Friday, May 31, 2013

2013 OL Recheck Buoy Swim Reconn...

Highland & Rosecrans: Gateway to Manhattan Beach

Dateline:  0930 hrs, approx., Friday, May 31, 2013
Venue:  LACo Lifeguard Training Center, Manhattan Beach, Calif.


Re:  OL Recheck Buoy Swim Course Reconnaissance....


It's a Fair Distance.  It's the standard distance that has customarily been set over the years at the Training Center.  Lots of deep inshore holes.  A bit of surface diving and dolphining and then you start swimming.  On way back in the bigger outside sets of waves will carry you in a fair distance but will level off and dissipate upon reaching the inshore holes leaving you with 40 plus yards still to swim before you can touch bottom and start hoofing it to the finish line.

Capt. Eugene Atanasio is the Training Center Captain and has set a fair course.  Get on down there on a day off and swim the course.

The water is warm too!  According to So. Section/Manhattan Beach OLS, Ivan Wilkins, the water temp was 68 degrees this morning!

And in advance of the 2nd pod of 2013 Rookies, who will start Rookie School (aka, the Training Academy) tomorrow, the Training Staff got busy on a dozen donuts between meetings and workouts...

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10-4, copy that !...

(All photos by & Copyright Will Maguire 2013.)


Until next time.....



"County Recurrent" News
http://CountyRecurrent.blogspot.com

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.

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Monday, May 27, 2013

Southern Section Shout-Out: "An Interesting Lifeguard Assignment", by OL Tom Kiesewetter

Just in from Veteran LACo OL, Tom Kiesewetter:

RPV Tower

Greetings Will

I thought you might be interested in viewing a unique lifeguard assignment in the Southern Section: Rancho Palos Verdes (RPV) Tower.

RPV Tower is at the base of the cliffs at the Trump National Golf Club.  The City of Rancho Palos Verdes has established public access to the beach via steep dirt trails which originate from the parking lot on the south side of the Trump Clubhouse.  Signage clearly indicates public parking and lifeguards start the 15-minute walk to the tower from here.

Photo 1(above): The tower viewed from the top of the cliff and a 15-minute walk away.  At the upper left Abalone Cove begins to come into view.

Photo 2: Yes, it really is a dirt trail.


Photo 3: The tower is open for business.  Since there are no roads to deliver the standard size and weight lifeguard tower, the style here matches the lifeguard towers at the Portuguese Bend Club (PBC) at the northern border of RPV.  The color is also consistent with the PBC and keeps the homeowners on the cliff happy.


Photo 4: The south side of the tower is rocky with tide pools and popular with fishermen.  The north side has some rocks but progresses into a sandy bottom for swimmers.


Photo 5: A lot of people make the trek down the cliff for various forms of coastline fun.  Although it is not known as a swimming beach, there are plenty of fishermen, tidepoolers, hikers, fanny dippers and dogs to keep a lifeguard busy.


Google Earth gives a great overhead view and provides a perspective of RPV positioned between Abalone Cove and Whites Point.
Image Source:  Google®.  Used here as a 'fair use'.

The 15-minute uphill hike at the end of the 8-hour shift sounds unattractive.  But, as the parking lot comes into view, so does the Clubhouse (aka the 19th hole) … public access also!

I won't be at the 19th hole in the foreseeable future so I won't be able to forward a picture. 

Cheers and have a good summer!

Tom

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*** Many Thanks to Tom for sharing his great photos and commentary about this atypical LACo Lifeguard Tower and Assignment. ***

(Story and photos by & Copyright Tom Kiesewetter 2013.  All Rights Reserved. Used here with permission.)

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p.s.  maybe Burich or Matesich or K. Atkins can get us a photo of the "19th Hole"...

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Until next time.....



"County Recurrent" News
http://CountyRecurrent.blogspot.com

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.

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Sunday, May 26, 2013

"Academy Day at Zuma 2013", by LACo OL, Steve Hotchkiss



Dateline:  Zuma Beach, Sunday, May 26th, 2013

Re:  LACo Lifeguard Academy 2013 (aka, Rookie School) Day At Zuma !

