Lifeguard Prospects Get Toughest Test in Years : Swimmers: High waves and cold water weren’t enough to deter 76 job-seekers, 80% of whom qualified for five openings.

The sea proved a formidable challenger Saturday morning for 76 would-be state lifeguards forced to prove their mastery of the ocean during qualifying tests at San Buenaventura State Beach.

The high waves and crosscurrents were so rough and water temperature so low that returning lifeguard Curtis Brown of Ventura suffered mild hypothermia during a recertification swim and will have to be retested.

“Certainly surf can be a lot bigger and currents stronger, but these were our toughest test conditions in seven years,” said Lifeguard Supervisor Kirk Sturm.

Michelle Coveney, 19, a Ventura College swim team member, persevered and made the cut. “I got out there and almost said, ‘No way,’ ” she said. “But I’m not a quitter, and I figured everyone else was feeling as bad as me.”

While numerous areas nationwide have been enduring a lifeguard shortage in recent years, the competition for the $10.01-an-hour California beach assignments remains fiercely competitive.

On Saturday, 46 men, women and teen-agers vied for five openings in the Channel Coast District, which employs 43 lifeguards.

The district includes San Buenaventura, Emma Wood, McGrath and Carpinteria state beaches, and Harbor Cove and Marina Park municipal beaches, which the state staffs under a contract with the city of Ventura. Another 30 people tried to qualify for duty at other state beaches in Southern California.

The contestants ranged from 16-year-old high school students, such as Ventura High School junior Casey Graham, to Norton Wisdom, a 44-year-old Los Angeles County lifeguard seeking to get certified to work state beaches.

The two-part test included a 1,000-yard ocean swim that had to be completed in 20 minutes. The other test was a 200-yard beach run followed by a 400-yard swim and a second 200-yard beach run.

Nearly 80% of the applicants for the Channel Coast District met the qualifying times, but only after supervisors added three minutes to the normal 10-minute limit on the running and swimming test because of the course and conditions. Three people suffered sprained ankles in that test.

Michael Willems, 17, of Huntington Beach managed to complete the 1,000-yard swim in 14 minutes, despite a broken right shoulder not yet fully healed. At another state test last week in Orange County, Willems swam a one-armed backstroke and still came up 30 seconds shy of the qualifying time.

“It’s a little sore right now,” Willems said after his two-armed endeavor, his bum arm returned to its six-week-old sling. “It didn’t pop back out or anything.”

Matt Rippenberger, 24, said he plans to take the state test in Santa Barbara next week but hedged his bets by participating Saturday.

Rippenberger said he finished third in the swimming test and sixth in the combined running and swimming test. “For the condition I’m in,” he said, “I’m happy with that.”

Those who went through their paces within the required times were invited for interviews over the next week. Seven will be chosen for the five vacant jobs, with the final winnowing made during three weeks of training in May and June at the state lifeguard boot camp at Huntington State Beach.