"Based on predictions with the weather this year is looking to be very busy. Luckily we've got about 20 per cent more guards than normal.
"They include young ones coming through from junior surf at the right age, which is 14 years old, and getting qualified. It's just one of those things that comes in waves and this year's quite good."
The lifeguarding director said beach conditions had significantly changed this year as the "signature" sandbar running along the coast was no longer there.
"Generally our beach has a side drift which is caused by the water running down the beach and it creates a hole about 10m from the shore. That's generally where we have a lot of issues; people get into the hole, above their heads and shifted sideways so they panic.
"This year the hole is gone and the beach has changed quite a lot. There seems to be localised rips in areas without holes so swimmers walk out deeper than they probably would have and then the rip takes them outwards instead of along the beach."
This didn't necessarily make the beach safer to swim at as people could touch the bottom for longer and tended to venture further offshore, he said.
"I guess maybe that's increasing people's confidence where before they would have been more careful because it drops off but now they have more confidence they go out further than they should."
Mr Manning said it was important swimmers kept between the flags - particularly when the lifeguards were there to identify the worst spots on the beach.
"I think it's a great beach but unfortunately one of the worst places to swim is right outside the car park, which is the quickest route to the beach. The flags might be 200m down but people just go swim straight out the front."
Ocean Beach Surf Life Saving Club had more than 100 lifeguards and there were at least five guards on each patrol, he said.