Thanks, Monty. See
Thanks, Monty. See you
OSHER GUNSBERG: On Bondi Rescue...
If you do go in the water, you'll be swimming at your own risk.
..a full-scale emergency after hours.
I was hoping not to have to paddle out and retrieve a body.
Chappo caught short.
He's pretty much fully drowning,
and the shed's locked, so I've just gotta swim out.
I've never seen so many nude people in my life!
And a nude awakening for Bagus.
I didn't tell anyone. Bagus! (LAUGHS)
And then I saw the buggy coming down.
And I was, like, "No way."
(LAUGHS)
SONG: # Take me back to the
# Sweet times, the hot nights
# Everything is gonna be alright
# In the summertime
# Baby, in the summertime
# That is where I'll be. #
Lifeguards are on patrol every day of the year.
In an average season, they can rescue as many as 1,000 swimmers.
Stay calm! You're alright.
Head up the beach, please,
and out of this area.
But rescues don't stick to a schedule.
Hope you all had a great day.
Lifeguards are packing up and will be going home soon.
Time to go home, is it?
That's it, eh?
We're about to go home. I turn around, I scan the beach.
And we see two guys in trouble.
A rescue after pack-up presents major problems.
I go downstairs and the shed's locked.
And I'm, like, "Haven't got time to unlock the shed. Gotta run."
I basically decided to run straight for him.
I could see him the whole way.
The guy's in the middle of the beach and he was in so much trouble.
He's pretty much fully drowning
by the time I get to the shoreline
and he's most probably still a good 75 metres away.
So that means I have to run over the sandbank,
and then I basically jump in the water and swim out.
But there's a second swimmer in trouble.
Chappo must make a tough decision.
And then I swim past one guy who was screaming at me.
I'm not put in that position very often.
When some young kid's screaming at you to save his life,
you've gotta back yourself to say,
the other guy's actually going under and drowning,
so I make that decision.
Backup is on the way as Noah re-opens the tower.
(SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY)
When you have to run 100 metres and then swim,
you get there and you're quite tired.
That was something I was thinking of the whole way.
Just gotta hold him up.
Noah heads for the swimmer closest to shore.
Chappo battles to keep his patient afloat.
The man is fully clothed.
The weight drags him down.
We're always aware of someone in a complete panic.
They call it 'climbing the ladder',
so if you're drowning, you're just, like...
..trying to keep your head above water,
making it dangerous for you to rescue him
and basically, can pull you under water.
So I kinda held him out away from me.
Noah pulls his patient onto the board.
Chappo has to swim his patient in.
Once he was calmed down, I was able to kind of turn him
and me lay on my back with him in front of me.
We found the sandbank and I just brought him in.
Swimming in a rip fully clothed after hours -
these men are lucky to be alive.
That was kind of as close to drowning as you can get,
especially with us going home, you know?
This is what we're scared of, and that was...that was so close.
It's not the usual procedure for us to go in without equipment,
but there was no other choice but to run down and go straight in.
Chappo was a hero on that afternoon
and saved that person's life.
Yeah, guys, lifeguards are heading home.
Go home, come back tomorrow, please.
Throughout the year, like, we do a lot of rescues
and, you know, they're not always that close.
So when you do one like that, it does...
You know, it kinda...
It doesn't rattle you, it's just, like, "Wow, that was just proper."
WHIPPET: Remember, if you do go in the water,
you'll be swimming at your own risk.
Some days you don't wanna leave
because it's still dangerous and there's still a lot of swimmers.
And, you know, it's hard to tell people to stop enjoying themselves.
As the day's shift finally ends,
lifeguards can now head home.
It was about 7:10
when we finally got out and locked up the tower.
And straight home and looking forward to having dinner
with the kids and the wife and some friends.
(RELAXED MUSIC)
Then Whippet gets an emergency call.
I got home and... 7:40, my phone rings.
It's a fellow lifeguard with news.
There's someone missing down at Bondi.
You know, the helicopter's on the way, the cops are on their way.
Living close to the beach, I thought it was just...
..my duty to kind of come back down and check what was going on.
Having been here all day and sitting on the rips
and knowing where the water was moving,
I knew I'd be an asset to the cops or the ambos.
(INDISTINCT RADIO CHATTER)
When Whippet gets back to the beach,
a major search is underway.
When I arrived...
You know, you're always gonna expect to see
some lights and sirens and stuff,
but there was the full artillery out there.
A man has been missing for more than two hours.
He was last seen in the water.
He's travelled from Vietnam with his wife
to visit his son and daughter.
It's his first time at Bondi.
(TENSE MUSIC)
Whippet's assessment is grim.
After looking at his clothes on the ground,
no-one's gonna leave the beach without their stuff intentionally.
And they're sitting right in front of the worst rip.
I was ready to get in the water
and, if I had to, go and retrieve a body.
(HELICOPTER WHIRRS) (SIREN WAILS)
8pm. A major search-and-rescue operation is underway.
