Lifegaurding

[Salty]

first of all, its "Lifeguarding", not "Lifegaurding" - i used to guard with some friends at assateague in the state park many years ago (ABP ruled at one time!) - and we covered each others' water every day when there was swell, so we surfed all the time when it was surfable!. ,, but we worked, too, and took the job very seriously - we pulled people out every once in a while (but no "show-offs", only when swimmers were "in" trouble - not when they were just "having trouble", like the "heroics" i've seen with the OCBP or RBP!!! - but nowadays, though, guards are just like "cops", or sometimes maybe, just power-freak nazi's! (i expect there will be some heated responses to this, if so, too freakin bad! i was there!) i will say this, though - when you get "good" at it (and it takes a while to do it well) - ten years after you stop guarding, you will not enjoy an easy day on the beach - even if you're not in a stand, and not an official "guard", you'll still function like a guard - you'll watch the water,and keep an eye out for people in trouble - and this will lesson the enjoyment of your casual time at the beach with friends! (unless you're in the water surfing)

[FishTaco]

i currently lifeguard at the beach. i will agree a majority of the time you are sitting around watching ALOT of dumb ppl ha. if you like to watch ppl def do it, but when its on its on. and it doesnt matter if a storm is close to shore and all it could be a couple 100 miles out in the atlantic so the rip will def open up. when its good you surf before work, bodysurf during work, and then surf some more after work. but like a said when its on your defing working havta have that endurance. but most surfers do. id def do it, and social life is a plus.

Well put matey. Lifeguards aint kooks either, they are some of the best watermen in any given area. And yea, we surf at work.

[bigSURFsk8]

thanks dudes, you really got me thinking how sick it is going to be with the girls, beach, social life, friends, being in the water for everything and staying in shape, and atmosphere of the whole scene. im goin for the sandy hook test, and i heard it wasn't easy. But i have been swimmin my ass off so i will be ready when the test rolls around.

[OBlove]

true salty. i can not sit on the beach on my day off. its not possible anymore. and true again. i hate the police aspect put into the job. the core end of it is it can be for watermen. i never call myself a beach patrol guard. i am an ocean rescue guard. and i compete in lifesaving. my life is on the blue just like the AssaBP guards once were. Jesse rules down there though. Tough girl.

[rustysrfr]

oblove and slaty def know whats up. i do agreed its overdramatized today in some aspects but not enough in others. like ordinance enforment is def ***** work but you gotta do what the people that pay you tell you to do. it does make you feel like an a$$ when you gotta tell a dad you cant play ball with your son near the water cuz he might accident become a victim. o man. but other times its very humbling. i mean how many times can the average person say that if i wasnt there someone wouldnt be alive right now. ya know?!

[xgen70]

Not even trying to say I know more then others,... . Only experience I have is over twenty-five years in and near the ocean.

For sure there are some straight up kooks up in those stands, ones that have in no way shape or form, any real,..long-term knowledge of the ocean and how it can be different by the minute, hour, day, week, or month.

Some ****s as well who seem to hate on the locals for some reason?

I thought that there was different levels as well, at least in OCMD, so at times you may not have the most experienced person watching over a section of beach?

I have also talked to more then a handful of young ones who had no clue about surfing or waves in general. Lets not kid ourselves, many of these guys are not local and it is only a summer employment for them, then they go back to college, in-land.

Good thing they have those that come back every year.
Other, then the once in awhile BS, the track record for OCBP is great, in relationship to the numbers that hit the beach around here. I think that has more to do with the core group that is here year in and year out, though.

We have all seen our share of bad LGs or BPs, and you can already spot them before you even paddle out. But over all, other then a few over aggressive retards and lazy dumb asses, which is dangerous,..most are cool and do a good job when you consider the complete retards that they have to deal with during the heat of the summer. I will and have spoken ill of some at times,... they deserved it,... but try standing around watching parents let their kids, small kids,.. do as they please and not watch over them,...swimmers who keep going back to the same rip sections, over and over and over...people diving into two inches of water,.... people turning their backs on the ocean and having waves break them in two. The list of dumb assess goes on and on, none of them think that the nice fun warm water can hurt or kill them,... it is just a day of fun at the beach, and besides, the lifeguard is up there in the stand, so I can be stupid and not worry where the hell my kids are at...or whether my fat husband is getting ready to cash the life insurance check for me because he refuses to stay out of that rip, because he is there to have fun and the young punk on the stand blowing his whistle at him can go to hell, he is on vacation.

I have seen and heard it all, made rescues myself while out in the water, and the crap is the same every year.

Sounds like a fun job.

[aka pumpmaster]

90 percent of the ocean guards are power hungry kooks who suck at surfing and hate surfers. the other 10 percent are super cool guys who are kick ass watermen (usually these are the people who actually live year-round in the towns they guard in)..

[SkegLegs]

I just thought of a funny story. I was walking down to surf OC inlet a couple of summers ago and it was a late summer afternoon. A storm had blown over probably 45 minutes earlier so the beach was pretty cleared. I suit up and start to walk down when a BP truck pulls up and someone starts yelling at me out of the driver's seat saying "Hey idiot, get off the beach, do you want to die??" Now I'm not old by any means, but it kinda hits me the wrong way when someone talks to me like a child, as I'm in my late 20s. So I instantly get brushed the wrong way and walk over to the truck.

It's filled with your a-typical baltimore transplant summer guards.....18-21, riding about 6 deep in the truck laughing, giggling, you know the deal. I ask the driver what he means about me dying and he says there's a huge storm coming and I'm going to get struck by lightning. I look up at the clearing and completely bright and sunny sky to the west and say, no the storm is going to miss us it's down south (assa. is total black sky conditions), but thanks for the warning anyways. I will definetely not be chilling in the water if I see lightning obviously.

Anyways, lifeguard guy ask me how I know the storm isn't coming here, and I simply point at the sky. He says...and I quote, "Well you can look at the sky all day but I have this little thing known as technology" Opens up his blackberry, pulls up the weather map, and then points to a red blob moving over the hook on assateague island. I say, "Like I said the storm is missing us" He starts laughing and pointing to his blackberry to his fellow companions and then proceeds to tell me I should stick to surfing and not to question him on geography because he's going into his senior year at the UoM. All the while he's pointing at the hook and saying it's the ocean city inlet.

I could do nothing but walk to my car, unfortunately you can't argue with the educated technology slaves.

[ECSURFR]

Hey man, i work on Beach Patrol and let me tell you something...the only reason they do that is for the publics safety. Someone sees you out there and ten people start complaining about why cant they go in blah blah. The reason they are so strict on it is for the fact that a few guards HAVE been struck by lightning while trying to get idiots off the beach. 1 guard sacrificed his life trying to save anothers while in the middle of a storm trying to blow them out of the water in the late 90s. And quite honestly you have to be a **** down at the inlet with the crowd that is down there. Half of them dont even speak english!

I understand your point though about the way they talk to people..i know who you are talking about and yes he can be a tool. As long as you know it is just for your safety man.

[Volcom732]

Been a lifeguard going on 12 years now, teacher during the year. Great job for the summer. yes there are many other jobs that let you surf and what not, but it definitely is a good one. I lifeguard out at Sandy Hook, and I'll make about $10,000 this summer because it's a federal job. I'm making $16.57 an hour, with time and a quarter every sunday and double on holidays. Garaunteed 40 hours a week (42 if you count sundays). We always need people out there, so take the test, at Monmouth University. Check for a schedule online or call Carl Martinez for test dates (look up his number online) Don't hate on lifeguarding, it's all about quality of life, whatever makes you happy.