NJ Lifeguards

Monmouth county has put together top lifeguard competitors for years. Sea Girt and Belmar trains and competes in competitions all summer, including nationals, where they sometimes win the whole thing. Im not saying that most of these guys aren't useless but some towns take it VERY seriously. Sea Girt is one of them.
That being said I wish lifeguards would shut the **** up and rescue people in need only, not act like ocean police, whistling and sectioning off areas, acting like they own the beach. Surfers should ALWAYS have priority in the ocean, not swimmers.

 

Sorry,but no. That makes absolutely no sense and is totally self centered.

1 percent of the population of people that surfs should trump the millions of dollars in tourist revenue from swimmers? You'd make a great beach manager. haha That makes sense to you? Why are you more "important" than a swimmer? Any john doe that goes and buys/rents a surfboard somehow thinks their special and should have priority over someone who swims/boogie boards/body surfs? Why?

They section off areas because there have serious injuries to swimmers by surfboards. Some rules are stupid. This is a common sense one. You have a ton of swimmers in your way then you're going to run into them with your surfboard which can knock someone out or cut someone bad. Families come there and don't feel like their 12 year having to go get stitches because someone ran into him.Is every person in the water who's just coming for vacation supposed to know the rules of the "lineup"?

Another common sense rule is no dogs. People complain about that too. Imagine if thousands of people brought their dogs onto one stretch of beach and into the water? The water would totally contaminated with e coli. Dogs sometimes crap in the water. Never mind all the idiots that would let their dog crap on the beach. It would be chaos. Have you seen how crowded some of these ec beaches get? 10,000 people can visit in a single day. Bad water quality is no joke. You can get deathly ill.

 

I don't understand why there aren't leash laws at Second Beach. I consistently see these knuckleheads losing their longboards into crowds of bathers. I mean, if they aren't going to restrict swimming in the surf zone, then why not require surfers to wear a leash so they can at least have the illusion of controlling their board?

That's one area where NJ beats RI in my opinion. At least in NJ they rope off a surf area and don't let people swim in the shorebreak. Sure you have to dodge other surfers, but that's better than dodging some little kid having fun in the shorebreak.

 

Lemme say this. I don't know how things are up North, I don't surf up there, but all I see on here is b*tching and complaining about guards and regulations up there, so it sounds like kook land.

My experience here in FL has been there aren't very many guards, there are tons of open beaches without them. And if I happen to be in an area where there are guards, I almost never see any type of activity from them other than playing on their phone, BS'ing with other guards, or just sitting there. No rescues, no educating clueless tourists, just hanging out.

When I went to PR, there were no guards. When I went to Santa Cruz, at least where I surfed, no guards. Just my experiences. Like I said though, I know the guards on the North Shore are legit. And I'm sure plenty of others around the world are too.

 

And I almost forgot. I witnessed a guy die at NSB one year. I couldn't believe how long it took for a lifeguard to show up and help. This guy was a school teacher. His student ended up pulling him out of the water and onto the beach. Had a guard been paying attention and quick to react he may still be here today, idk, maybe not, wasn't sure if he broke his neck or was just knocked out and simply drowned. Paramedics took forever getting on the scene. They worked on him for 45 minutes with no response other than water spewing out of him. F'ed my day up seeing that.

 

In NJ, there are some towns with literally one, or perhaps not even one, unguarded or "designated surfing beach." So yea... we get pinched between about 10am and 6pm. But other towns have only one or two guarded beaches, and you can surf anywhere else. Generally, where there are guards, there is no surfing allowed.

I don't gripe about the guards too much, because I recognize the need for them, and they don't affect me much. I may not like it, but I understand. If you pay taxes, you have a right to access beaches, especially if your tax dollars went into beach nourishment. Again, I might not like it or agree with it, but I see the logic. I was a guard, my son is a guard, and he takes it as seriously as I did when I was a kid. I'm proud of that.

My solution is to surf before and after hours, or surf where there are no guards. Like I said, I doesn't really affect me much. I think half of the people who bark about guards are buying into the, "it's cool 'surfer' culture to hate on guards" thing. But I guess the other half are truly affected by the regulations and it kills their water time. And I get that, too. I hate having to drive to surf. But sometimes, that's just what you gotta do, and not just because of the lifeguard issue... also for conditions. I just roll with it... it is what it is.

 

Right on dude, I see where you're coming from. And btw I meant no disrespect.

 

Fvcking ameri-gringos complain about everything:
Too much
Too little
Move to the left
move to the right
too high,
not high enough
blah blah blah

The solution to everything is within you, not some exogenous source. Adapt, flex.....stop gripping. No wonder you all drink and do drugs........
I admire lifeguards, but only the females with a nice rack. Who cares about the other half........

 

Thanks for the lecture, but I still disagree. For the most part, surfers know the ocean. Swimmers DO NOT. Therefore surfers should be able to surf where they want and swimmers should be kept AWAY from the surfers, not the other way around. People will still come to the beach and bring in money whether this were to happen or not. That said if you have a surfboard you should have to have a leash on it if there are swimmers in the vicinity. The guards can keep a safe separation based on their discretion.

