Guardians of Summer : Rookies Train Rigorously for Beach Rescue Jobs

The drill was to rescue an unconscious victim from the ocean. First one lifeguard candidate sprinted into the water, then a second. The pair attached buoys to the victim, then maneuvered him to the beach.

With the victim positioned on the sand, the instructor started the tense CPR portion of the exercise. The rescuers looked nervous, a little confused. This was the penultimate day of training for California’s seasonal lifeguards, and the young trainees were struggling to apply everything they had learned in the past week.

“He’s not breathing,” the trainer said. “Begin CPR.”

The first rescuer fumbled to locate the proper place on the sternum while the second, 17-year-old John Watson of Ojai, knelt uncomfortably over the victim, ready to do mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

“Wait a minute,” the instructor said. “Did you check his airway? No, you didn’t.”

That was the cue for the victim--actually a fellow trainee--to bite down on a bag of wet oatmeal hidden in his mouth and spew a column of faux vomit at his rescuer, thereby simulating what happens when a drowning victim has a belly full of sea water.

“He shot it straight at me,” Watson said later while wiping the oatmeal off his cheek and eyebrows.

So much for the allure and romance of being a California lifeguard.

Watson was among a record number of trainees--about 150--who took the weeklong courses last month at Huntington State Beach. The high turnout reflects the state’s need for qualified lifeguards since taking over lifeguard duties at Los Angeles County beaches this year.

Ten of these rookies, including one woman, headed to Ventura County, where they make up about 20% of the seasonal lifeguard staff in the California State Park’s Channel Coast District, an area that stretches from Oxnard to Carpinteria. Last year, only three rookies were hired; the average is just five rookies a year.

So with August approaching--the busiest month for rescues last year--will the new kids on the tower get in over their heads?

“Several of the people we’re getting out of training have ocean experience or lifeguard experience,” said district lifeguard supervisor C.L. Price. “It’s not like they just got off the bus from Tucson.”

But parents worry about the rookies’ lack of seasoning. “My son is a boogie boarder,” said Jill Morris of Ventura. “He usually knows what’s going on, but current and things like that can change fast. I’d like to think there’s an experienced lifeguard around, somebody who’s spent enough time on this beach.”

Price said his 10 rookies will be under the watchful eye of the 40 veteran guards. At San Buenaventura State Beach, one experienced guard can quarterback the entire beach from the main tower. Other beaches for which Price is responsible, McGrath and Emma Wood, are not as heavily visited as San Buenaventura. And Carpinteria State Beach is so calm, local boosters have dubbed it the “World’s Safest Beach.”

Experts say it takes three or four years to become a competent lifeguard. At the state’s Huntington Beach training facility, rookies learn the basics, but, said Mike Silvestri, who trains all new lifeguards, “we really can’t teach them everything in seven days.

“We have lots of people who are strong pool swimmers, but who have no ocean experience. Even some people who graduate, we send their supervisor a note saying to keep an eye on them the first time the surf comes up.”

Only the best candidates made it to Huntington State Beach. When tryouts were held in Ventura in early spring, 60 hopefuls passed the strenuous run-swim-run test. Permanent lifeguards interviewed them and selected 16 for training, but only 10 of them graduated as seasonal lifeguards.

Trainers say the most difficult thing to teach rookies is how waves, winds and currents interact. Turbulent brown water usually marks a temporary outflow called a rip, but determining where rips are likely to develop or which way a current is running can be difficult to learn. If guards can’t tell which way the water is moving, they might try to swim straight out to the victim, only to end up 100 feet to either side, wasting precious time.

Experienced guards are able to spot trouble developing more quickly than a rookie. To develop foresight and judgment, trainees are taught how to classify swimmers. As defined by Silvestri, they fit into three categories:

Buffed out--dialed in . These individuals are presented in training slides as physically fit and properly equipped for ocean sports. They are not the sort of people guards worry much about.

Whole Family’s Going to Die. This represents the other end of the spectrum: People from inland cities who wear T-shirts while bathing. Young lifeguards are taught that anyone wearing a T-shirt is a potential victim. These types rollick with their backs to surf, about to be knocked dizzy by a roller and dragged out by the resulting rip current.

Potential C-Spine . All young lifeguards learn this medical term for neck injury. A bodyboarder catching a wave is a candidate. So is a slightly drunken group of young men playing football in the surf.

Injuries to the trainees themselves are less dramatic--blisters on their toes or the tops of their feet from wearing swim fins.

“You never see them carrying fins on ‘Baywatch,’ ” Price said. “They got the shorts right, they got the buoys right, but they never go on rescues with fins.”

Apparently, some other aspects of the syndicated TV show are accurate. Young lifeguards have rippling abdominal muscles, broad shoulders and a great rap with members of the opposite sex.

Rookie Jack Futoran is clearly looking forward to how his summer job will affect his social life. Futoran, a senior this fall at Buena High School in Ventura, tries to contain his enthusiasm by reciting the cardinal rule of the lifeguard business.

“Keep your eyes on the water . . . keep your eyes on the water,” he said. “Get a phone number, but keep your eyes on the water.” Futoran is one of the rookies who has ocean safety experience. Before he started work this month as a seasonal guard, Futoran spent a year in the state’s Junior Lifeguard program, an intensive safety course for youth ages 9 to 15.

“Junior Lifeguard was like a steppingstone,” Futoran said. “I’d been going to the beach, surfing and playing, but Junior Lifeguard gave me a different perspective about beach safety.”

The young lifeguards have a lot to learn about Channel Coast District beaches this summer.

“On McGrath, we have inshore holes right now,” said Steve White, who shares supervisory duties with Price. “There’s a steep drop-off about 20 feet out. Non-swimmers go out there and all of the sudden the water’s six feet deep.”

Just north of Ventura Pier, White said, two currents regularly meet, dragging unwary swimmers or surfers into the pier. Of the 209 rescues from Harbor Cove to Surfers Point last August, more than a third were north of the pier on a day when the current was strengthened by a distant storm swell.

While the 10 rookies are learning the lifeguard ropes this summer--and making $11 an hour--John Watson will settle for hanging out at the beach. Even though he handled the oatmeal like a pro, he failed his first-aid final. “I cried all the way back to where I was staying,” he said. “But I’m definitely going to try again next year. I can’t give up now.”