Day in the life: Different strokes for Yas Waterworld lifeguard

Yas Waterworld lifeguard Bir Tamang competed for the Nepalese national swimming team before taking up his current career.

Bir Tamang, a Nepalese lifeguard at Yas WaterWorld, has been in the UAE for almost seven years. Razan Alzayani for The National

Many would be jealous of Bir Tamang’s job. A lifeguard at Yas Waterworld, he gets to ride on its slides, rides and attractions regularly. The park is part of a growing industry in the UAE. Revenues at UAE theme parks are predicted to rise by 78 per cent to US$837 million in 2019 from $470m this year, according to a report last month by Euromonitor International.

And crowds at Yas Waterworld are certainly increasing. Opening in 2012, the 15-hectare water park can welcome up to 7,000 visitors.

Feeding all those visitors is no mean feat, either. In the first two weeks of last month, the park sold 1,030 kilograms of fresh fruit, 404 fresh juices, 1,671 burgers, 1,545 pizzas, 154 salads, 4,419 French fries, 267 smoothies and 4,215 bottles of water.

The park has almost 150 lifeguards and at any time there are 75 on duty sitting in more than 50 positions throughout the park. Mr Tamang, 31, from Nepal, reveals his typical day at work.

5.30am

I wake up early if I am on the morning shift. I prefer this shift because I am free after 3pm. Back home in Nepal I was a swimmer. I swam for the national team. I stopped swimming when I was 19 and then got a lifeguard job. In our country it is hard to find a job. I have been in the UAE for almost seven years. I was working in Al Ain before. In 2010 I finished my contract and I started at the Yas Viceroy hotel. I worked there for one year then I got married and went back home. I stayed one year at home and then I found an opportunity with this company. When I started, Yas Waterworld had not opened yet and there was nothing here. We trained for almost five months at Ferrari World. We did skill training for lifeguards, swimming and running. It was good exercise.

6.15am

I start work. We have breakfast and then clean the whole park. My team leader does a walk- through first to check for damage then we test all the rides. I like Liwa Loop, Dawwama and Falcon’s Falaj. I go on the rides a lot. I sometimes come on my days off because I take my friends. Our company gives us tickets for our friends and family. We have to pay Dh50 only. If I go inside with them, my friends can get a 50 per cent discount.

9.30am

We have a briefing half an hour before the park opens and the team leader will give out all the positions, ie where we have to go.

10am

We go to all our positions and the team leaders asks if we are ready. Once we are, they will let the guests enter. We don’t want to take any risks. We don’t have big accidents, but you do have to do some rescues sometimes to prevent kids drowning. We pick them out of the water immediately. We can see which kids are swimming and those that aren’t. Because we have almost 150 lifeguards here, we have different rotations. We have different sitting positions and we move every 30 minutes so we don’t get bored. Every two hours, once we’ve finished five positions, we have a break. The positions change every day. I particularly like working at the wave pool.

11.30am

I have lunch in the restroom. We have 75 lifeguards on at one time. There are a lot of positions, around 53. We have a shallow lifeguard and a special lifeguard. They are more highly trained.

12.30pm

I start the next rotation; once I finish five positions then I am finished, khalas. We don’t get bored because we move often.

3pm

I am finished for the day. I go home and have a shower. I either go out to the city, because we have a company bus that goes there, or I just relax at home. If I go into the city, I’ll come back home around 5pm.

9pm

I go to sleep. We get a lot of sun and it is very hot also so you get tired. But I like the sun.

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