Saturday, November 29, 2008

Big Wave Surfing Legend Buzzy Kerbox !

For all those of you who would rather be Surfing.....

(x-ref: YouTube - Buzzy Kerbox - Big Wave Surfer Buzzy Kerbox is another guy who is GREAT at what he does. I ... 4 min 3 sec - www.youtube.com/watch?v=_x0YtFUYSvY)

A. Meet Buzzy Kerbox at PALISKATES on Friday, December 5, 2008 from 4 - 8 pm

if you would like to see Buzzy's Surf Photo and Lifestyle Collection Debut !


Photo source: Courtesy of www.Kerbox.com

When: Friday, Dec. 5, 2008 from 4 - 8 pm
Where: 1019 Swarthmore Ave., Pacific Palisades

(x-ref: Paliskates - Pacific Palisades, CA Feb 21, 2008 ... Read 1 Review of Paliskates in Pacific Palisades, CA. This is a posh store nestled in the heart of Pacific Palisades. http://www.insiderpages.com/b/3711659371)

*** "County Recurrent" hosted after-party will be held at "The Oak Room" Bar next door to Paliskates at 8 pm. BYO $. Bring your own tales of Big Wave Surf you have conquered. ***

(x-ref: The Oak Room - Pacific Palisades - Pacific Palisades, CA 90272, 5 Reviews on Yelp.com - "We were impressed with the service and food. I enjoyed the Mayor's burger. It was cooked just like I like it...medium rare. http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-oak-room-pacific-palisades)

"Disclaimer": If there is a "Dump Alert" from Mammoth Mountain between now and Dec. 4th, County Recurrent reserves the right to bail on the entire Buzzy Kerbox event and you are on your own.

B. Bonus Buzzy "Big Wave" Workout:

Join Buzzy for his All-Natural "Big Wave" Workout ! Saturday, Dec. 6th at 9 a.m. Meet at Palisades/Malibu YMCA, at 821 Via De La Paz, Pac. Pal., CA 90272.

(x-ref: http://www.ymcala.org/Branch/Default.aspx?ENT=63 )

To RSVP for "Buzzy's Beach Workout", call 310.600.4484

These Events are sponsored by Miramar Coastal Properties.

Friday, November 28, 2008

Happy Hour At Duke's



Dateline: Friday, Nov. 21, 2008
Duke's Restaurant, Waikiki
http://www.dukeswaikiki.com/


It was Five O'Clock.... (x-ref: Jimmy Buffet; www.youtube.com/watch?v=ib8nH4kHjxk) but all I had was the Half-Pound Chedder Cheeseburger and an Iced Tea, anyways ! Probably the Best Burger in Waikiki ! Far superior to that of "Cheeseburger in Paradise" just down the road, which has a soft doughy bun that can stick to the roof of your mouth..... which is a shame because the burger is tasty as are the fries but they are stuck on their cheap-ass bun.

At DUKE's, however, the experience is right on the money: ambience, food, service, decor, location. Just ask the guy at the end of the bar in the photo above who is obviously well "lit" !...

"County Recurrent" is polling its readership... and asking them to let us know if they have any recommendations for burgers in Hawaii. Inquiring County Recurrent appetites require this crucial information.

Please advise.

Mahalo,

Will Maguire
"County Recurrent" News
will.maguire@verizon.net

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Meanwhile on the West Coast of the Big Island...

Readers will recall our earlier Blog Post regarding the recent "North Shore Storm Warning" previously posted on this Blog on 11.14.08... and we thought that you would like to know that while it was breaking loose on the North Shore of Oahu, here is what it looked like on the west coast of the Big Island in Kailua-Kona at the point break called KBS (aka "Kona By The Sea"), about a mile south of the village, where the "County Recurrent" newsdesk was situated to observe the forecasted swell.

So without further adieu, here are four shots of the clean 3 foot (maybe) right breaking waves being shredded by a couple of local bodyboarders on the afternoon of Nov. 13th, 2008.




Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Scotty, Beam Me Up !.....



