Ben Carlson, B.W.R.A.G, and the Bigger Picture.
Local Surfers, Lifeguards, and students of the BWRAG Mexico Surf Responder Summit gather around in a closing ceremony at Playa Zicatela in Puerto Escondido, Mexico.
They walked in with scarred bare feet. The students’ bodies "wore" healed wounds as stories alluding to interactions with surf fins, heavy wipeouts, and broken bones at the famed Mexican Pipeline. A subliminal attestation to their involvement in the surfing community, I could tell this wasn’t just another sterile training class; it was the first-ever BWRAG Surf Responder Summit in Puerto Escondido, specifically for the local community who had eagerly awaited such an opportunity.
A community of surfers, kids, shop owners, surf instructors, and parents brought in the real-life experiences that would lead one to appreciate the value of lifesaving techniques. Not only because their local break is one of the most powerful beach breaks in the world, but because they are connected to the bigger picture.
The Big Wave Risk Assessment Group (B.W.R.A.G.) was formed in 2012 in response, in part, to the tragic drowning of standout paddle-in big wave surfer Sion Milosky. For years, the sport of big wave surfing pushed the boundaries in size, scale, and scope, but the level of safety failed to rise commensurate with the risks. Every few years, the surf community mourned the passing of another fellow charger, yet the prevailing attitude was that death was an accepted consequence of this pursuit. After Sion’s death, a group of his close friends - Kohl Christensen, Danilo Couto, Mark Healey, Greg Long, and many others - came together and began a conversation about creating greater safety procedures in the sport. The group assembled a grassroots CPR training in Kohl’s barn on the North Shore led by Pam Foster, a 30-year ER nurse veteran and founder of the AED Institute of America, an organization that teaches civilians how to perform CPR and use AEDs. This nascent training would soon evolve into the organization’s signature two-day Surf Responder Summit, which teaches surfers and ocean athletes of all ages and abilities how to create safety where safety doesn’t exist and how to educate and train themselves to be an asset in an emergency situation.
BWRAG Instructors with the Ben Carlson Foundation board members.
The uniqueness of this connection synergized with the involvement of the Ben Carlson Foundation, established 10 years ago after the line-of-duty death of Ben Carlson, a Newport Beach Lifeguard who had died saving the life of another. During a large swell in 2014, Ben dove off the back of the Sea Watch rescue boat in Newport Beach, his victim buoyed up and eventually brought in, only Ben had disappeared under a large set, his body later recovered by his fellow lifeguards.
The passing of a lifeguard was an unknown possibility to most who simply take the profession at face value and the simpler aesthetic of Baywatch, red trunks, and "sitting" in a lifeguard tower.
In the wake of this horrible circumstance, however, the foundation came to create education, scholarships, and opportunities for lifeguards in underserved communities with less infrastructure for public safety but the same demands as far as the ocean is concerned. They have done a lot for the community of lifeguards in Puerto Escondido through consistent donations of uniforms, jet-ski equipment, a 4x4 vehicle, and essential rescue equipment. These simple tools enhance safety and capabilities for the lifeguards in unmeasurable ways from what they had before.
Ben Carlson also found refuge and connection in the community of Puerto Escondido, as he chased swells and barrels, along with the greater experiences that travel offers. This unique opportunity was made possible by the Ben Carlson Foundation, who sponsored the community to take the course for free. This wasn’t just a “one-off” course, it was the product of years of involvement with the community by Greg Long that culminated in recognizing a need for this knowledge. Don’t let "BIG WAVE RISK ASSESSMENT GROUP" fool you into thinking that this course is too advanced for you. This spark for knowledge simply stemmed from the big-wave surfers who began to see a greater global need for safety. The principles are simple and adaptable for many applications.
Greg Long demonstrates self application of a tourniquet to students.
BWRAG Master Instructor Greg Long is one of those people whose stories and credibility were vetted by the beast of a wave in Puerto and communities throughout the world. Like most people, I had never met Greg aside from seeing the massive waves he had ridden through surf videos and big wave contests. My other reference point on Greg came only through the lifeguard community of Greg’s dad, Steve Long, who served as a career lifeguard in San Clemente.
As a lifeguard instructor, I understood Greg as he spoke in distracted sentences over his computer while handling last-minute logistics the day before class. The class had more than doubled in size from 50 to 130 students once the word had gotten out adding additional pressure. He wasn’t being rude from ego or entitlement from his accomplishments, but rather I saw the intense focus required of any EMS instructor I had worked with previously.
