Lifeguard tryouts to begin in Newport Beach
It’s February, which means June’s only four months away.
So, it’s just about time for Newport Beach to start preparing its newest crop of lifeguards for the summer.
Tryouts begin this weekend, albeit a little differently than in previous years due to the pandemic. The physical exam will take place Sunday and challenge about 95 lifeguard hopefuls to endure water temperatures of 55 to 60 degrees.
While its run-swim-run test — which runs about 1,000 meters and simulates a rescue by having lifeguards sprint across the sand, swim around buoys and return — and its interview portion remain relatively unchanged, the 1,000-meter swim has been altered to ensure distancing while people are in the water.
“Normally, it’s a mass start. We usually line up about 80 to 100 lifeguards on a line, blow a whistle and they go and swim together,” said Newport Beach Chief Lifeguard Mike Halphide. “But this year, we’re going to use a triathlon timing system, so it’ll be a timed trial and we’ll set them off five or 10 at a time and they’ve got little ankle bracelets that when they cross the starting line it’ll start their timers.”
The interview portion will be done over Zoom and occur on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week.
The hope is to bring in at least the top 50 lifeguards from the physical exam into the interview portion, which will whittle down the number of applicants to about 35, said Halphide.
They will then be brought into the city’s lifeguard academy, where they’ll be trained to prepare for the coming summer months and join about 150 other seasonal lifeguards.
This is in addition to reserve lifeguards that might work anywhere between 70 to 100 hours a year to help during surges of visitors.
Part of the lifeguard tryouts is the competition of it, said Halphide, but that will be different this year as officials try to keep social distancing and safety in mind. Last year’s junior lifeguards program similarly needed to be revised but was nearly canceled.
“If you’re in front, you know no one’s in front of you. But if you’re behind, you’ll think you want to get in front of this guy or gal, but [the swim test] is just going to be a timed trial,” he added.
“They’re just going to be swimming on their own. I think that’s going to make it a little harder. Competition can push you though, but this requires the self-discipline to do it,” Halphide said.
Newport Beach saw 129 applications this year, a little higher than last year’s number of 117. Some have been eliminated from the running for not providing documentation or for not meeting the minimum age requirement of being 16 as of March 1.
In Huntington Beach, lifeguard tryouts will occur on Feb. 15. In Laguna Beach, lifeguard tryouts will be March 20.
Halphide said that overall beach activity in the last year is 12% higher than their 5-year average, which he believes is in part because people work from home and because the beach is an outdoor setting for people to recreate. There was a sharp peak in the summer months, he said, but that activity has plateaued through the off-season.
“If it’s not raining, there’s people down here,” he said.
But, he added, the increase does not include Fourth of July weekend, which is historically the busiest weekend of the year. The Newport Beach City Council voted last year to close down the beaches after two lifeguards tested positive for COVID-19.
Lifeguards, along with other public safety that wanted to, have received the COVID-19 vaccine and are required to wear masks. Personnel have also altered protocol and training to be done as remotely as possible, though some must be done in person.
“No matter how many times you watch a video of a rescue in the rocks by Corona del Mar, until you get in there, there’s no mastery of it,” said Halphide. “To get that mastery, you have to have lots of hands-on [experience], lots of repetition and lots of drills.”
All the latest on Orange County from Orange County.
Get our free TimesOC newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Daily Pilot.