I don't surf year round so some yahoo from PA can blow his whistle at me tell me to move. Nothing against the guards themselves as they are ust doing their jobs. But, some changes need to happen.

Also, I'm not getting out of the water when its head high and clean because im not on the surfing beach. **** you to the beach managers.

 

only surfing beaches I know of in nomoco are Belmar and sl.everything else is either guarded or private.cant surf on guarded beaches.thats why I stick to the private beaches.only problem is parking.normally I just head out after work when its good,always works out because the ppl are leaving and the guards are gone by the time I get there.

 

ah man i have so much to say about guards.

i'm lucky to have a couple pretty big designated surfing sections near me and i happen to know a lot of the guards at my beach and other surrounding beaches. so they don't really care if my friends and i are sitting on the edge of the swimming section and surf into the flags if there are little to no swimmers around, which is pretty cool. but i know that i have to stay within the surfing section if theres a lot of swimmers around. it may not always be the most convenient thing, but that's how things are and always will be.

i know a bunch of guards (around my age, 17) who pretty much only have the job just for the coolness-factor. most of these guards are the types of kids who always wanted to learn how to surf but had no real sense of commitment to it so they became guards to compensate for their lameness. they're always wearing their guarding and tournament tshirts out at night so that they can pick up chicks easier and they love talking about the one and only save they had all summer. also, barely any of them know how to paddle and catch waves on those big lifeguard boards (let alone any other board), they're always swaying back and forth when they paddle and pearl once they catch the wave. pretty funny stuff to watch

but on the same token i know plenty of older guards around me who are experienced surfers and are passionate about lifeguarding and the ocean itself. they were/are the dudes who my friends and i always looked up to and respected. it just seems like any guard born after 1995 is an absolute pu55y boi who can care less about saving lives... so a couple of my friends and i are gonna become guards at our beach next year so that the lil groms comin up will actually have some non-pu55ies to look up to

 

If there were no lifeguards, folks like frost who can't swim wouldn't be able to go into the ocean and feel safe and care-free. Is that the kind of world you want to live in?

At my local beach, red flag means no surf zones. It actaully pretty awesome. The whole beach is open to surfing all day, and most of the shoobs and non-surfers generally stay out of the water (their own choice).

Sounds like yous guys in the NE got a pretty raw deal. They make everyone stay inside the no-surf zone? I'm not sure I understand how this rule works. And they make you pay to get on the beach? That fuking blows harder than cockfish.

IMO life guards are important and necessary. The ocean is the wilderness. As soon as a city starts putting public parking lots next to the ocean and giving the masses access to the beach, they have a responsibility to protect the inexperienced folks who make their way the 50 feet from their SUV and into the water.

 

o papa

 

I disagree. For the most part surfers don't know the ocean.

For the most part surfers are 14 year old mary and 60 year old mid life crisis guy who have absolutely zero board control and zero idea what they are doing. Out of 30 or more surfers in the summer there might be a few who can "actually surf"......


You aren't that special and no one cares about you. The towns care about the money they can make off badges not where CDsurf can go surfing. sorry.

That being said. On certain beaches I have guarded this has been possible and we have managed the beach that way. Overall swimmers must and will always have priority, as they should. What the hell is this "surfing" thing anyway?

Dude, boards would be flying in like missles if this were true. it would be sheer pandemonium.



Plus surfing covers a lot of ground. Swimmers 99% of them stay in one place.

 

That's why you make sure surfers have leashes. When the waves are good, surfers have the right of way. That's the ONLY way it should be. If its knee high or something, then let the swimmers have the beach to themselves. But, don't tell me that I cant surf in a good spot when its going off because "this is the swimming beach." If guards know the ocean so well, they should know that when the surf is good, WE have the right of way. So keep swimmers away and let surfers do their thing.
Also, some **** beach managers make their staff pull surfers out of the water during a nice swell even if its a yellow flag day and people are only allowed up to their waist. That is ridiculous.

I guarded for 10 years so ive seen it all.

 

True story: About 25 years ago in Ocean City I see a girl in waist deep water near a jetty and she is in a huge rip. The water was literally making rapids as it passed her it was running so hard. I could tell she was panicking as she tried to hold her ground. I jumped in. By the time I got to her she was in over her head and being sucked out to sea. Meanwhile the guards come running down to where this is happening and stay on the sand. The girl is in full blown panic mode thrashing and fighting me. I finally get her calmed down and swim her out of the rip and back to shore. I was exhausted bruised and cut up from the panicking girl's thrashing. The guards never left the sand. I was furious and got in the face of one of the guards wanting to know why they didn't help. His response.....I kid you not...."We thought you had it handled."

 

This is exactly why there should be way more "surfing" beaches.

 

I think ALL beaches should be CLOSED to surfing.
You should all take up "extreme knitting", even have World Knitting Competitions, held in Iowa.
You can even get "sponsored".!! Car advertisements will then show a bunch of knitters driving fast down sand dunes while knitting furiously in the car, the insides of which are custom made with wool knitting fabric.
You all are suited for this. Go for it!! Be a trend setter!!

 

And who, pray tell, defines and decides "when the waves are good"??!!??
Chamber of Commerce???

 

And at least one who can't swim.

I got two words: Sand Reconne.

Know before you go, dudes.