Women & Lifeguarding.

Joyce Hoffman and Del Mar City Beach Lifeguards, 1971. Photo Courtesy Tom Keck

Today, on International Women’s Day, we bring you two perspectives from lifeguards regarding women in the profession of lifeguarding.

Debbie Friedman worked as a State Lifeguard in San Clemente from 1978 through 1990. She became the first female Lifeguard Peace Officer in California in 1981. Debbie married a lifeguard and her children also became ocean lifeguards. She is incredibly passionate and is in the midst of documenting the history of California’s Women Ocean Lifeguards in the form of a book. She shares her perspective on some of the research she has already navigated and gives us a teaser to what the book will showcase on a greater scale.

Scarlett Loughlin is a San Diego City Lifeguard, and has been organizing the Water Women Empowerment Weekend for the last two years. An event which has brought women from varying agencies throughout the USA to join in a weekend of competition, connection, education, and much more. Scarlett is truly passionate about her work and has connected a broader community in the course of this event. A great example of advocating for the greater lifeguard community by connecting people together.

Please enjoy this brief introduction from Debbie and Scarlett. Two lifeguards I have had the pleasure of interacting with through this project. With much more to come!

International Women’s Day - March 8, 2024

California Women Ocean Lifeguards

Debbie Friedman, Aptos, California

In 1989, the TV series Baywatch, with an international audience spanning over 100 countries, introduced the world to CJ Parker, the first representation of a woman lifeguard on the screen. To this day, when I talk to people unfamiliar with lifeguarding, the most common response is: “Like Baywatch, right?” Women guards, past and present, including me, experience a sort of collective eye roll as we reconcile our own experiences in contrast to the most persistent image that Baywatch gave its 1.1 billion viewers worldwide: Pamela Anderson, styled long blonde hair, heaving breasts, running in slow motion down the beach.

For over a year, I’ve been researching the first generation of California Women Ocean Lifeguards who took to the surf in the 1970s and 1980s. I was part of this groundbreaking group, working as a lifeguard in San Clemente and Huntington State Beaches from 1978 through 1990.

I have interviewed over fifty people, mostly women, and their stories deeply moved me.

Our stories are unique, yet we all share common experiences working to save lives.

In these early years, women entered lifeguarding in uncharted waters with no other women to show us the way.

San Clemente State Lifeguards. Kim Raymont, Sandy Groos, Debbie Friedman, 1985. Photo Courtesy Mike Brousard

The first women hired at the different beaches up and down the coast brought unknowns. Lifeguards had always been men and, for the most part, white men. Some of the concerns seem trivial now. Where would these girl lifeguards go pee? There was a general fear and lack of knowledge about menstruation. And there was way too much time and energy spent worrying about where we would change our clothes.

Sally Tuttle, 1974, Point Mugu Rock, Courtesy Sally Tuttle

Sally Tuttle, the first woman to be a lifeguard at Ventura State Beaches in 1974, was told, “What are we supposed to do with you?” Sally was 6’1”, 150 pounds, and a national and international-level swimmer.

Some concerns were more serious. Are these females strong enough, and will our standards be compromised?

It has been over fifty years since the City of Del Mar Beach hired California’s first woman ocean lifeguard, professional surfer Joyce Hoffman, in 1971. And we now have answers to the many questions asked.

We all figured out how to go to the bathroom and change our clothes. The strength issue is always relevant because lifeguarding is a highly physical job. Women consistently meet and exceed the standards, past and present. Women have worked in all aspects of beach operations for decades, including training, supervision, and management. Obstacles, triumphs, and life-changing events marked our path.

Diversity in lifeguarding and leadership roles needs improvement. I’m hopeful that today’s lifeguards are working on these challenges.

The Lifeguard Project says, “Lifeguarding is for everyone.” I agree. The more people we involve, the more lives we will save.

I’d like to introduce you to a few of the women I met:

Reenie Taylor (Boyer)

Reenie broke barriers as the first woman lifeguard for Huntington City Beach in 1975. She transferred to Newport Beach and developed Junior Lifeguard programs that are models for the entire state. Reenie retired in the highest rank, Battalion Chief, and has been awarded lifetime achievement honors from the California Surf Lifesaving Association and the United States Lifesaving Association.