This will do just fine:

Queen's Beach, aka, Duke's Statue,
Waikiki, Oahu, State of Hawaii, USA
November 21, 2008.

This is what a wet dream should look like:

ocean, lots of it
sand, lots of it
sunshine, lots of it
surfboards, bodyboards, swimsuits, bikinis.... and LOTS OF THEM !

Thank you and Good Nite !

(editor's note: note the board meeting in progress in lower left hand quadrant of photo above, showing a quorum of four, make that FIVE board members present...)

Monday, November 24, 2008

"I'm Sorry, But Mr. Fletcher Is Not Available"

Dateline: Thursday, Nov. 13, 2008 at approx. 8:30 a.m., UAL Gate #76 @ LAX.

I think to myself, gee that looks like John Fletcher and his wife that just sat down over there in the same gate area for the flight to Kona this morning..... hmm... I think I will call his office to see if he is in.... ? !......

"Good morning, Fletcher, White & Adair, may I help you ?"

- Yes, may I speak to Mr. Fletcher, it's Mr. Maguire returning his phone call.

"I'm sorry, but Mr. Fletcher is on another line. Can I have him return your call ?"

- Yes, certainly. He has my number. Thanks. Goodbye.

Just a short while later "in flight" said John Fletcher, Zuma Attorney-LACo Zuma OL was found reading a novel by George Orwell and otherwise napping across a row of seats on the not even half full flight.




And on arrival, Fletch is found to indeed be available as he waves to his
entourage of lei-greeting wahines and fans, his waiting limo and quiver of surfboards in anticipation of the aforementioned blogged about "North Shore Storm Warning" previously posted on this Blog on 11.14.08...




(editor's note: it's amazing who you see skipping town on a thursday morning in the middle of November bound for the Hawaiian islands...)

Waikiki Box Jellyfish Invasion



Apparently, this is not unusual and just after each Full Moon the Box Jellyfish invade Oahu beaches. This past week in Waikiki, the lifeguards at Queen's Beach in Waikiki (at Duke's Statue) posted Box Jellyfish warning signs.

Source material: http://www.hawaiiforvisitors.com/nature/box-jellyfish.htm

The undersigned, on assignment from "County Recurrent", asked the lifeguard to compare the sting of a Box Jellyfish to that of the infamous "Portuguese Man O' War".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_Man_o'_War

He replied that the Box Jellyfish's sting was MUCH WORSE than that of the Man O' War.... (editor's note: yeah, maybe so, but Man O' War is a much better name and certainly has a nastier, albeit perhaps not quite accurate, reputation). Nevertheless, the undersigned scrubbed his aquatic plans for that day, e.g., exit stage left, as he did not want to get stung.

Keeping you informed whether you like it or not...

Will Maguire
"County Recurrent" News

Board Meeting


Dateline: Waikiki, Oahu, November 21, 2008

County Recurrent" apologizes for the lapse of content of late but we were
in a Board Meeting (above).

Other Board Meeting Topics shown below... These boards are on display in entryway of Kona Inn, in Kailua-Kona, on the Big Island of Hawaii:




Friday, November 14, 2008

North Shore Storm Warning !

Can you say Monster Surf !? If so, check out this article courtesy of the Honolulu Advertiser !

"North Shore lifeguards handed out some 500 verbal safety warnings, but conducted only one rescue yesterday — unusual for high-wave conditions, according to Cheplic.

At around 9 a.m., lifeguards rescued a bodyboarder in his 20s after he collided with a surfer at Pipeline, Cheplic said. Lifeguards brought the man to shore at Ehukai Beach Park, where paramedics treated his injuries. The man was then taken to an area trauma center in serious condition..." (Honolulu Advertiser, 11.14.08)

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20081114/NEWS01/811140340/-1/LOCALNEWSFRONT

Also, check out the adjacent video !

Until next time...


County Recurrent" News,
Kailua-Kona NewsDesk

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Winter Storm Warning !


I've said it before, I'll say it again: I just love that statement !

This time, however, we are talking the White Stuff, aka Snow, the stuff that dreams, skis and snowboards are made of/for.

