Baywatch on Panambur beach

And yet it was baywatch at the Panambur beach on Wednesday. The golden sands washed by the Arabian Sea bustled with lifeguards sending mock security alerts, and practising rescue missions sweating it out with their jet skis and inflatable rubber boats, even as bystanders stood agape.

The whole exercise was part of a 10-day training course organised by Panambur Beach Tourism Development (PBTD) in collaboration with Rashtriya Life Saving Society India (RLSSI) and Surf Life Saving Australia (SLSA) to create a league of professional lifeguards to keep tourists safe.

Speaking with Deccan Herald, Yatish Baikampady, CEO of Panambur Beach Tourism, said the advance training for lifeguards using jet skis and inflatable boats as a part of its rescue mission was the first of its kind in the country.

The training course that began on Monday has 14 participants from Chennai, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and an international participant from Iran.

Yatish Baikampady said he had signed an agreement with Admiral Purushotham Sharma from RLSSI and Sir Norm Former from Surf Life Saving Australia and as a result the maiden batch is getting trained with this course.

“The aim of the training is to reduce drowning rate in India. The participants will be trained in using rescue watercrafts like jet ski and inflatable rescue boats, giving advanced CPR (cardiopulmonary resusicitation) and using defibrillator along with other important skills necessary for saving lives,” says Surf Life Saying Australia Coastal Safety Service Manager Matt Thompson from Sydney.

“More people should become lifeguards, as it’s a rewarding career,” says RLSSI National Manager Operation Ankit Wagh. Baikampady says the training will help in securing jobs as lifeguards in beaches and swimming pools. About 37 lives have been saved along the Panambur Beach bay by PBTD after it took over in September 2009, he adds. There are plans to include schoolchildren in future and train them with first-aid and life-saving skills, he said.

Sarah Moosavi, a member of Life Saving Society in Iran and a participant of this course, is planning to dedicate her life in saving people. Though Iran is a Muslim country, women are in the forefront of such activities, she says, adding that with the training she could easily be hired as a lifeguard in a women’s swimming pool.