Newport’s “Off-Season.”
Presented By: The Ben Carlson Foundation
The first story in a series of stories presented by the Ben Carlson Foundation in partnership with The Lifeguard Project. What better way to start than taking you to where Ben Carlson served, The Newport Beach Fire Department Lifeguard Division. Ben Carlson was a Newport Beach lifeguard who tragically died in the line of duty while making a heroic rescue during a large swell in 2014. If you are unaware of this story please read further on this via the Ben Carlson Foundation website.
Lifeguarding has always been misunderstood and underestimated.
It is difficult to express and internalize the subtleties of performing life-saving service in an ocean environment by way of text and imagery. No feeling is greater misunderstood until having been inside of that environment. Most people go to the beach to enjoy themselves and turn off their “radar“ of work and life. It is easy to attribute that perspective towards the person who seemingly “sits“ in a lifeguard tower doing “nothing“.
It is quite the opposite.
That’s why I began making images of lifeguards during the winter, and in the supposed “off“ season which never exists for rescuers. The wintertime is when the surf in California gets large from winter swells coming from the northern parts of the world. Rain and storms cause flooding and lifeguards are short staffed. The wintertime is a time for training for the next big emergency looming in the distance.
An aerial image of the Newport Beach peninsula, harbor, and greater orange county during the “winter“.
The Newport peninsula stretches a total of 6.2 miles, covering an additional 2.5 miles of beach inside the bay, which contains approximately 9,000 vessels, and boasts one of the most iconic waves in the world, The Wedge. The access to this Orange County sand paradise is ever littered with people from around the world, with houses lining the stretch of coast which literally step onto the sand. This makes Newport Beach a unique environment that presents diverse challenges year round.
This is why the lifeguards must approach their work in the same unique way.
A pair of lifeguard Yucca fins are staged ready for a rescue in a lifeguard vehicle reading “safety, service, and professionalism”.
The Newport Beach Lifeguards are a byproduct of a highly diverse and challenging environment, and they have plenty to show for it. Amongst statistics from the everyday operations, the Newport Lifeguards have been challenged by several standout situations. The Newport Lifeguards have had almost every known option of a rescue on their stomping grounds.
Shark attacks
Sand Entrapments
Helicopter Crash
Underwater recovery for one of their own.
Situations where statistics are simply injustice. Where one tally mark, actually reflects a mark left on your life, and your career.
What does that “one” rescue demand of your spirit, mental ingenuity, and physical fitness? The culmination of years of experience strained to execute a monstrous feat of split-second, life-changing decision-making.
All of these rescues are heroic, many sad, but what people need to be made aware of is that it is not simply “A” rescue, or “ONE” rescue. These are moments that are effected by highly trained professionals, who have been training for years, just to be able to enter an extremely challenging and dangerous circumstance with composure and grace.
No amount of movies, statistics, or science can explain the skill, intuition, and grit needed to show up to “ONE” of these rescues.
As I showed up to take photos for the day, I walked past the statue of Ben Carlson, into the Ben Carlson Memorial Headquarters. The crew was prepping their morning gear with intention and and general ambiance of dedicated professionalism.
“Come on in, we are doing a training”.
Next thing you know I was digging in the sand during the rain or jumping out of a helicopter alongside the guards. These guys and gals train year round, rain or shine. A detail most people do not know about lifeguards in general. The beach can be empty but they are always watching, and still working.
These were the seasoned guards, folks that have been around for a while. The air was filled with an underlying tone of seriousness and humility as I was welcomed in as one of their own. (As a guard from another agency there needs to be trust built for a new friend or coworker when performing/documenting rescue work.)
Newport Lifeguards dig to locate a simulated victim of a sand entrapment during a training exercise.
Newport Lifeguard Battalion Chief Brian O’Roarke digs with a shovel during a sand entrapment training.
The Newport Guards trained with intention, motivation, and stoke. There is something to be said about your Chief and Battalion Chief in the trenches with you (literally digging a trench) in the pouring rain. That kind of leadership reflects strongly.
The guards trained with the Huntington Beach Police Department in getting dropped off from the helicopter in the event of an offshore rescue.
These rare but critical circumstances are not just important to train on but also indicate the interagency relationships the lifeguards build as an integral part of the public service community. The Newport Guards have been tested time and time again, and the helicopter training demands proving yourself when there is no one around to see, and the towers aren’t open.
Newport Beach Lifeguards and Huntington Beach Police discuss safety procedures for deploying a lifeguard from a helicopter during an interagency training.
Newport Beach Lifeguard Gary Conwell jumps from the Huntington Beach Police helicopter during an interagency training with the Huntington Beach Police Department.
Lifeguards also operate at night. The Newport Christmas Parade operates for days with a crowd of vessels that are well… definitely participating in the “cheer” of the holiday. During my ride-along there, the Newport Lifeguards received report of a potentially intoxicated male with a Santa hat and a small inflatable boat, no lights, an obvious safety hazard. He was somehow found in the madness between a Christmas rush hour of massive yachts, thanks to the ability and knowledge of the skilled rescue boat operators. Santa ended up being severely intoxicated and left with the Orange Country Sheriff safely.
A Newport Beach Lifeguard prepares the rescue boat for an evening shift before the Newport Harbor Christmas Holiday Parade in Newport Beach, CA.
The Newport Beach Lifeguard receives a radio report as he patrols the Newport Harbor during the Christmas Holiday Parade in Newport Beach, CA.
A potentially intoxicated male is helped out of the Newport Christmas Parade thoroughfare from a small vessel with no lights as the Orange County Sheriff investigates the situation.
Newport Beach Lifeguards patrol the Newport Beach Holiday Parade under the moonlit sky.
I leave you with this last example of the greater community and the opposite of anything “sexy” about lifeguarding.
Most don’t think of lifeguards when referring to “first responders” during the Covid-19 pandemic. But they were there, with the same worries as everyone. A new pandemic, unknown updates about the severity, and a large influx of beach goers seeking an instant social distancing refuge.
The majority of the verbal abuse from the pandemic was directed at the lifeguards after the beaches were declared closed. The Newport Guards came at this with yet another creative approach and deputized their lifeguards with EMT certifications to give intramuscular injections of the vaccines.
A Newport Lifeguard documents, as a Laguna Beach Lifeguard administers a vaccine to a California State Parks Lifeguard, during the covid pandemic.
This isn’t a political conversation either, the community had a need, and the lifeguards responded. As members of a diverse and ever changing community they continue to glue it together through awareness and service. In the photo from one of the clinics you can see the collaboration as a State Parks Lifeguard receives a vaccine from a Laguna Beach Lifeguard, documented by a Newport Beach Lifeguard.
The ocean lays dormant until it decides to strike, and Newport Lifeguards are ready, always anticipating the next challenge. So stop by and say hello. A “Thank you” goes a long way. The spirit of this agency is rooted in safety, service, and professionalism as is writtien on their vehicles and showcased by their guards’ work ethic.
“This building is dedicated in his memory and to remind junior lifeguards, lifeguards, and the public to pause and realize the Pacific Ocean requires a high level of respect.”
This is not Baywatch.
The community of Newport Beach, and the Newport Beach Fire Department Lifeguard Division knows it. Have respect for these diverse rescuers. This is on behalf of all lifeguards. The Newport Beach Lifeguards exemplify that there is so much more to the profession. 365 days a year, rain or shine, ocean, sand, or sky. There is no “Off” season.
Thank you for reading,
