But there is not much call to use it, as the weather keeps the swimmers away from the beaches in what some are calling the quietest year on the sand since 1990.
Rain, low temperatures, wind and minimal surf have kept people away from the beaches over the past few weeks and kept paid guards at St Kilda, St Clair, Brighton and Warrington beaches on the lookout for any chance to do their job.
Senior St Kilda surf lifeguard Stefhan Brown called the summer "atrocious" and said the water was cold and the swell was almost non-existent, which kept all but the passionate surfers away.
"There is just no-one around. It's the worst summer I know of, and I've been doing this for 20 years."
Guards still kept a close eye on things, but when no-one was on the beach they were maintaining equipment, cleaning and maintaining the clubhouse and doing some training.
Head guard Sam Kinraid said there had been no major incidents or searches at St Kilda over the period, "just a few warnings".
Brighton Surf Life Club also reported a quiet time.
Head guard Seth McPhee said he, also, had not seen it so quiet for many years.
It took a run of sunny days to bring people to the beach, and while there had been some "cracker" days, they were surrounded by bad weather days, he said.
A lifeguard at Warrington Beach said after one or two busy days at Christmas and New Year, there had been few visitors to the beach and people were walking along the beach rather than swimming.
This had been one of their slowest summers yet, with very few people requiring assistance from guards and no major incidents so far, Otago Surf Lifesaving chairman Colin Weatherall said.
"It's fair to say guards have probably had a few lonely days looking out to sea.
They've been very observant, but they haven't been able to see anything."
The quiet summer was due to a mixture of the conditions, the good work of the guards and good water behaviour, Mr Weatherall said.
