The Sea Is My Workshop: Memoirs of a Life Guard

The moment you open this book, you enter a curious and little-known world—a narrow world formed by the line that divides the land and the water, a narrow world limited to the vision of each Life Guard as he sits high in his tower and watches minutely his own rescue area, a narrow world where people congregate and bring their pleasure close to danger and death. The author describes not only his own experiences but those of his fellow-Life Guards: and the book is rich in anecdote, sea reporting, and commentary upon vagaries, the strangenesses, and the illogicalities of the rescued. The Life Guard knows things about human nature that nobody else knows—and also about animal nature, for dogs and horses also are among the saved. In addition, the book contains a dramatic and vivid account of the preparation necessary to become a professional Life Guard—the long hours of grueling swimming, the strict training rules in regard to diet and sleep, the fierce speed and endurance tests, and all the special detailed technique of teamwork, when two guards work together as one. Frank E. Walton, Jr., was one of the crack Life Guards on the Pacific Coast. Seemingly, this is the first book to set forth the experiences of those men who are trained to save life in the water.