Taking the Plunge : Training Is Tough and Competition Tougher for Lifeguard Jobs

Twenty students forfeited the usual spring break festivities this week to vie for the coolest of all summer jobs: being a lifeguard at Surf City.

They are the finalists in a competition that drew 70 candidates last month for five lifeguard positions that Huntington Beach will fill this summer. Though the city will employ about 100 seasonal lifeguards to patrol its three-mile beachfront, all but a handful will be rehires from last year.

“It’s very tough competition,” said Lt. Greg Crow, the Marine Safety division officer who is conducting this week’s program for the finalists. “We get a lot of top swimmers--state champs--but these are the cream of the crop.”

The job, which pays $10 an hour, carries heavy responsibilities. More than 60,000 people visit the city beach on a typical summer day, and lifeguards make as many as 100 daily rescues. Only those with the best swimming and running skills were selected for this year’s weeklong Cadet Training Program, which wraps up today.

The city keeps a year-round, permanent staff of 11 lifeguards.

Huntington Beach is one of the state’s most crowded because it is known internationally for its good surfing, said Crow, who has taught lifeguard training classes for about 15 years. “We get a ton of demand down here,” he said.

Finalist Rebecca Andrews,) an 18-year-old senior at Edison High School and a competitive swimmer, said landing one of the coveted lifeguard positions would be the ideal job.

“I think it would be really rewarding experience just being able to help the public and educate them about the beach to help prevent further accidents,” said Andrews, who eventually wants to be an obstetrician and is one of only two women in the training program.

Candidate Sean Haynes, 17, is a junior at Edison High, a water polo player and a member of the school swim team. He views the beach as his second home, he said--he lives near the ocean, surfs regularly and says he has been hanging out at the beach his entire life.

“I’ve always wanted to be a lifeguard,” said Haynes, whose long-term career goal is to be a firefighter.

The seasonal crew signs on through Labor Day or longer, depending on the weather.

Marine Safety Lt. Steve Davidson said that as many as 100,000 people may visit the beach on holiday weekends and that the annual total is more than 6 million. Of the estimated 2,500 rescues that Huntington Beach lifeguards make each year, he said, the vast majority are during the busy summer months.

“We want to prevent rescues first and make them only when they need to be made,” Davidson said. “We go out and proactively try to prevent people from injury or from being rescued.”

To make sure that they are up to the challenge, lifeguard trainees are put through a series of physical and mental exercises. They not only make ocean swims and spend hours in the classroom, they also practice making rescues from the city’s municipal pier, jumping 30 feet into ocean water that this time of year is a chilly 56 degrees.

“It’s scary the first time you do it,” Andrews said. “But you tell yourself you’re doing this to get a job.”

For swimmers to stray under the pier and panic or get caught in rip currents is not uncommon, Crow said, so lifeguards must be adept at such rescues.

The job candidates also learn how to manipulate boats that come too close to shore--a grueling task in which the lifeguard swims out to sea while towing the vessel. Such situations may arise, Crow said, if a boat runs out of fuel and is in danger of being capsized in the surf.

The trainees also practice first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and they learn how to deal with severe injuries, such as a broken neck.

Finally, they are introduced to what has become an increasingly large part of a lifeguard’s duty: enforcing city ordinances.

“We’re acquiring more law enforcement responsibilities--and it doesn’t always come with a happy image,” Crow said. “We routinely battle with alcohol use and speeding bicyclists.”

Lifeguards also enforce fishing regulations and the law that bans dogs from the beach.

For the job candidates, even those who will not be hired, the week of training was worthwhile, several of them said.

“I feel that, even if I don’t get the job, I’ve learned so much in a week,” Andrews said. “It’s actually been kind of fun.”