MALIBU BAYWATCH LIFEGUARDS KEEP SWIMMERS SAFE AT REGION'S MOST DANGEROUS BEACHES.

Byline: DANA BARTHOLOMEW Staff Writer

MALIBU -- A riptide roils off Zuma Beach as a boy cries for help before a thundering ocean south swell.

A tower lifeguard leaps through the surf. And just past the breakers, Baywatch Malibu roars into action.

``Hey, hey, hey, this guy needs help -- he's waving his arms,'' says Tom Barnett, a county lifeguard aboard the famous Baywatch boat, before piercing the waves to reach the lad with a floating red ``can.''

In less than a minute, lifeguards hoist the boy through the stern of Baywatch Malibu. And in less time than the boy can say ``thanks,'' he is whisked to safer waters.

At the height of the heat wave at the height of summer, Los Angeles county lifeguards save dozens of swimmers each day at the region's most dangerous beach.

And beyond the surfline hovers Baywatch Malibu -- the most famous lifeguard patrol on the planet and the last buffer against lethal riptides.

``We've been insane busy, nonstop for the past week,'' veteran Capt. Bill Robinson, head of Malibu lifeguard operations and skipper of Baywatch Malibu, said last week. ``It's crazy.

``The happiest thing for us is that, at the end of the day, everyone goes home safely. It sounds corny, but it's true. We want everyone to go home safely.''

The real Baywatch Malibu is anything but the buxom hijinks of the late TV ``Baywatch.''

Nine Baywatch rescue boats, employed by the world's largest and most highly trained lifeguard service, ply 72 miles of California coast out to Catalina Island, rescuing swimmers, divers, fishermen, downed pilots and foundering vessels. When needed, they search for drowning victims.

Working with beach-based lifeguard towers, each Baywatch boat is equipped to fight fires, rescue watercraft and provide a range of medical care.

Of the 43 million beachgoers in 2005, the Los Angeles County Fire Department Lifeguard Division -- including 120 full-time lifeguards and 700 auxiliary summer hires -- rescued 7,000 swimmers, prevented 721,000 water mishaps and provided 22,000 medical assists.

Baywatch crews, two lifeguards to a boat, rescued 1,600 swimmers, prevented nearly 5,000 water mishaps and saved an estimated $50 million worth of boats from sinking.

Only one swimmer drowned -- when lifeguards were off duty.

On a recent day last week, no one came close.

``We've got a blitz at Tower 10 -- we need to rip!'' said Robinson, gunning twin 300-horsepower Cummins diesels as Baywatch Malibu raced at 32 knots to back up lifeguards scooping seven swimmers from a rip current.

On a light day at Zuma last week, lifeguards rescued swimmers at an average rate of one every 10 minutes. On their worst day, lifeguards at Zuma rescued 437 swimmers -- after which they lost count.

Earlier in the day, Robinson and Barnett had readied their 32-foot cruiser from the base of Malibu Pier.

Robinson, a 34-year lifeguard veteran with bright blue eyes and a leathery skipper's tan, is considered one of the fleet's finest watermen.

The 52-year-old diver, surfer and marathon runner was awarded the lifeguard Medal of Valor in 1994 for paddling 1 1/2 miles off Malibu in 60 mph winds to rescue a swimmer who'd become separated from his kayak.

Now he marvels at the catamaran sailor who went overboard this month two miles from the beach, only to watch his boat sail out of sight at the hands of an unskilled and inept crew.

``We were soooo lucky to get that guy,'' said Robinson. ``Normally, a man overboard like that is a goner. It's that kind of (rescue) that makes my day.''

His deckhand, Barnett, prepares each medical, safety and rescue device as if lives depend on it -- and they do. Even the engine gets the white-glove lookover.

The 53-year-old ocean lifeguard specialist, father of two young boys, trains master swimmers and hardens his fingers playing classical guitar.

Barnett dreamed of becoming a county lifeguard since his dad, an experienced scuba diver, drove him from Van Nuys to Zuma Beach and pointed out lifeguards as ``real watermen.''

``As a boy, I thought it was something I would never be able to do,'' said Barnett, who has tattooed ``ZUMA'' between his shoulder blades.

But the Taft High School graduate trained and trained. Ultra-lean, and sensitive to the cold, he forced himself to bear 50-degree water. He became a state lifeguard, then passed the rigorous county lifeguard test.

Then he waited years to get aboard a Baywatch boat.

``I was scared to death, very nervous, of failure,'' he said of his early lifeguard experience. ``I didn't want anyone drowning in my water.

``Nobody drowns in my water. If you care, you're nervous. Nobody drowned in my water.''

Both men pilot their green-and-white Baywatch cruiser from Malibu to Zuma, 11 miles up the coast, for a 10-hour shift without breaks.

They motor past the backs of surfers at famous Surfrider Beach, where strong Santa Ana winds can quickly blow windsurfers out to sea.

Past Cher's Venetian-Gothic mansion, gleaming above zillion-dollar Malibu beach homes. Past seagulls and seals and back-flipping porpoises.

Past where they once shadowed Tipper Gore, kayaking along Corral Beach, in the company of dour Secret Service men.

And around Point Dume, where rocks have trapped fishermen at high tide and pinnacle shoals have been the bane of many a boat and diver.

