Lifeguards in Monterey County are a rare breed. With 80 miles of coastline to patrol, the two California State Parks lifeguards are the only professionally trained lifeguards hired to watch city, county and state beaches. This compares to Santa Cruz County, where three agencies employ more than 100 lifeguards.

Although Erik Landry, one of Monterey''s pair, feels there is a need for more lifeguards, none of the coastal cities in the county employ any.

"I can''t really tell you why. Two reasons are budgetary, and the fact that we don''t have much of a swimming population that gets in trouble," Landry says. "Most of our rescues are boating and SCUBA diving incidents. I''m not really complaining, because we''ve gotten help from many people and our area has been fairly safe."

The imbalance between Monterey and Santa Cruz is something Landry has been trying to change in the past eight years, working with various agencies such as the State Parks, Coast Guard and the city of Monterey to get more lifeguards hired to watch the beaches. Much of the coastline is State Parks land, from Andrew Molera State Beach to Monterey State Beach.

"Yeah, we need more help. State Parks is working on a statewide survey to find out the needs of California beaches so that may help. There''s no way to cover all the coast immediately. A large part of our job has to be public education, so they don''t get in trouble," he says.

And that''s one of the reasons why Landry started the Monterey Junior Lifeguard program six years ago. He felt that teaching the public water safety and awareness would assist in preventing accidents. The month-long program for wannabe-lifeguards, ages 9 through 16, runs twice this summer at Monterey and Asilomar beaches.

Junior lifeguards learn a variety of aquatic skills, marine ecology, water safety, and go on several field trips. The sessions end with a regional junior lifeguard competition in Santa Cruz in mid-August.

Landry, who has been a lifeguard for 15 years, starting in southern California, admits that not many students plan to become career lifeguards, but that''s not his intent.

"My goal is to teach water safety and for them to learn respect for the oceans around us. About a third of the kids return for more than one session," some for several years, Landry says.

"I thought it was going to be like ''Baywatch'' when I first heard of it," says 15-year-old David. "But it''s not. It''s fun and it''s hard. I''m learning to surf and I swallowed about a gallon of water the first time."

At least six lifeguard instructors and six more assistants supervise around 120 kids each weekday from 9am to 2pm. Each of the four weeks has a theme, generally beginning with water safety and swimming so the more advanced activities such as surfing go smoothly.

Ocean Recreation in week 2 is one of the most popular, for kids and instructors. Surfing, bodyboarding, skin diving, swimming and kayaking are the most active for kids. To make the physically strenuous skills fun, lessons are designed as races and games to promote confidence and team-building. It is also during recreation week that the group goes on several field trips, to snorkel at Point Lobos and kayak in the bay.

The actual lifeguard-type skills--rescuing, first aid, CPR--are taught in week 3. The junior lifeguards visit an ambulance, rescue boat, the P.G. Ocean Rescue volunteers, and practice mock rescues.

"A few years ago, I saw a little kid almost drown on a beach," says David. "I was surprised how fast it happened, so I thought I should learn more about the ocean, since I live here."

To round out the lifeguard program, Landry schedules marine ecology lessons for the final week. Tidepools, marine mammal rescue and beach cleanup are all fair game to introduce students to proper care of the coast.

"I want kids to know a little of everything about the ocean," explains Landry. Everything seems to include how to keep the coast clean and healthy, how to protect themselves and others when using the beach, and how to enjoy safe activities in it.

The highlight for most junior lifeguards is one of the final trips, up to Santa Cruz for the city competition, a "water Olympics."

"There''s literally thousands of kids in it," Landry says. "Junior Lifeguards are statewide and Santa Cruz has a big group. People come from all over."

This summer the city of Monterey began a partnership with the State Parks lifeguards and hired one extra person to patrol the beaches between Wharf 2 and the Monterey Beach Hotel.

But this service is only for summer, between Memorial Day and Labor Day. For the rest of the year, it''s up to Landry and one other lifeguard to cover the rugged Monterey County coast from southern Big Sur to the Pajaro River.

"Our approach has to be preventative. We talk to divers, we warn people on rocks," Landry says. "We drive a lot. They call us [on a rescue] and we might get there after the fact. "

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