Gold Coast lifeguards to work on the beaches in Japan on exchange program

You might think lifeguards on the Glitter Strip have their work cut out for them patrolling some of Queensland’s busiest beaches. But it’s nothing compared to the beaches they will patrol in Japan.

YOU might think lifeguards on the Glitter Strip have their work cut out for them patrolling some of Queensland’s busiest beaches.

But two Gold Coast City lifeguards will really put their skills to the test when they spend a week watching over manic crowds on the scorching dark sands in Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan.

Main Beach guard Luke Ingwersen and Narrowneck guard David Orchard said the beaches will not only be much busier than they’re used to — many of those taking to the water in the Japanese summer will not be particularly strong swimmers.

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Gold Coast lifeguards David Orchard and Luke Ingwersen will be visiting Japan for a week to teach Japanese lifeguards. Picture: Jerad Williams

NEW LIFEGUARD FOR THE SPIT

Mr Ingwersen and Mr Orchard will jet off on Friday to spend a week with Japanese lifeguards as part of the long-running Lifeguard Exchange Program, an element of the Gold Coast’s “friendship (sister city) agreement” with Kanagawa.

“I went six years ago and it was awesome. They have really big crowds and sometimes the Japanese aren’t as good at swimming as most Australians,” Mr Ingwersen said.

“In Japan, their attention to detail is incredible. They’re very polite, they’re very structured in their set up and last time I learnt a lot from how professional they are the whole time.

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Gold Coast lifeguards Luke Ingwersen and David Orchard at Narrowneck Beach ahead of their trip to Japan on Friday. Picture: Jerad Williams

COAST BEACH AMONG BEST IN QUEENSLAND

“They wouldn’t sit down for their whole shift.”

Mr Ingwersen said the crowds struck him during his last visit: “It was just incredibly busy everyday”.

“You didn’t want to blink. There was just a lot going on,” he said.

“We see some pretty big crowds here, but there — next level. Summer time here, you know how many people get to the beach. You can’t get a car park.

“But there you couldn’t actually see any sand for as far as you could see.”

Mr Orchard said he last visited Japan four decades ago “to represent Queensland in surfing”.

He said lifesaving in Japan has improved monumentally since then.

“I found out later on when we came home (that) four people drowned,” he said.

“There wasn’t any lifeguards, no life savers back then. It was the real early days of life saving and lifeguarding and that was bad.”

The exchange aims to prevent similar drownings on the beaches of the sister cities.

It upskills lifeguards and allows training in diverse environments and has been run annually from 1995 to 2010 and biennially since 2010.

Eight lifeguard groups from Kanagawa have taken part since the program started in 1995.