Do you enjoy being outdoors? Do you like to swim? Here’s a job you might find interesting. Check out the job description.

First, your work space is San Francisco’s Ocean Beach, one of the most turbulent and deadly stretches of salt water in the country. The waves rise to more than 20 feet in the cold, windy winter, and that’s not the worst of it.

Sean Scallan, who has been working the beach patrol as an employee of the National Park Service for 17 years, says that in a typical season the 3-mile stretch of bone-chilling, 50-degree water has “between five and seven rip currents,” which can grab a swimmer and drag him out to sea.

Your job is to dive into the waves, make your way to swimmers in distress — often in the churning washing-machine whirlpools around Seal Rocks — and pull them to safety.

Oh, one more thing. No wetsuit.

How’s that sound? Believe it or not, there are people who consider it a dream job. Saturday, when a 28-year-old man from Merced toppled off the rock cliffs near the ruins of the Sutro Baths, 30-year-old James Mathews ran into the frigid water wearing nothing warmer than a pair of red swim trunks.

“When we got the call and heard this guy is face down in the water, a couple of the guys wanted to get out there as fast as possible,” Scallan said. “James is 6-5, 250 pounds. He almost doesn’t get cold.”

“When it’s a matter of life and death,” Mathews said, “30 seconds can make a big difference. It’s go time. I’m used to it. I try to get in the water once a day, even if it is blowing 40 knots. It wakes you up a bit.”

To say the job isn’t for everyone is a world-class understatement. Jonathan Baxter, a San Francisco Fire Department spokesman who was at the scene Saturday, was both impressed and concerned when he saw Mathews and another rescuer, John Scofield, head into the rocky inlet beneath the Cliff House.

“When you see those conditions, you know dangers are at a heightened level,” said Baxter, who happens to be a trained rescue swimmer. “You know you’re putting your life on the line.”

Mathews and Scofield reached the victim, but not in time. Vicente Holland was pronounced dead.

So, to review: scary life-and-death situations and freezing cold with no wetsuit. Imagine what you have to pay people to do something like that.

Actually, not much.

“I’m a commercial crab fisherman to support my lifeguard habit,” Mathews jokes.

And, they only work from March to November, then they have to find a part-time job. Scallan is a sign painter when he’s not diving into the murky breakers.

And the final indignity is that no one seems to realize who they are. Although they are employed by the National Park Service, they’re often confused with rescue swimmers for the San Francisco Fire Department.

Obviously, you’ve got to have the right skills and mind-set to do this. And no one has to tell you that this is work for a young person.

Except no one will tell you that when Scallan is standing nearby. He’s 53 and helped start the rescue program 17 years ago.

“I’m the old man,” he said. “I feel like if I stay in that ocean, it will keep me young.”

“Sean is a legend,” Mathews said. “Everybody from around here knows Sean.”

No need to ask why he still does it.

“It is such a rush when you come out of the water with a rescue,” he said.

Last year the swimmers averaged about a rescue a week, and each year there are four to five fatalities. Scallan says April and May are the worst months with the last of the high winter surf combining with warm weather to encourage visitors to exceed the “no deeper than your knees” rule.

The beach patrols drive up and down the sand, trying to accomplish what Scallan calls “the best kind of rescue,” meaning one that heads off trouble before it happens. Monday he pointed to a group of young women in shorts, tiptoeing into the water and then jumping back.

“We don’t rescue many ladies,” he said. “Ladies are smart. But the guys are trying to show off.”

Scallan’s crew can often spot someone who needs help before he knows he’s in danger. If there’s time, or if it looks as if it will be a rescue in the rocks, they will pull on a wetsuit.

But not always. If the rescue is along the sandy beach, Scallan says, “we have some polar bear lifeguards.” That’s what happened Saturday, when Mathews and Scofield ran into the waves wearing just their signature red trunks.

“Josh was a little cold afterwards,” Scallan said. “He was out there in the water 30 or 40 minutes.”

What do you say? Want to give it a try?

C.W. Nevius is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. His columns appear Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Email: cwnevius@sfchronicle.com