(All photos courtesy of Chris Bredesen. Used here with permission. Please do not reproduce without permission.)
In this blog post, County Recurrent is pleased to interview LACo Recurrent, Chris Bredesen, who has enthusiastically agreed to share with us his recent surf trip to the Mentawai Islands in Indonesia in 2008 and to show us some photos. Needless to say, we are stoked!
First of all, County Recurrent has cribbed some of Chris' interests from his Facebook page which include the following interesting characteristics of this LACo Recurrent:
Interests: Surfing, working, playing
Favorite TV Shows: Entourage
Favorite Quotations: "Work hard, play hard"
*** And now, to the focus of this blog post:
"County Recurrent" Q&A With Chris Bredesen, March 18, 2009:
County Recurrent (CR): Good morning, Chris.
Chris Bredesen (Chris): G'Day to all my fellow LACo Recurrents.
CR: So tell us a bit about yourself?
Chris: I was born on Christmas Day, 1982. I grew up in Palos Verdes Estates, California and graduated from USC in 2005. In 2007 I got my MBA in Finance at Pepperdine. I've been a LACo Recurrent since 2001. The areas I've worked include all of Southern Section and a few times in Northern Section. When I'm not lifeguarding or surfing I am working on opening restaurants. I currently have opened up a café, called the M-Café, inside of the South Bay BMW dealership. I also will be opening a new restaurant in Manhattan Beach, called Memphis at the Beach. It will be open in June 2009 and will be located by the Manhattan Pier (where TOWNE is currently located). Come by and enjoy a family style atmosphere at a reasonable price. Oh, and the food is amazing!
CR: Share with us a memorable rescue:
Chris: Well we all have had rescues in our careers that we never forget. Each one is special to someone for certain reasons. My most memorable rescue occurred about 2 summers ago at Dockweiler. Two brothers were swimming together and got stuck in a rip current. What was so scary was that the bigger brother was so scared of drowning that he was on top of his younger brother and drowning him. I swam out and had to physically push the bigger brother off the smaller one and hope that the younger one was still breathing. Fortunately he was ok and I swam them both in to the beach. The entire family came down and hugged and thanked me. It was a great feeling knowing that the entire family was going home safely.
CR: Name some of your rookie school chums?
Chris: My rookie school? You must mean the best rookie school ever! Talk about talent! Blaine Morgan was an Olympic caliber swimmer, as well as Micah Carlson. My buddy Pat Fucci and the infamous Brian Murphy… we had a great class… I think Lidia Barillas is a permanent guard now… we all know who we are, CLASS of 2001!
CR: When did you travel to the Mentawai Islands in Indonesia and for what purpose?
Chris: Well I actually have been to the Mentawai Islands 4 other times. Two of the other times were for a video and photo shoot for Longboard Magazine. This time was completely for fun (the pictures were taken by us). It was a group of USC graduates that wanted to get back together and take a great trip together.
CR: Tell us a bit about each of the photos below, as well as the photo at the top of this article ?
Chris: Well, the photo at the top of this page was taken while on our boat (I will call it a yacht, it was beautiful). We would sit on the bow and drink beers and watch the sunset, after a LONG day of surfing perfect waves. The sun set perfectly behind the clouds and the rays were shining through. There is a god, trust me…
Chris (re: photo above): This photo was taken at Lances Left I believe. It was pretty big that day (as I am around 6’6” tall, to give you some perspective) and really clean conditions. I rode the same 9’0” Hap Jacobs epoxy longboard all trip long and got really comfortable on these sized waves. I tried to take off a little deeper every day, and this wave set up perfectly for a nice sized barrel on the inside.
Chris (re: photo above): Another left at another location (I am forgetting the name of this spot). This is what we call a backside roundhouse. I wanted to turn on the tail really hard, so I could have enough time to be able to hit the whitewater.
Chris (re: photo above): This picture was again at Lances Left and it was a lot steeper than it looks. I remember going for the “snap” then having to get back and not fall. Sometimes a longboard is not the best board option for waves as steep as these. :-)
CR: So what did you and your surf trip buds eat while in the Mentawai Islands ?
Chris: Wow, great question. Well we paid a little extra on this trip to have the best cook, food, and boat. So at the beginning it was amazing food. I am talking high end food. Fish, pasta, desserts, etc… THEN, our cook and captain got in a fight and the cook got kicked off the boat. The captain cooked for us and it turned into toasted turkey sandwiches and hot dogs… disappointing.
CR: What was your first meal back in the States?
Chris: Burger King.
CR: Who is your mentor or who do you think is the 'measuring stick' of all things Lifeguard, and please don't say "Topar" ? :-)
Chris: I have a few Captains that I love (Moseley/Patterson), but Mike Inscore is the man. He is great lifeguard, captain, boss, and human. He knows that this job is the difference between life and death, BUT it also is very FUN! Inscore was my permanent during my rookie year at Topaz and he made it the best lifeguard summer I ever had. I can't tell all of our secrets, but my surfing ability increased that summer … wink wink…
CR: Last Question. What is your favorite lifeguard rescue tool ?
Chris: Surfboard. Not just because I love surfing, but because a surfboard can get to victims faster than swimming and you can safely rescue multiple victims and keep them above water with more surface area than a can… but we all love the rescue can, it is our briefcase for the office.
CR: OK, we lied. Why USC ?
Chris: Why USC? By far the best time of my life (other than the present time). Just being around other smart and motivated people helped me to better understand the business world, and to get me motivated to focus on my career. I have also made a majority of my connections because of USC. What other college will have you be surrounded by celebrities, pro athletes, multi multi millionaires and still get a top quality education. Not to mention the back to back National Football Championships we got when I was there. The girls are nice looking too.
CR: And last but not least... So, since you were born on Christmas Day, how often have you been cursed with the infamous "Combination Birthday-Christmas Present" ?
Chris: Ever since I was 12... haha
(Photo above shows Chris at far right. And with him, left to right are Travis Robinson, Patrick Fucci, Justin Dilg, and Nils Nerinheim. Summer of 2006. Photo courtesy of Chris Bredesen and Justin Dilg.
On behalf of County Recurrent and all LACo Recurrents, Many Thanks to Chris for sharing a memorable rescue, his sportsmanship, camaraderie and loyalty to all things LACo Recurrency, and esp. for his sharing his epic surf trip to Indo.
Until next time......
Will Maguire,
"County Recurrent" News
http://CountyRecurrent.blogspot.com
email: will.maguire@verizon.net
Service • Training • Commitment
*** Keeping the County Recurrent "in the loop"... whether he/she likes it or NOT ! ***
DISCLAIMER: County Recurrent is not affiliated with nor sponsored by LACOLA or LACoFD.
........................
No comments:
Post a Comment