``We got a call for 15 divers in distress. I said `15 divers, c'mon!','' said Robinson, squinting at the current swirling past the point. ``When we got out here, they're spread all over the ocean -- they were a beginning dive class.''

He's rescued deer, spooked into the sea on swims to who-knows-where. He's rescued pilots, or recovered what was left of them. During one Malibu fire, he rescued a man who ran into the ocean clutching a suitcase.

During his Baywatch Malibu shift, his rescue boat rumbles off Zuma Beach, where dozens of buses unload day-camp kids, many of whom flock to the waves at Tower 7 -- site of some of the worst rip currents.

The muddy brown currents, acting like tentacles jutting through the surf, can quickly pull swimmers or boogie boarders into deep and dangerous waters.

From the beach, dozens of lifeguards act like shepherds shooing swimmers away from the rips.

From Baywatch hundreds of yards offshore, Robinson and Barnett scrutinize the lifeguards, as well as swimmers, for telltale signs of trouble.

In recent years, they say, beachgoers -- many of them immigrants -- have not been taught to swim.

See that kid floating beside his orange boogie board? Barnett asks.

``If there's a rip, there's a problem.''

See that boy hanging onto someone else's boogie board? A potential problem, he says.

That gaggle of smiling teens just inside the rip? Another problem. That kid doing a sidestroke in water over his head? A definite problem.

Lifeguards say they wish to enact any rescues before they see signs of distress: Bodies in the water, too tired to wave.

Elbows dragging, too weary to freestyle above the waves.

Swimmers staring at the beach, their backs to the surf as it crashes above their heads.

Mouths puckered into ``fish lips'' -- last gasps before going under.

``We want to be there before they're in trouble, or have that look,'' Barnett says. ``It's amazing. Some people just give up -- no fight at all.

``I saw one guy, his eyes just rolled into the back of his head, and he went down.''

For lifeguards, personal hazards include searing sun that leads to skin cancer. Bobbing boats that lead to back problems. Weekend shifts of 22 hours that lead to fatigue. Or holes dug into the sand that lead to headlong falls.

Robinson, during one rescue, tripped on a hole, toppled onto the sand, sprained his ankle, then rose to complete the rescue.

``One of my scariest rescues was a 300-pound man,'' said Nikki Hudson, a diminutive lifeguard and Lifeguard Division spokeswoman who swims out to greet the boat. ``He refused to grab onto my rescue can.

``He grabbed onto me.''

As the day wears on, bodies become a blur along the beach.

Rescue after rescue, ``prevent'' after ``prevent,'' lifeguards pull locals and tourists from or away from the treacherous summer rip currents.

During one lifeguard ``blitz,'' six guards save nine swimmers at once.

To complete the rescue, Robinson stands, his back to the helm, as he feathers two sets of throttles to back Baywatch Malibu toward the edge of the crashing surf.

``Go ahead, Tom,'' he says.

Barnett, his broad back glistening, flies from the stern like Superman across the waves.

Two grateful teens, not knowing quite what hit them, find themselves dripping inside a seatless Baywatch boat.

``We were pulled, then we started laughing,'' said Judith Morales, 16, of Mexico, sitting next to Marina Riesco of Spain. ``I didn't think we were too deep.

``Then I said, `Oh my God.'''

For the returning Baywatch Malibu, weary at the end of dozens of rescues, it's all in a day's work. And nothing at all like Hollywood.

``You'd never see a man and woman in lifeguard uniforms, with their backs to the water, making out in their tower,'' Barnett says. ``You'd get fired for that.

``I was like, `What the hell are they thinking?'''

Robinson, still jubilant to be on the water after 34 years, says, ``Yes, we're at the beach, I love it, this is my job. How did I get picked to do this?''

For lifeguards and swimmers alike, he says, ``this is the best part of the day -- going home.''

dana.bartholomew(at)dailynews.com

[phone]

Water safety tips

Wear appropriate swimwear and swim near an open lifeguard tower.

Ask a lifeguard where it is safe to swim.

If in trouble, stay calm and signal for help.

If caught in a rip current, swim parallel to the beach until the current subsides.

If being rescued, always reach for the red can, not the lifeguard.

For more tips and information on the Los Angeles County Lifeguard Service, visit www.lacofd.org/

Lifeguards/Lifeguards.asp

Source: Los Angeles County lifeguards

CAPTION(S):

4 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- color) L.A. County lifeguards swim out to help two teenagers caught in the riptide at Zuma Beach in Malibu on Friday. The pair rested on the lifeguard boat before heading back into the water and swimming safely to shore.

(2 -- color) An injured 17-year-old is taken away by Los Angeles County Lifeguards at Zuma Beach in Malibu on Friday. The teen injured his shoulder while skim boarding. As a heat wave has gripped the Southland, area lifeguards have been saving dozens of swimmers every day from the sometimes dangerous waters.

Tina Burch/Staff Photographer

(3 -- color) Baywatch Malibu lifeguard Tom Barnett tows a swimmer caught in a riptide back to the lifeguard boat at Zuma Beach on Thursday.

(4 -- color) Ocean lifeguard specialist Tom Barnett dives off the Baywatch Malibu lifeguard boat to rescue a swimmer caught in a riptide at Zuma Beach in Malibu on Friday. The hot weather has drawn scores of people to the beach, putting lifeguards on heightened alert.

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer

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Water safety tips (see text)