Lifeguard Boat Replaced After 14,000 Rescues

After 27 years of plucking errant swimmers from the rip currents off Newport Beach, the Seawatch, the oldest of the city’s two rescue boats, has been decommissioned.

The vessel was used to rescue more than 14,000 bathers, many of whom were carried by the treacherous currents as far as 100 yards from the beach, according to lifeguard Lt. Ron Johnson, who piloted the 28-foot boat for 22 years. “There’s no question in my mind that it’s made more rescues than any other boat in the world,” Johnson said.

Equipped with a pair of 270-horsepower gasoline engines, the craft has a top speed of 30 knots and has an open transom to enable lifeguards to more easily pull distressed swimmers on board.

A direction finder, marine radio and scanner round out Seawatch’s equipment list, but time and hard service have taken their toll, forcing the city to replace the boat purchased in 1958 for $12,000 with a better-equipped, 28-foot craft costing $85,000.

The new rescue boat, also to be named Seawatch, has a fiberglass hull, less woodwork, and stainless steel fixtures. “There won’t be nearly as much maintenance on the new boat,” Johnson said.

Although Seawatch has outlived its usefulness for the Marine Safety Department, the old craft will escape the scrap yard.