From Surf to Turf: Riptides Keep Lifeguards in the Swim

Santa Monica lifeguard Lewis Chao knew that he had another rescue on his hands Friday when he saw the two boogie-boarders drifting out to violent seas. Moments later, a five-foot breaker slammed into 15-year-old DeWayne Pryor, tossing him off his board, while his uncle, Jeff Crawford, paddled futilely against the riptide that had swept the two into deep waters.

“We’ve got another,” Chao said as he and partner Kurt Fry, flinging their red lifeguard cans, ran toward the two swimmers. Fry guided Crawford out of the current while Chao pulled Pryor to shallow water.

“I felt like something was just sucking me in,” said a shaken Pryor of Van Nuys as he toweled off the sand from his chest. “We were not in any trouble, but I couldn’t come back.”

Chao smiled at the comment as he returned to his lifeguard’s tower, a stone’s throw away from the Santa Monica Pier.

Rescuing swimmers has been routine work for Chao and other Los Angeles County lifeguards during the last week. And county officials say heavy surf, which pounded Los Angeles County shores earlier this week before subsiding considerably Friday, has contributed to an 85% increase in the number of lifeguard rescues this summer.

“They (rescues) are coming in

bunches,” chief lifeguard Howard Lee said on Thursday. “Surf’s up and it’s one busy year.”

Through July 12, lifeguards made 4,725 rescues, compared to 2,549 by the same date last year. County officials said the figures jumped after five- to seven-foot surf lashed county beaches from Sunday to Thursday. The high surf, weather experts said, was caused by a storm in the Southern Hemisphere two weeks ago.

‘That’s High’

“We are at least three times . . . busier than last year,” said lifeguard Lt. Russ Walker of Zuma Beach, where lifeguards rescued 194 endangered swimmers during the five-day period. “That’s high considering we just have a handful or none on some days.”

At Santa Monica Beach, lifeguard Lt. Randy DeGregori said, “At some periods we were having multiple rescues, and our men were in the water every 10 minutes or so.”

While some lifeguards blame heavier surf and larger beach attendance, weather experts said the surf is not much higher than in the past.

“From our observations, this is really not an exceptional year,” said oceanographer Richard Seymour, who has been measuring waves on the West Coast for UC San Diego’s Scripps Institute of Oceanography in La Jolla for the last 13 years. “Other social factors may be responsible--like inexperienced swimmers.”

Riptides Normal

“Well, it could be that the riptides are coming at crucial periods when there are lots of people at the beach,” said Mike Frazer of the Santa Monica patrol. “Like when more people are on the beach--the Fourth of July when we rescued more than 200 people.”

Seymour said it is normal for West Coast beaches to experience riptides during the summer. The riptides result from winter storms in the Southern Hemisphere. Swells created by the storms lash West Coast beaches, creating holes in the beach floor. When the backwash heads to sea, the current intensifies in the damaged areas, creating problems for unsuspecting swimmers.

Lifeguards spot riptides by looking for discolored and violently disturbed water. They advise swimmers in trouble to swim parallel to the shore to get away from riptides, instead of trying to struggle against them. “Many of them panic and that is when we go in for them,” DeGregori said.

‘Need to Be Active’

But despite the busiest summer in recent years, lifeguards say they are not complaining. “Only when we make a few rescues do people realize our usefulness. We need to be active. We don’t like looking like policemen,” Chao quipped.

Mark Temkin, a lifeguard at Zuma Beach, agreed, but added, “Yeah, everybody is thankful except the 6-foot, 200-pound jock type who feels embarrassed by being saved in front of the girls.”