In the photo below, retired LACo OLS Bill Powers, is getting an early start on the previous evening's (11.08) one foot plus snowfall in Mammoth Lakes, Calif. As Bill pointed out to the undersigned, it is crucial to get to clearing the snow before it "sets up". Apparently, once it warms up and the sun gets on it, forget about removing the snow/ice from the driveway. So here he was, the original mountain man that he now is, out there at 0800 hrs making a 'prevention' and saving his driveway and otherwise avoiding being set up...



And as we were exiting the property we could not help but notice (see below) that Bill is still doing laps to stay in shape.... and by all accounts he is at least on Lap 5 or 6 and it is not yet 0830 hrs.




Until next time...

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Sunset at SMN T-9 !


SMN T-9:

A Classic Sunset beyond SMN Tower 9 for your viewing pleasure.
Photo by Will Maguire. Used here with permission.

"Remembering Veteran's Day", by Jeff McConnel

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

"County Recurrent" joins America in celebrating and honoring all Veteran's!

In this regard, we invite you to read Capt. Jeff McConnel's (former L.A. City and LACo Beach Lifeguard) blog post of today:

"Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Remembering Veterans Day

http://jeffmcconnel.blogspot.com

A day to remember all the veterans that served overseas over many years....if you haven't already please read the post after this one....

A return to Dachau after sixty years

C.E. Bill McConnel, a "tech 5" half-track driver first marched into Dachau with the United States Army's 20th Armored Division on April 29, 1945, as a 23 year old soldier..."

-------------------------------------

Thank you Jeff !

Until next time,

Will Maguire,
on behalf of COUNTY RECURRENT News
http://CountyRecurrent.blogspot.com
email: will.maguire@verizon.net

Keeping the County Recurrent "in the loop" !

DISCLAIMER: County Recurrent is not affiliated with nor sponsored by LACOLA or LACoFD.

*** PLEASE forward to other Recurrents, past and present, so that we can add them to our mailing list. ***

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Thursday, November 6, 2008

It was a dark and stormy nite...

oops, no it wasn't ! But this story you cannot skip !

Just in from Bill Asturias in Guatemala, Ret. Lt. LACo and Santa Monica City Lifeguard (Copyright 2008 Bill Asturias. All Rights Reserved. Used here with permission).



(Photo of Bill Asturias, looking studley, on the deck of, where else, SMS T-26, in his rip stop nylon red LACo lifeguard trunks, circa '75 -'77. Photo courtesy of Bill Asturias. Used here with permission).


"It Was A Cold January Day In 1977", by Bill Asturias:

It was a cold January day in 1977, I was working T26 S.M.S. the winter surf was huge, consistant 8 to 10' with bigger sets of more than 12'... the waves were breaking well beyond the ruins of the old P.O.P. pier, many surfers were trying to paddle out but only a handful were able to make it and as soon as they thought they were beyond the break zone a larger set would push them right back to shore.

I was looking at a group of three surfers that decided to climb the jetty South of T-27 and jump off it's end to try and go out, they had been timing the sets and felt that the right time had come as all three of them jumped in and began paddling out, no sooner had the third surfer jumped in when I noticed a huge train of waves on the horizon approaching rapidly, the first wave broke right in front of the three surfers blowing them off of their boards, two of the surfers managed to climb back on and rode the huge white water from the second wave to shore, the third surfer had lost his board and was getting pummeled by the waves.

I picked up the phone and requested assistance code 3, my call was answered by John Thomas, I sprinted towards T 27 and hit the water I could barely see the head of the surfer as another set of waves was approaching, the only way I was able to locate him was when the swell would pick him up, I managed to reach him and barely avoided the break by pulling him out to sea, I kept looking for the Call Car or at least to hear the siren as I kept swimming out to try and avoid the drop zone with my victim, when I looked up and saw this huge wall of water, no way I was going to be able to make it by dragging my exhausted surfer, the wave picked us up and as I looked at my victim I managed to look towards the beach and the last I remember was seeing the asphalt compost shingles on the top of the roof of T-26 before going over the falls with my victim. Next thing I remember were my knees hitting the bottom close to shore, my victim was standing up in knee deep water but would not let go of the rescue can.