A tourist from Vietnam has been missing for two hours.
He was last seen in the water.
Lifeguards are off duty,
but Whippet has been called back in to help.
I came down and introduced myself to the police
and the ambulance that were down on the beach
and explained that I'd, you know, just left
working here for 13 hours.
Knowing how the water was moving, I was helping guide the helicopter
around the bay, saying, "This is how I think the water would move,"
and if it was a floating body, then where it potentially might be.
The man's wife and daughter help police circulate a description.
Off-duty lifeguard Mitch also joins the search.
I relayed the description through the radio up to Mitch
so he could put the binoculars out and see if...
You know, the rips can take people all over this beach,
and see if he was anywhere else.
The man's clothes remain untouched
in front of Bondi's worst rip.
Daylight - and hope -
are rapidly fading.
When you think you've lost someone,
for that long,
you're probably gonna find, you know, a body.
And for their family, that would have been so traumatic.
It all started to point towards a bad outcome.
Missing man Nuey van Hyn,
doesn't speak English,
but his daughter, Thay, does.
Whippet comes up with a plan.
I said, "Go up and use our P.A. system
"and try and speak to him in Vietnamese."
(CRACKLES)
(WOMAN SPEAKS VIETNAMESE)
Thay's father Nuey has now been missing for almost three hours.
As light fades, the search may soon be called off.
I was on the beach, you know, obviously
hoping not to have to paddle out and retrieve a body,
but kinda ready to go,
and then the next call that came through the police radio
"Oh, we haven't seen a person,
"but there's a good-size, 12-foot-or-so, shark, in The Boot."
Like, it was literally just off the 'Bergs.
So obviously my concerns were high.
You never wanna think that someone's gone until you find 'em.
So, yeah, it was... It was stressful.
(RADIO CHIRPS)
(INDISTINCT RADIO CHATTER)
..Vietnamese...
He's got black board... (CONTINUES INDISTINCTLY)
Mitch radioed me and said, "Mate, someone's come to the tower."
I said, "I'm not taking the family up in case it's NOT him.
"They'll be devastated."
You've gotta be very careful
with the family, not to give them hope that isn't warranted.
(TENSE MUSIC)
And I've raced up in the buggy and this guy had a singlet on.
He had no shirt on in the photo,
so maybe it's not him.
(WOMEN WAIL)
We've got him. It's gonna be all good.
I knew we had him.
And, you know, your heart rate drops instantly
and it's like a big weight off your shoulders.
It's a huge relief when it works out for the best.
(BRIGHT MUSIC)
Thank you!
My mother was, like, "Yes, it's him. It's him."
Luckily, we found our dad.
It could be different if something bad happened.
She was so happy to see him.
She was, like, "Where have you been?"
And he didn't expect the helicopters was looking for him.
Like, the immediate reaction of the family
is just pure relief and joy, I guess,
and happiness that he's been found.
But it also quickly kinda turns to, like,
"Where have you been?"
My mother was, like,
fighting him,
"We were waiting here for three hours!
"Where the hell are you going?" (LAUGHS)
Thay's mum was, um... Yeah, she was letting him have it.
Yeah, I think Thay's dad's in the bad books for a little while.
I just feel...thank God he's back.
Thank God, like...
..we finally can see him again.
Yeah.
(WARM MUSIC)
A week after her father was found,
Thay returns to Bondi.
Her parents are back home in Vietnam.
But what happened the night her father went missing?
When I came back here, I saw the beach
and it's still the beach, but for me, it's, like,
unforgettable memory for me
and for my family as well.
Hello! Hello!
Hi, how are you? Good!
Good to see you. Yeah, bit less stressful today, huh?
(LAUGHS) Yeah.
How's your dad? He's good?
Yeah, everything back to normal. Where was he?
He was, like, around the park to the McDonald's.
He went to McDonald's?
Yeah.
Like, he said that he heard me, like, speaking...
Oh, on the speaker, yeah. He heard his name.
I so appreciate... No, that's alright.
No worries. That's... that's what we're here for.
I'm glad, in the end, that he was safe.
Yeah, I appreciate.
Hopefully your mum gave him a smack
for being naughty and disappearing on everyone, huh?
(LAUGHS)
Remember, next time your dad comes, tell him to swim between the flags.
Alright? (LAUGHS) See ya later.
Bye-bye. Bye-bye.
Thay's dad went to McDonald's.
Like, there's police and ambulances and jet skis
and everything looking for you, mate,
and you didn't even bring us back a cheeseburger.
An hour before dawn.
A frigid wind.
Still hours before lifeguards begin their patrol at Bondi.
But 2,500 people
are already on the sand
Somewhere among them is Bagus.
I just think that life's all about experiences and memories.
It's something I've never done before.
It was so outside anything I'd done.
So I just knew, "If I do this, I will never forget it."
MAN ON MEGAPHONE: Thank you for coming!
(CROWD CHEERS)
The man on the megaphone
is world-renowned photographer Spencer Tunick.
