First Survival Narrative
My First Rescue When I was young, there wasn't really much say in the fact that most of my childhood years would be already planned out. How I would be swimming from age 6, just as my brother before me, my mom before him, and my grandfather, being a competitive swim coach. What else was set up for me, was my life on the beach patrol. Since my dad has sat more lifeguard towers then sand granules on the beach and my mom for five years, it was just about set in stone for my first job. Everyone knew my name. I was "one of the Petersohns" or "the little Petersohn". So my first day of recruit class, for me, was a walk in the park. We did things that I've been doing for ever, swimming wise and beach wise. I shined among the other recruits,
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I saw the rip current open up a few times that day, but by the time it rolled around noon, it was pulling more because the water was going out for low tide. When I saw the raft, I never really put two and two together until the raft got in the rip current. Two kids and their dad were rapidly moving out to sea. I reacted just like we were taught in class; dropping my flag and calling in on the radio. I leaped from my tower to the sand, grabbed my buoy and sprinted down the beach. I did a perry angle and took off into the water, throwing my buoy to the side as I got knee deep in the surf. I porpoise dove through the shallow water, came up and sprinted out to my victims, keeping a close eye on them as I did. By the time I got to them, the dad had abandoned his kids and swam in saving himself. The kids had jumped out of the raft, which was now upside down and proceeded to try swimming the raft in. I told them I was a lifeguard and here to help. The girl, about my age, looked at me as if I were crazy and told me they didn't need any help. I looked at her younger brother, who was tired and panting, and I asked if he was okay. He desperately told me, gasping for a breath, that he needed help. I wouldn't have been able to bring both victims and the raft in, while fighting a rip current. So I firmly grabbed the rope on the raft, with each of them holding, and started to kick. I soon realized I was getting nowhere and still drifting out to sea. Panicking, I scanned the beach for back up. When the lifeguard truck pulled up, I let out a sigh of relief. There were about 5 guards who came hustling out of the truck with buoys to come and back me up. When they reached me, it took some pulling to get everyone in safely raft
I saw the rip current open up a few times that day, but by the time it rolled around noon, it was pulling more because the water was going out for low tide. When I saw the raft, I never really put two and two together until the raft got in the rip current. Two kids and their dad were rapidly moving out to sea. I reacted just like we were taught in class; dropping my flag and calling in on the radio. I leaped from my tower to the sand, grabbed my buoy and sprinted down the beach. I did a perry angle and took off into the water, throwing my buoy to the side as I got knee deep in the surf. I porpoise dove through the shallow water, came up and sprinted out to my victims, keeping a close eye on them as I did. By the time I got to them, the dad had abandoned his kids and swam in saving himself. The kids had jumped out of the raft, which was now upside down and proceeded to try swimming the raft in. I told them I was a lifeguard and here to help. The girl, about my age, looked at me as if I were crazy and told me they didn't need any help. I looked at her younger brother, who was tired and panting, and I asked if he was okay. He desperately told me, gasping for a breath, that he needed help. I wouldn't have been able to bring both victims and the raft in, while fighting a rip current. So I firmly grabbed the rope on the raft, with each of them holding, and started to kick. I soon realized I was getting nowhere and still drifting out to sea. Panicking, I scanned the beach for back up. When the lifeguard truck pulled up, I let out a sigh of relief. There were about 5 guards who came hustling out of the truck with buoys to come and back me up. When they reached me, it took some pulling to get everyone in safely raft