That huge wave had picked us up and and after kicking our asses deposited us right on shore, I looked up and managed to see John Thomas sprinting from the parking lot to assist me and I wondered where the call car was, it turned out that the call car was handling another call and John had jumped in his own car and driven from Santa Monica headquarters running numerous red traffic lights in the process, now that's what I call back up !!!

Postscript: Asked if he remembered this day's excitement, John Thomas replied to Bill Asturias, as follows:

"I RECALL THAT DAY AT 26, FRANTICALLY SPEEDING DOWN THE STREET, RUNNING ALL THE STOP SIGNS TO GET TO THE RIP YOU WERE IN WITH THAT SURFER. MY ONLY REGRET WAS I DIDN'T GET THERE FASTER TO KEEP YOU FROM GETTING WORKED BY THE SHOREPOUND. THAT SURFER WAS VERY HAPPY TO SEE YOU AS I RECALL. YOU MUST HAVE TAKEN A DOZEN WAVES IN THE DROP ZONE GETTING THAT KID IN. YOU LOOKED LIKE YOU HAD GONE FIVE ROUNDS WITH MIKE TYSON, BUT YOU WERE STILL WALKING TALL. THOSE WERE GREAT DAYS, IN SPITE OF ALL THE SHIT WE HAD TO PUT UP WITH, BECAUSE WE HAD EACH OTHER. NEVER WILL FORGET ALL THE GOOD TIMES WE SHARED. HOPE TO SEE YOU ONE OF THESE DAYS IF YOU GET UP TO LOS USTADIOS UNIDOS, MY FRIEND." John Thomas, Sept. 22, 2008.

------------------------

County Recurrent extends its THANKS to both Bill and John for their recounting of this harrowing big surf rescue ! Wow ! And JT, the backup effort in your circa '67 vw van with the wheels falling off and the peeling paint and the long since broken shock absorbers, not to mention the sand and bed bugs in the back.... well, the effort was stupendous ! One can only imagine the screams from the back of the van of ghosts of conquests past as you put the pedal to the metal and raced down Ocean Ave. past Pico, Bay St., Bicknell, Hollister and Ocean Park Blvd., squealing tires of little tread on the corners..... priceless !

(note: turns out I was not off by much on the vintage of JT's personal back up vehicle as he clarified this morning, ".... THE SLED WAS A 73' VW CAMPER VAN WITH VERY BAD BRAKES......I LAID ON THE HORN AND THE GAS...PEDAL TO THE METAL.....BY THE TIME I MADE PICO, I WAS DOING ABOUT 60.....I WAS IN A FRENZY TO GET TO BILLY, AS THE VIEW FROM THE HQ WINDOW THRU THE 10 POWER BUSHNELLS WAS PRETTY GRIM. BILLY WAS GETTING WORKED PRETTY BAD IN SOME HUGE SURF AND GETTING SWEPT TOWARD THE 27 ROCKS..... THAT WAS A MEMORABLE DAY....LIKE SO MANY OTHERS. NEVER WILL FORGET IT."

"County Recurrent" is desperate for more of these stories to share with its readership, and that means "YOU" the readership. Break out the No.02 pencils. Or better yet, sit down at the keyboard and type. Even Greg Jackson has promised to do so..... so the pressure is on !

County Recurrent out, 10-7, until next time.

************************

Bill Asturias on "Memorial Day, 1978"


(Photo above: Bill Asturias "back in the day", early 70's, several years before the merger with LACo. Here he is in his Santa Monica City lifeguard uniform. Note the Pete Peterson tube. Photo courtesy of Bill Asturias. Used here with permission).

MEMORIAL DAY, 1978: RIPS, RESCUES AND INSHORE HOLES ON SANTA MONICA SOUTH

*** Bill Asturias writes:

I certainly remember that day as if it were yesterday, we had a very stormy winter that year and had lost a lot of sand, some filling of the inshore holes was beginning to take place but the bottom of SMS was very chewed up, some inshore holes were very deep even at low tide and even more treacherous at high tide where the inshore holes were fed by the returning water from each incoming wave, each and every inshore hole had it’s own current.