What he's about to ask the crowd to do
will create history.
(BAGUS LAUGHS) It was cold.
This sun better come up and this wind better drop,
because right now, this is not gonna... (LAUGHS) ..be pretty.
(PLAYFUL MUSIC)
WOMAN ON MEGAPHONE:
One, two, three. Let's go!
(CROWD CHEERS)
(SIREN WAILS OVER MEGAPHONE)
It was sorta like a siren. "Alright, get 'em off."
And then everyone's nude.
And to me, that was the most shocking bit.
One minute you're clothed, and then everyone's nude.
Tunick, famously, takes photos of naked people in iconic places
around the world.
This is his latest art work.
I had seen Spencer's work before.
I knew his name. I'd seen them in, um...all over the place.
Iceland and New York and...the Opera House.
Yeah, as soon as I saw it in Sydney again,
I thought, "Yeah, this is my time."
For the first time, the local council is allowing full nudity
on Bondi Beach -
for two hours only.
(CROWD CHEERS)
Oh, you gotta look. Like, you're looking. Respectfully.
I'm sure they're looking back.
I just couldn't believe the different shapes and sizes
I saw that day
and it was really inspiring, really, because no-one gave a shit.
But Tunick's models are getting nude for more than art.
MAN OVER MEGAPHONE: Alright, everyone!
(CONTINUES INDISTINCTLY)
The 2,500 people
represent the same number of Australians
who die every year from skin cancer.
You could tell there were big groups of family members
that I think may have been affected by skin cancer.
The charity itself
was from a friend that passed away from melanoma, Wes Bonny.
I was only with him a month before he passed.
He was a young bloke. Melanoma got him.
And I was just so shocked
and I was really inspired to be a part of it for that reason as well.
That's good, that's good!
We were basically facing out to the ocean
as the sun was rising.
You had to be really still.
We did also a laying-down one on our side,
which was quite awkward.
(SPENCER SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY OVER MEGAPHONE)
When the sun was out of the clouds and we were just all facing the sun,
it was really awesome.
The lifeguard shift begins during the shoot
and all eyes are on...the water.
God, yeah. There's a few up there, huh?
That's so funny.
Lots of nude people.
Lots and lots of nude people.
(LAUGHS)
Bagus was hoping to keep a low profile.
I didn't tell anyone. No-one knew.
I didn't wanna actually get nude next to my friends.
The shower's enough at the end of the shift.
Sort of once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing.
We'll probably never see this again.
One, two, three.
With the main shoot done,
80 skin cancer survivors
are asked to pose alone.
My experience is a basal cell skin cancer on my face.
Lived at the beach all my life
and it actually came back to bite me.
(ALL SCREAM)
If they all went in swimming right now, it'd be catastrophic.
Imagine them all out there.
The shoot finished and a lot of people went for a swim.
That's always nice, to go for a skinny dip.
Heya. Whoop!
Everything was jiggling. It was definitely a scene I won't forget.
We've done it, we've done it!
So I was driving through the crowd.
And then...I can't believe my eyes.
Hang on, I know that backside.
No, it can't be.
Is it...
2,500 people
are baring all for a history-making photo shoot.
Among them, Bondi lifeguard Bagus.
Alright, all put your hands down!
I've never seen so many nude people in my life.
(LAUGHS)
Bagus was hoping to stay undercover.
I didn't tell anyone.
And then I saw the buggy coming down
and I was, like, "No way."
They've started, obviously. It's past 6:00.
And I just was quite liberated by then. There was no inhibitions.
Hang on, I know that backside. Is it...
No, it can't be. It is!
There's Bagus. There's Bagus!
There he is. Bagus!
No way.
(LAUGHS) They're on me!
Bagus! (LAUGHS)
How good! We found him.
(LAUGHS)
Oh, we hear Bagus is up there in the nude at the moment.
(LAUGHS)
Here he comes.
How was it? Yeah, it was good!
It's exciting. What time did you get here?
At the start...
..gear off, it's just, like, "Whoa!"
And then it's kinda like... Whatever?
Yeah, it's just... You're just on.
I like the idea of the art work.
When they said Bondi Beach, I was, like, "Oh, God."
I was hoping it was some obscure harbour beach.
And... Yeah.
But I didn't really see anyone I knew.
So that was...that was good.
Something different, that's for sure!
Go have a shower! (LAUGHS)
I just love that Bagus was in that. I know.
There had to be one of us. Doesn't surprise me. "Oh, yeah."
It is for a good cause.
I definitely take my hat off to Bagus for doing it.
He's actually got some balls.
Um... (LAUGHS)
Alright, guys!
OSHER: Next time...
I'm gonna take you up to the tower.
..carnage on New Year's Day.
This guy is the drunkest I've seen.
(HORN TOOTS) And...
Move! ..a baby not breathing.
I've got this baby in front of me. Everything was that moment.
Captions by Red Bee Media