The dramatic rescues of five swimmers within the space of 20 minutes at Horseshoe Bay as giant waves and sea swell created by distant Hurricane Helene crashed ashore this summer made news headlines.

One day was particularly busy for the three lifeguards and a park ranger watching over bathers and swimmers at the beach as a total of 40 people needed to be pulled to safety from the waves.

And the next day they were kept almost as busy with 15 rescues recorded by 2 p.m. mostly due to a deep channel gouged in the beach near the rocks at the western end becoming a funnel for rip currents.

But both days pale to the 120 rescued over three days when dangerous currents menaced the South Shore two years ago.

Lifeguard Alastair Jack, 22, who has been patrolling the beaches for four years, remembers that occasion.

It was late summer and other parts of the Caribbean had been taking a pounding during the hurricane season.

Bermuda was experiencing higher than usual seas and rougher surf and Horseshoe Bay was the only lifeguard-patrolled beach that remained open.

“I was on water patrol with two other end-of-season lifeguards and we were walking up and down telling people about the rip currents. There was an old guy about ten yards out who needed help,” said Mr. Jack.

The man was “doing the ladder” — one of the phrases used by lifeguards to describe the often panicky actions of swimmers and people in trouble as they try to scramble on the beach back towards shore against strong currents.

Mr. Jack was carrying a “can” — a plastic, torpedo shaped float used by lifeguards as a buoyancy aid in rescues, and famously seen in the hands of the lifeguards running along the beaches in the TV show Baywatch.

“I went out to the guy and pinned him to my can. He was a big guy and he was panicking. He was swallowing a lot of water,” Mr. Jack explained. The strength of the rip current was dragging both men further from the shore and they were soon 200 yards out.

Another of the lifeguards had spotted the difficulties and swam out to assist, trading her “can” with Mr. Jack and leading the swim back to shore.

But a rip current again dragged at the two lifeguards and the man they were rescuing.

Mr. Jack was swallowing a lot of water and knew he was getting dangerously close to drowning.

“Then the third lifeguard came out, so all three of us were involved. It took 35 minutes in total to get the man out of the water and that was the first rescue of the day,” he explained.

The dangerous rip currents soon created havoc and led to a soon created havoc and led to a further 119 rescues over three days.

“It was almost the same as this week when it took us 20 minutes to pull a woman from the water and that was the first of the 40 rescues.”

To be a lifeguard you need to be exceptionally fit and trained in first aid, CPR and rescue techniques.

Before the start of each season the lifeguards are put through their paces.

The week-long course includes a requirement to complete circuits of beach runs and 500-metre open sea swims within a given time, how to use the “cans” and “tubes” for pulling people back ashore, and administering First Aid.

How to deal with a person in trouble when they are uncompliant and unconscious is also part of the training.

The training course must be retaken each year to ensure lifeguards are up to scratch and prepared for the season ahead.

Horseshoe Bay is the first beach to officially open each year on May 1.

During the course of the season lifeguards typically rescue between five and ten people per week.

People requiring First Aid for cuts, or body surfers who have been slammed into the beach and dislocated a shoulder are among the more common incidents the lifeguards are called upon to deal with.

But the appearance of rip currents is the biggest concern. Fellow lifeguard Jay William Rewalt, 32, explained: “We have flash currents here. You can be standing in waist-deep water and feel something pulling at you and the sand around your feet. Then if you lose your footing you can be swept 150 yards out to sea in seconds.”

The automatic reaction is to swim directly back to shore, but swimming against a rip current is futile and exhausting.

The wisest move is to swim parallel to the beach to get away from the rip current and then swim ashore.

Mr. Rewalt is in his second year as a lifeguard. He is part of the Bermuda Skeleton racing team with Patrick Singleton.

Being a lifeguard allows him to stay fit and active through the summer months.

At the end of June he was looking out from the watchtower on the beach when he spotted a snorkeller in difficulties at Fraggle Rock.

“He had a fin trapped in the rocks and the tide was going out but waves were coming in. The guy only had a second of time to breathe before he was submerged again,” said Mr. Rewalt.

Fraggle Rock lies about 200 yards offshore and is one of the farthest points lifeguards are normally called out to carry out a rescue.

Along with a colleague Mr. Rewalt swam out to the trapped snorkeller and managed to pull him free.

“Afterwards the guy said he only had ten or 15 seconds left before he went under for good when we got to him. He was very thankful and that made us feel good about what we do.”

The camaraderie among the lifeguards is another reason why Mr. Rewalt and the others enjoy being on patrol through the summer months from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day.

“It is reassuring to know there are people here on the tower who are right behind you.”

Richard Collis, 19, is in his first year. He is following in the footsteps of his brother, and he was in the thick of the drama this summer helping to rescue a husband and wife who were the first of the 40 rescues that took place on Wednesday.

He went to help the husband in difficulties near Fraggle Rock and as he was doing so another man was swept out by the same current.

That’s when the other members of the team sprang into action.

Mr. Jack said: “A rip current is the water trying to find its own level. When the tide changes that is when you have the most rescues — low tides and rip currents going out.

“Once you have learned to spot a rip current from shore you keep a lookout for people near to it because you know those are the ones most likely to get into trouble.”

Many of the lifeguards are among the strongest competitive swimmers on the Island, something that Mr. Jack, who was a late learner as a swimmer, finds reassuring to have as back-up should he be out in the water with a difficult rescue.

He added: “You need the backup at the tower. A rescue is never about just one person. It involves everybody on the watchtower.”

New York State residents Justin Schmigel and Bianca Gaetano, on the Island for their honeymoon, were among those who witnessed some of the 40 rescues last Wednesday.

Mr. Schmigel helped an eight-year-old girl out of the water himself and said: “What the lifeguards did was awesome. I’d not seen waves like that before.”