Photos and commentary by LACo OL Steve Hotchkiss, who took these photos while off duty.

Per Steve:  "Just got some shots of this year's first Academy group at Zuma.  Should be a good day for them later when they get a little time in the tower.  With the swell from earlier in the week we still have some lively water and good rips up and down the beach.  Please use any of the photos you like."







and some enhanced close ups of the above photos are included below:









Also, per Steve:  "Watching the Physical training today brought back many good memories.  We have some very serious, mature candidates in the academy.  Hopefully, we get some of them in Northern Section.  I look forward to working along side them."

Steve Hotchkiss
Hotchkiss & Associates Landscape Contracting Inc.
Hotchkisslandscape.com

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Fantastic!  Thanks very much, Steve!

(All photos by & Copyright Steve Hotchkiss 2013.  All Rights Reserved. Used here with permission.)

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Until next time.....


"County Recurrent" News
http://CountyRecurrent.blogspot.com

Zuma HQ. Photo by & Copyr. Will Maguire 2011.

















Service • Training • Commitment

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CSHQ Shout Out!...

CSHQ, aka, Santa Monica Lifeguard Headquarters.  Photo by & Copyright Will Maguire 2013.


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"County Recurrent" News

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Saturday, May 25, 2013

"Panga In The Moonlight...", by Todd Ribera

"Panga In The Moonlight"... Photo by Todd Ribera.

Urban, er, lifeguard legend has it that it's not summer until a panga full of dope beaches itself somewhere on our So. California shores.  So what kind of summer is it going to be?... Well, the water is already warm and the first full moon brought us a boatload of Mary J Yuana!...  so it appears that it is going to be one busy summer and thankfully we will have a bunch of rookies to help us out, which our 4th year rookies are happier about than any of the rest of us...

In any event, in a multi-agency response, the Southern Section Call Car responded and OLS Todd Ribera posted that a 32' - 36' panga was found on the beach at El Porto very early this morning. In fact, LACo Lifeguards converged in force according to Tex who indicated that "both call car crews and Baywatch Del Rey were there too." And check out, as one (anonymous and uninvolved) Baywatch Rescue Boat Captain called it, quite a romantic shot (above) of the subject panga at low tide in the full moon light!...  Cue Perry Como!...



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(All photos by & Copyright Todd Ribera 2013.  Used here with permission.)

*** Many Thanks to Tex for sharing this story of a successful multi-agency drug bust, as well as his great photos! ***

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Additional Reference Material/Info/Photos:


and


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10-4

Until next time.....


"County Recurrent" News
http://CountyRecurrent.blogspot.com

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.

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

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Santa Monica South Trifecta...

Dateline:  Saturday morning, May 25th, 2013
Venue:  Santa Monica South

The Summer Season typically begins with Memorial Day Weekend and as the clouds started to burn off, the crowds started to show up with bumper 2 bumper traffic westbound on the I10 backed up past 20th St. past noon.....

Santa Monica South featuring T-26, T-20, and T-18...




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(All photos by & Copyright Will Maguire 2013.  All Rights Reserved.  Used here with permission.

10-4

Until next time.....


"County Recurrent" News
http://CountyRecurrent.blogspot.com

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Friday, May 24, 2013

Herb Thacker's Memorial Service Announced...

Herb Thacker:  R.I.P.
February 3, 1948 - April 5, 2013
(Photo courtesy of Leticia Alvarez)
 Re:  Herb Thacker's Memorial Service (Thurs., June 13th, 2013, 2:30 pm - 7 pm)

Big Dean's Cafe - Santa Monica, CA - Welcome

1615 Ocean Front Walk, Santa Monica, Calif., 90401
Phone 310.393.2666



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Please also note our earlier blog post regarding Herb's passing:
 http://countyrecurrent.blogspot.com/2013/04/herb-thacker-rip.html  
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Rest in peace, Herb!
Until next time.....
"County Recurrent" News
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Sunday, May 19, 2013

Herb Thacker's Night Time Triple Rescue At WRHQ!...

