles I'm with; literally the first rule the head coach told us was not to get saved by another lifeguard and look what we have here. Wonderful. (See contents of day three if you forgot. If he also mentioned double drowning before, I say this might be a world record.)

I'm not trying to save all four people around me like the rest of my team did, I just got out. One of the coaches recognized me and let me into their group. They went and managed to calm everyone down while I watched, and after a few minutes, we swam even farther out into the sea.

One choked on seawater and was sent back to shore, and another was pulled up onto the lifeboat and told to stay there until she decides to join the training. The first part of the course was simple, but also the most demanding. I still don't get exactly why, but we swim about a kilometer out, do a routine, and swim back. Maybe to test our nerve against the sea, seeing that this particular group lacks the most of it. I swear it wasn't even that worse last year.

Fortunately, the person I have to do a routine with is in my team. I executed it without any problems, but still, it went better than I thought, even though I already knew the salt helps us float easier. However, most of the group completely forgot what to do and went through everything with so many problems, I literally facepalmed under the sea watching them trying to drown each other. Although the person I paired with forgot how to react to attacking victims from behind too, I was more than happy to teach him anyway. 

After everyone finished, we swam back to shore - I would be the first to surpass everyone and get to shore if one of the coaches hadn't told me to keep formation. Not that there was a formation anyway. I just swam back a little and went on. Come on, I want to win a race against a hundred people.

After gulping down what's probably a near-lethal amount of water back on land, I felt better. Everyone chatted, mostly about social media or how terrifying and difficult the course was, and of course, I didn't feel like joining them, so I just sat there to myself for half an hour, following my train of thought forward until it crashes. The second part of the course was the most interesting one, I looked forward to it. But then it started raining. The course was delayed for another half hour.

________________________________________________________________________________

Additional notes:

* Signals(commonly used in Taiwan, most likely will vary in different countries):

Take off cap and wave: Help

One arm raised: Go/Clear

Both arms raised/Whistle blown twice: Get out of the water/Come back

Both arms raised on boat: Danger

* Despite what everyone might think, being a beach lifeguard is in my opinion the worst position in the field. Again, it's not Baywatch. Conditions are much harsher, saving people becomes much more difficult and it doesn't pay higher than you'd think. Being a grand hotel lifeguard or a private coach pays even more than double.

* I should say that don't panic while accidentally finding yourself in a life-threatening situation out in the sea, but uh...

* Do not go far out if you don't know how to react to the worst given situation and do not get too confident with your ability against nature. Even marine soldiers get their lives taken away by the sea. 

One of the most experienced coaches from the association says he meets up to two or three cases every week in Taipei only, and he expects even more from the future as every school does absolutely no education on the subject. Except for poster contests, that is.