O.C. City Beaches Are at Full Staff

Orange County’s six state beaches will have fewer lifeguards this summer because of the state’s multibillion-dollar budget deficit. But the five city beaches are fully staffed and, in some cases, overstaffed for the first big beach weekend of summer. Newport Beach, Seal Beach, Laguna Beach and Huntington Beach all have full staffs, officials said. San Clemente had an abundance of young, eager and qualified lifeguard candidates but decided to keep them all, rather than lose some to other cities or other summer jobs.

“The quality of people is absolutely the cream of the crop,” said Steve Lashbrook, San Clemente’s Marine Safety Lieutenant. “These are kids who are outstanding athletes, honor students and leaders in their church groups. It’s staggering to sit across from them in an interview. We’re getting the best of the best. I feel sorry for other employers.”

Not all of the city’s 50 lifeguards will get full-time work, Lashbrook said, but he will try to keep his troops busy.

“We want to keep them fresh,” he said. “And when some of the kids leave for college or water-polo practice, we’ll move the others into 40-hour-a-week jobs.”

State beaches will not have such a pool of talent. Two weeks ago, officials at the Department of Parks and Recreation said California’s state beaches will suffer a 20% cut in lifeguard staffing--meaning 120 fewer on duty statewide during the peak season. In Orange County, officials still have not determined how many lifeguards they will be hiring but say there will be more than 100 on duty through the summer.

Lashbrook isn’t quite sure why he is seeing so many highly qualified youths who want to be lifeguards.

“It might be that boom with the high-tech companies is over and kids are looking elsewhere for summer employment,” he said. “In interviews, kids are talking about the computer companies they’ve started.”

Laguna Beach officials said its lifeguard towers are not fully staffed but will be shortly.

“With reports of a possible El Nino and reports from the travel industry that people are staying closer to home, we’re anticipating large crowds,” said Mark Klosterman, chief of marine safety for Laguna Beach. “With the warmer water, there’s usually more swell activity and more surf.”