The surf was inconsistent 2-4′ and the weather was a very warm 82. It was Memorial Day and the crowd was huge.

We requested all the guards available and doubled up and tripled some towers due to the rescue activity. I remember working tower 26 doubled with Mark Newman, Jim Oppliger was at station 27, Will Maguire was at station 25.

At around the middle of the day high tide was reaching it’s peak and we had been keeping an eye on an overweight young girl that her parents had assisted to the water’s edge and had been sitting playing by the shore, when all of the sudden a lateral current built up and began picking up all the waders from the area between tower 27 and 26, about 60 or so including the non swimmer overweight girl depositing all right smack in the middle of the inshore hole. The reaction of all the guards was immediate and we began assisting and rescuing everybody that was caught in the current.

The overweight girl was struggling trying to stand up to no avail. I got to her and she held the rescue can and I began swimming towards the shore, the other lifeguards had more than one victim in their cans also and were swimming back towards shore with their victims, I noticed how easy they would pull away from me as we all swam towards shore. Mark Newman and Oppliger came back to assist me with my victim since I was not making any headway, all three of us worked for a good 15 to 20 minutes swimming, pushing and pulling until we reached the shore and were able to assist our victim in standing up. I was so grateful with my fellow lifeguards for their assistance and we all were very impressed by the size of our victim, easily over 300 pounds, she was so overweight that the skin on her forehead would drop over her eyes making it very difficult for her to see.

I believe that day was a record in rescues made in SMS.

--------------
Editor's note: To see the complete article on Memorial Day 1978 of which Bill's contribution is a part, please click on the following link to the County Recurrent ANNEX blog at:

http://lacorla.wordpress.com

--------------

Until next time,


Will Maguire,
on behalf of COUNTY RECURRENT News
http://CountyRecurrent.blogspot.com
email: will.maguire@verizon.net

Keeping the County Recurrent "in the loop" !

DISCLAIMER: County Recurrent is not affiliated with nor sponsored by LACOLA or LACoFD.

*** PLEASE forward to other Recurrents, past and present, so that we can add them to our mailing list. ***

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Tuesday, November 4, 2008

"Memorial Day 1983" by Dave Estey, OLS, Ret.



Photo above: SMS Tower 24 "back in the day" as it was when Dave worked there on Memorial Day 1983. Photo by Steven J. Koeppe. Used here with his permission.



Photo above: Dave Estey, Nov. 2007 at SMHQ, just a few short months before his retirement. Photo by Will Maguire. Used here with his permission.

The recently retired Dave Estey, in a special guest appearance herein, recalls for us the sheer danger of inshore holes in combination with lateral currents and rip currents, in yet another Memorial Day on Santa Monica South. This time in 1983 after the infamous March storms that year tore into the Santa Monica Bay and wreaking havoc on the local piers and chewing up the sand leaving inshore holes and contouring of the bottom that would spell D-A-N-G-E-R come Spring and summer. So without any further adieu:

"Most Rescues in a Day
Memorial Day 1983
SMS T-24
(Copyright 2008 Dave Estey. All Rights Reserved. Used here with permission).

