The Longest Day

Ahhh, summer.

Kids and teachers yearn for it. Firefighters, lifeguards and dive boat operators earn their money during it. Sun-bathers bask, swimmers cavort and tourists travel as the weather warms.

Summer this year arrived at 12:49 p.m. Monday--the precise moment the sun, obscured along the coast by the usual June gloom, reached its northernmost point in the sky.

The deeper meaning of the day was not lost on the fifth-graders from Pierpont Elementary School in Ventura, who spent the day at San Buenaventura State Beach for a year-end luau to celebrate their promotion to middle school.

“The solstice is the longest day of the year,” said 11-year-old Meaghan Williams of Ventura. “It means you get to play longer.”

“And you get to go to the beach longer,” said 10-year-old Brad Hofmann.

“And no homework,” said Evan Jenkins, 10.

But longer can be a relative condition. Beach-goer Greda Kramer used to live in Holland, where it stays light until 10:30 p.m. in summer. The Dutch get off work and stay out late into the night this time of year, she said.

“People who come to visit here in the summer get disappointed because it gets dark so early in California,” Kramer said. “But at least we’ve got palm trees and sandy, white beaches.”

Daylight on Monday lasted for 14 hours and 26 minutes in Southern California, about 2 hours longer than the annual average day and nearly five hours longer than the daylight period on winter solstice, which occurs this year on Dec. 21, said John Mosley, astronomer at Griffith Park Observatory in Los Angeles.

Rebecca Adams of Moorpark took her two children to Conejo Creek Park in Thousand Oaks for a picnic with visiting relatives on Monday.

“I’m a teacher, so for me, this is important stuff,” said Adams, an instructor at La Reina High School in Thousands Oaks. “I’ve been looking forward to this day for a while.”

For many adults, however, summer means more work. Eric Bowman, owner of the 65-foot “Peace” based in Ventura Harbor, expects to make three-quarters of his yearly income in the next several months taking people to the Channel Islands for scuba diving trips.

“Summer means more business,” Bowman said. “I never tied it in with the solstice, but hey, there it is.”

San Buenaventura State Beach lifeguard Kim Gair said she is doing extra workouts to be fit for a long summer ahead. She wants to be ready for more swimmers and more rescues, which are inevitable with warmer days ahead.

At Ventura Harbor, recycler David Teel of Moorpark shoved a big garbage bin into place with a metallic crunch beside a seafood restaurant.

Summer days are hotter, but the payoff at quitting time is sweet, he said.

“It means there will be some sunlight left when I get home today,” Teel said. In the coming months, he plans to play with his two children and get ready for a new baby, due in late September.

Ruth and Dale Vandergoot of Yucaipa in San Bernardino County made a pit stop at Harbor Village in Ventura on their way up the coast.

Their sons, John, Jim and Joel, are out of school and the family was on its way to Crater Lake on the first day of summer vacation.

“It’s just a day in the life,” Ruth Vandergoot said.