Greg was no longer the Big Wave Surfer I had seen in folklore, but rather a humble leader whose final moments of preparation and last-minute changes were soon to become eager faces staring in class awaiting the lesson. Greg has his own stories of visceral connection to life-saving through his own rescue after a gnarly hold-down. Perhaps that is what brings his demeanor of focus and calm while the burden of delivering the best training possible neared, in a community that he had been connected with for quite some time.
BWRAG Instructor Greg Long leads a breathing exercise during the Surf Responder Summit in Puerto Escondido, Mexico.
Professional big wave surfer Coco Nogales holds up a pair of lifeguard “reds“ which were given to him by Ben Carlson, a Newport Beach Lifeguard who died in the line of duty while making a rescue. Puerto Escondido, Mexico
Professional big wave surfer Coco Nogales even pulled me aside during the training and shared the connection he made with Ben, and showed me the pair of lifeguard “reds” that Ben had given him years ago. As if we needed more evidence of the intertwined spirit of ocean culture. This is exactly why Ben’s legacy drives the Ben Carlson Foundation to partner up with entities such as BWRAG to ease the burden of local communities while simultaneously tapping into the international lifesaving theme.
Let us not forget that drowning is a global issue complicated by multi-sectoral problems that occurs more frequently in countries with less infrastructure, not just to big wave surfers.
These concepts came together with the participation of the Puerto Escondido lifeguards, tackling an operation in one of the most dangerous breaks in the world, with very little funding or support. I hadn’t been back to Puerto Escondido in 10 years since my own personal travels. When I walked alongside taller buildings, more hotels, and high end beachfront boutiques which weren’t there before, it was clear that the exponential burden of the local community had increased its demands for the lifeguards and surfers. Let’s start thinking past more crowded line-ups, but real physical consequences when large groups of people show up making dangerous choices in the ocean, and not respecting such a place, shifting the burden for safety etiquette onto the locals.
Students pay attention as BWRAG instructor Greg Long teaches lifesaving techniques with a surfboard in Puerto Escondido, Mexico.
I was lucky enough to have a section of a podcast interview with a friend and lifeguard who recently completed a PhD in coastal drowning prevention, William Koon. One of his studies was completed on surfers' awareness courses that fit the mold of what BWRAG delivered at this event.
BWRAG instructor Greg Long demonstrates surfboard rescue techniques during one of the skills rotations at the Mexico Surf Responder Summit.
“Importantly, this study provides evidence that the course successfully equips surfers with techniques to act responsibly and safely. Expanding coastal safety focus and resources towards surfers, an often-overlooked demographic in beach safety strategies, could substantially enhance community-level capacity to prevent and respond to ocean emergencies. If scaled up, this program has the potential to equip and empower thousands of surfers as community coastal safety ambassadors with prevention and rescue capacity, making beaches safer and ultimately reducing the impact of drowning on individuals and society.”
[Koon, Expanding the Evidence Base for Coastal Drowning Prevention. pg. 264]
The three days of training that ensued included a mixture of local people aged 13 to 60 years old. iPhones snapped photos of almost every slide in the PowerPoints to capture this brief unveiling of knowledge from some of the world's best surfers, lifeguards, and experienced instructors. Greg Long, Otto Flores, Kaipo Kelley, Alexia Echeagaray, and John Hoover completed the instructor roster. They were able to successfully instruct 130 people in three days in CPR, tourniquets, splinting, unconscious victim rescues, surfboard rescues, and management techniques to apply safety and awareness globally. No small feat. Personally, I was just the photographer on this trip, but the motivation and energy brought by the community, along with the professionalism of BWRAG’s mission combined with the support of The Ben Carlson Foundation, made it feel like being back home training lifeguards. Lifeguarding is simply that: a family of motivated individuals working as a team sharing the stoke of lifesaving in the ocean environment.
Everyone here was slowly becoming “Life-Guardians” whether they knew it or not.
As the course came to a close on the final day the circle of lifeguards, big wave surfers, surf instructors, locals, BWRAG, The Ben Carlson Foundation, became a unified community which had joined in purpose and connection through what they had just learned, to save lives. This was evidence of the finer nuances afforded through surfing, the ocean, and lifesaving. To say we are all connected by water is an understatement. We are connected through life and death, personal stories, struggles, and by the feeling within every one of us that yearns to help. We all rely on each other, the world relies on us, the future generations rely on us. Whether you are a surfer, lifeguard, or just taking a walk on the beach, life is made better by caring for one another, good surf, good stories, good people, and bare feet.
Students of the BWRAG Surf Responder Summit in Puerto Escondido gather for an evening ceremony to close the course with expressions of gratitude and unity.
When we come together through perspectives of safety and protecting this fragile thing we call Life, a universal and magical synergy reveals a bigger picture.
Group photo of the BWRAG Puerto Surf Responder Summit.