The conditions were classic spring with a lot of sand having been moved around recently creating big holes, trenches and bars. The weather was hot for the holiday and the beach was crowded early. Many of the towers were still back in their winter positions and almost useless as lifeguarding platforms. The tide was high late morning and ebbing throughout the busiest part of the afternoon. There was a large hole about fifteen feet across just south of my tower and as the tide started to ebb a strong rip current fed into the hole surrounded by knee to waist deep water. Doing my best to keep people out of the hole and the feeder current I spent several hours knee deep preventing many rescues but wound up with twenty five rescues including a couple of triples, a quad, a quint, and a six pack all without back up. The easiest rescues were made by positioning myself in shallow water inshore of the hole and just picking the victims off before the rip current could pull them into the hole. I was picking up a double on the edge of the hole when a body boarder with another non swimmer clinging to the board got sucked off their feet toward the hole. I managed to have the body boarder get hold of the can with the original two victims and turned to drag them to shore. With me standing in waist deep water facing shore and the four victims, two on the can and two on the body board, floating over the hole I saw two more kids being sucked toward the hole from inshore. I positioned myself so that I could grab the right arm of one and the left arm of the other as they got sucked by. Realizing that I was losing my footing and starting to get pulled into the hole I scanned the beach for back up. There was not a guard on the beach anywhere on all of SMS. There were blitzes in progress at 18, 20, 22, and 26 and the only cans I could find were all involved in other rescues; I was on my own. Gaining about a half step toward shore with every wave I finally managed to wrestle the crowd into shallow water where the rip was not pulling and start releasing them. Before all of them were standing firmly on the bottom two more bathers were starting the process over losing their feet in the feeder, here we go again!"

North Shore Grinds



Capt. Steve Saylors, Ret., outside the local lunch spot in the hills above Honolulu. One might otherwise think this restaurant was on the North Shore of Oahu. Gotta love the name of the joint, though, which has fabulous fish and very reasonable prices. You betcha bro'.

Steve, proving there is life after lifeguarding, got dressed up for our lunch a couple of Novembers ago during the undersigned's annual pilgrimage to the Big Island and Oahu. You gotta love Hawaii where all you need is a t-shirt, shorts, sandals and sunglasses (and some sunscreen or a hat). Bags packed. Done.

The Aloha Spirit is Alive and the Islands are replete and scattered with County Recurrents. If you've never been, you're working too much.

Aloha,


Will Maguire,
on behalf of COUNTY RECURRENT News
http://CountyRecurrent.blogspot.com
email: will.maguire@verizon.net

Keeping the County Recurrent "in the loop" !

DISCLAIMER: County Recurrent is not affiliated with nor sponsored by LACOLA or LACoFD.

*** PLEASE forward to other Recurrents, past and present, so that we can add them to our mailing list. ***

*** OPT - OUT *** Just hit reply and type in "Opt Out" in the subject line to be removed from this email list.

*** OPT IN *** Just send us an email and we will add you to the list.


* * * * *

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Memorial Day, 1978: Rips, Rescues and Inshore Holes

MEMORIAL DAY, 1978: Rips, Rescues and Inshore Holes"

Written by: Bill Asturius, Jim Oppliger, Roy Salter, Adrian Crook, Eric Moore and Will Maguire.

Introduction:

The Venue: Santa Monica South (aka, SMS)

Thirty years have passed since that day back on Memorial Day Weekend of 1978 that Santa Monica South became an all day series of blitzes, with rescues from rip tides and vicious inshore holes and lateral currents. Perspectives have been shaped in the course of these years with each lifeguard forming his own opinions and, of course, each having their own unique experience.

(to read this entire article and posting), please direct your browser to the County Recurrent ANNEX Weblog:

http://lacorla.wordpress.com


http://lacorla.wordpress.com


Until next time,


COUNTY RECURRENT News
http://CountyRecurrent.blogspot.com
email: will.maguire@artnet.net

•••

Saturday, November 1, 2008

The Admiral Remembered, by Jeff McConnel

Saturday, November 1, 2008

My Mentor
Captain Ed Perry
by Jeff McConnel

(Excerpt)

Having just turned 18, I had the pleasure of meeting Captain Ed Perry during the 1968 L.A. City rookie school training with Harold (Hal) Dunnigan and Rudy Geitel. We had been through most of the training at that time, nearly “lifeguards”........
(for the complete story, go to:

Captain Jeff McConnel's Blogblog

A collection of photos, stories of fact, fiction and exxageration

http://jeffmcconnel.blogspot.com

Copyright 2008 Jeff McConnel. All Rights Reserved.
Jeff McConnel, jeffmcconnel@usa.net
Web Blog: http://JeffMcConnel.blogspot.com

**********************************