East Coast lifeguards

[elcalvo]

I guess the qualifications to work as a lifeguard have been relaxed a little bit since I took the test.
What is especially pathetic is that the swell was not noteworthy, even by East Coast standards.
Look at the pictures at the end of the story.

Lifeguards rescued

Do you think these guys could get hired in CA or HI?

 

[mundus]

I guess the qualifications to work as a lifeguard have been relaxed a little bit since I took the test.
What is especially pathetic is that the swell was not noteworthy, even by East Coast standards.
Look at the pictures at the end of the story.

Lifeguards rescued

Do you think these guys could get hired in CA or HI?

Obviously depends on the town, but generally very lax.

 

[casa_mugrienta]

Nice summer jobs for the local high schoolers.

 

[manbearpig]

Very much town dependent. Some crews run a very tight ship of legitimate watermen; many of whom continue the career onto Hawaii, CA or other rescue type jobs.

but there’s a lot of clowns who can barely swim. One of the reasons the surfing restrictions is so stupid in summer months. Surfers are always there and a last line of defense in some dire situations that could have gone better had they been present.

 

[sussle]

Nice summer jobs for the local high schoolers.

not necessarily. my best pal started on the beach at 16 in one of the bigger EC beach towns....stayed on the beach for the next 45 years, one way or the other (beach in summer, boatyard in winter) and is now the chief of the Beach Patrol. while the rest of us went of to college etc he stuck around, worked his way up to a very respectable salary, with benefits and perks unheard of in the private sector. he tells me the problem this year is nobody wants the entry level job - while normally 200 kids show up to try out for 20 or so open slots, this year they only had 17 candidates.

 

[potato-nator]

my crew - Sandy Hook - used to do calisthentics/swim/run to show patrons we were fit.

 

[mundus]

I lifegaurded for 10 years when I was younger and was the LT. after I quit fishing I went back for 2 summers. Like Manbearpig said it is a mix of athletes and watermen and teenagers who can barely swim.

 

[GromsDad]

A pretty good percentage are inland pool swimmers with little to no real understanding of the ocean.

 

[potato-nator]

A pretty good percentage are inland pool swimmers with little to no real understanding of the ocean.

pretty annoying when that type beats the more competent guards.

 

[mundus]

pretty annoying when that type beats the more competent guards.

We had a college swimmer one year who was incapable of swimming straight to buoy during races.

 

[PRCD]

I guess the qualifications to work as a lifeguard have been relaxed a little bit since I took the test.
What is especially pathetic is that the swell was not noteworthy, even by East Coast standards.
Look at the pictures at the end of the story.

Lifeguards rescued

Do you think these guys could get hired in CA or HI?

No. This is pathetic. I've had to swim in victims from near the end of the Huntington Pier due to the pier rip.

 

[GromsDad]

We had a college swimmer one year who was incapable of swimming straight to buoy during races.

Pool swimmers could have the best times in the pool but be completely useless when the sh!t hits the fan in the ocean. By the way, the guards I see down in Hatteras are real watermen so its not the whole East Coast.

 

[mundus]

Pool swimmers could have the best times in the pool but be completely useless when the sh!t hits the fan in the ocean. By the way, the guards I see down in Hatteras are real watermen so its not the whole East Coast.

yes and no, some of them take to the ocean quite well.

 

[Kento]

How much current could there be with those waves? Duffy, the Hawaiians, AND Tyson all agree that calling it 1' would be generous.

 

[ghost_of_lewis_samuels]

As a former EC lifeguard I recall never trusting a guard here who did not surf.

 

[b.r.]

Well East Coast Guards are hip I really dig those styles they wear.

 

[GromsDad]

Given the adversarial relationship between guards and surfers most decent surfers would likely shy away from becoming a guard. More money in surf lessons anyway.

 

[rice]

In CA, I think most guards surf...?

 

[ghost_of_lewis_samuels]

Given the adversarial relationship between guards and surfers most decent surfers would likely shy away from becoming a guard. More money in surf lessons anyway.

Not adversarial here now, not many beaches w/lifeguards so it's fine.
In my time, surf lessons were barely even a thing here. Now it's definitely the lucrative path though, 1000$ a day is not hard to achieve.

 

[PRCD]

Given the adversarial relationship between guards and surfers most decent surfers would likely shy away from becoming a guard. More money in surf lessons anyway.

If you could get surfers to show up for work, they'd make better guards than pool swimmers since they have confidence in the conditions and can judge the current. 90% is those two things. You can make them into better swimmers pretty quickly.

Pool swimmers, OTOH, cannot necessarily adapt to ocean conditions. When I did my tryouts, the water was 54 degrees with bad N-S side current. Several of the college swimmers stuck a toe in the water and wouldn't get in even though they'd clobber me in a 100 free.

There is a group of brothers in one West Coast lifeguard dept. that has both blistering speed and are good watermen. Rare these days.