VENTURA : Marina Cove Beach to Lose Lifeguards

Visitors to one of the city of Ventura’s busiest beaches will have to swim at their own risk this summer.

State parks officials have announced that they will eliminate lifeguard service at Marina Cove Beach because of budget cuts.

Although the beach is owned by the city, the state Parks and Recreation Department’s Channel Coast District has provided free lifeguard service since the late 1970s, said Kirk Strum, a state parks department lifeguard.

But Channel Coast District officials learned a few weeks ago that this year’s budget for hiring lifeguards for the San Buenaventura, Emma Wood, McGrath and Carpinteria state beaches will be cut by $25,000, or about 20%, Strum said.

The Channel Coast District normally hires 40 or more lifeguards during the summer, but this year it will hire slightly more than 30 temporary lifeguards, Strum said. Lifeguards would have been on duty at Marina Cove starting in mid-April, for a week, and then on weekends until Memorial Day, when they would start full time.

In 1991, lifeguards at Marina Cove rescued 19 people from the water, said Strum, president of the California Lifeguard Assn.