I had an interesting perspective of the one at Jay. I did my refresher there a few years back and the patrol was responsible for any injuries in the water park– there were actually a lot. Many back injuries with that surfing wave contraption that middle aged men (that’s what they told me) would try to “surf” and get blasted into the back wall by the force of the water, leading to a backboard situation. The patrollers would have to come off of the hill and then either change boots or move around a wet, warm area in ski boots that could lead to slips and fall type injuries. Not to mention it’s blasted hot in there so they’d be in cold weather gear as well. They also had to deal with the more gravitationally enhanced patrons getting stuck in the tubes and the less enhanced not having enough weight to make it through some of them.
All in all, it was a big lesson in unintended liability. The lifeguards did not have/were required to have the training needed to do backboards effectively. Not sure what the situation is now, but it was eye opening.
Also,– they told me there was always E. Coli in the water.