Kiane Nowell (Swartz)

Kiane was the first woman lifeguard hired by Los Angeles City in 1973. Kai was petite yet brought ocean experience from her life in Hawaii. Size remains a touchy subject in lifeguarding today.

Coleen Curry

Coleen was an NCAA swimmer from USC, worked at Huntington State Beach. She won the prestigious “Rookie of the Year” in 1982. All these years later, Coleen lives with vivid flashbacks of mass rescues, broken necks, and deadly car and bicycle accidents on Pacific Coast Highway.

Ingrid Loos (Miller)

Ingrid was a Mermaid, a beach program created for young girls in Laguna Beach. She was recruited and hired in 1977 and described her experience at age fifteen and a half as “...positives and crushing negatives.” Ingrid was the only woman working with fifty-plus other men that first summer. She went on to row the Catalina Channel in a dory and work as a beach supervisor.

Debra Trauntvein

Debra wanted to learn to surf and left for the North Shore of Oahu after High School in 1976. Soon after her arrival, she saw two bodies, a double drowning, brought to shore by helicopter. In response, Eddie Aikau gathered up the young people of the North Shore and taught them ocean safety. Eddie Aikau trained Debra! She returned to the mainland and became a seasonal lifeguard for the City of Santa Barbara. Debra is in her sixties and continues to surf.

And me, Debbie Friedman.

Kim Raymont and I were Mission Viejo Nadadores, pool swimmers. We became the first women seasonal lifeguards at San Clemente, Doheny, and San Onofre State Beaches in 1978. I transferred to Huntington State Beach as a full-time lifeguard. I married a lifeguard, my kids grew up as Junior Lifeguards, and they worked as seasonal lifeguards. Like all the women I’ve met, this is a brief piece of my story.

Debbie Friedman, Rookie year, 1978. Courtesy of Mike Brousard

Celebrating International Women’s Day is a good reminder to share our stories, support each other, and always find pride in our work as lifeguards.

I like to say, “Never forget, we saved lives.”

International Women’s Day - March 8, 2024

Water Women Empowerment Weekend

Scarlett Loughlin

The Water Women Empowerment Weekend has run for two consecutive years. Much like The Lifeguard Project, this event is about challenging awareness, making change, and empowering people through education. Over 150 women from around the entire country have joined together and have been positively impacted directly through the Water Women Empowerment Weekend.

Council Member Marni Von Wilpert holds a proclamation announcing “Water Women’s Day” along with Scarlett Loughlin in San Diego, CA.

This event was very special for me to watch unfold. When I became a San Diego City Lifeguard the professionalism, support, and encouragement there, showed me how passionate I was about lifeguarding. These experiences made me want to share that with the rest of the lifesaving community by empowering women and bringing them together. Seeing this community flourish together brought me so much joy and motivated me to expand that impact even further. I also saw a shift in how we can continue to enhance the event through ideas of leadership, resume workshops, and skillset building to help other women work towards their career in lifeguarding.

We connected women from all over the country to work together while also being recognized locally by the City of San Diego. Council Member Marni Von Wilpert surprised us at the 2nd annual event with a proclamation declaring Water Women’s Day in the City of San Diego! We have seen agencies employ new strategies such as peer support teams, breast feeding/lactation policies for their women lifeguards, and more to support all lifeguards equally.

I saw friendships begin during Water Women Weekend which are still prospering. Whether training together, studying together, or furthering their career, these water women have walked away from the event with the goal of empowerment and living that out to the fullest.

The Water Women Empowerment Weekend has become more than just an event, but rather a greater community.

With this reach, we hope that each of those women can be the drop of water to make waves of change in the agencies they work in, coming together to break through ceilings, and pave the way for future water women.

We celebrate the women who have come before us, the women paving the way for change now, the women who will follow in our footsteps, and the men that support us.

I would like to thank Scarlett and Debbie for their contribution to this project and to the work they have done. Thank you to all lifeguards past and present who are continuing to impact this community and reflect the spirit which many have yet to understand. Stay tuned, as this is only a brief introduction into a deeper subject within lifeguarding. Thank you for reading!