LACo OL, Adrian Crook, recently mentioned a triple rescue by Herb Thacker one night just after 8 pm at Will Rogers Lifeguard Headquarters "back in the day" on July 17, 1974!...  AND  we just had to share it with you all!

In a scrapbook that Adrian's mom kept, she saved an article from the Evening Outlook, which was the daily newspaper in Santa Monica at the time. 






We are hoping that Adrian will put pen to paper so that we can have his account of how he and lifeguard pal, Russ Frykman, on their way up to WRHQ to meet Herb after work came upon this rescue in progress...  In the meantime, hopefully the newspaper article itself will tell the story to
your collective and individual satisfaction.

Good timing, Adrian and Russ!

*** Thanks to Adrian and his mom for saving & sharing this great rescue story with all of us ! ***

10-4

"County Recurrent" News
http://CountyRecurrent.blogspot.com

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Wednesday, May 15, 2013

2013 Malibu Down Winder", by OL Steve Hotchkiss

This story came in this past Sunday evening from No. Section OL, Steve Hotchkiss and we think you will all enjoy these photos and Steve's commentary about this year's Malibu Down Winder.

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We start off with "Come on Dad I've got a race to do".
Hello Will,

My youngest son Kennan (newly 12 years old) participated in the Malibu Down Winder yesterday with his uncle Tony Hotchkiss.  It was a great experience for him to be around such a positive group of people.  Kennan paddled a 12ft scaled unlimited BARK paddleboard that Tony had given to my older son Logan(16) when he was 12.  Here are some photos for you to use.  Hopefully others are sent to you.  It was a great day for the race.

L to R Tony Hotchkiss, Kennan Hotchkiss, Ryan Addison

Tony & Kennan


Kennan with Mark Temkin
Line up rod water start
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(Photos and story by Steve Hotchkiss. Copyright Steve Hotchkiss 2013.  Used here with permission.)

Steve Hotchkiss
Hotchkiss & Associates Landscape Contracting Inc.
Hotchkisslandscape.com

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*** Many Thanks to Steve for sharing this year's Malibu Down Winder with all of us!  ***

10-4

Until next time.....


"County Recurrent" News
http://CountyRecurrent.blogspot.com

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.

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

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Saturday, May 11, 2013

"The Lifeguard Tower", by Cal Porter


                             
     THE LIFEGUARD TOWER       

In the beginning there were no lifeguard towers on the beach; which is understandable since in the beginning there were no lifeguards on the beach.  There were lifeguards in the many indoor, salt water plunges along the bay in the early 1900’s but not out on the sand.   As a consequence drownings were not infrequent.   When Hawaiian George Freeth arrived in California in 1907 and became a lifeguard in the Redondo Salt Water Plunge he set about organizing volunteer beach lifeguard squads along the busier beaches of Santa Monica Bay.   
       
                     1909, Freeth on the left with the volunteer lifeguards he organized at Venice Beach 

These unpaid volunteer lifeguards could be found during the summer months at Redondo Beach and Venice Beach and spotted here and there along the bay, but the other miles of beaches remained unprotected.  At first the volunteers simply roamed the sand on foot with primitive rescue equipment, but they did help to save many lives.  By the early 1920’s a few, very small enclosed towers were placed on the busier beaches.  These were uncomfortable; room for just one man and reached by a ladder, but it did get the lifeguard up above the crowded beaches where he could better view the swimmers.  
                       
                                1920’s Lifeguard tower, Venice Beach  

The first open box towers appeared in the 1920’s on the beaches in front of the salt water plunges and a few of the beach clubs.  These towers afforded good visibility and could be easily moved around to different locations.  A beach umbrella could be opened if the guard desired respite from the sun.                                             




                                                                                                                                                       
1920’s lifeguards in front of the Venice Plunge.  I lifeguarded with these fellows at the plunge as a teenager; many of them became L.A. County and City Beach Lifeguards later.    

The first two professional, paid beach lifeguards were hired in 1926, George Wolf in Venice and Jim Reinhart in Hermosa.  They had no towers.  Jim roamed the sands on foot and George patrolled the beaches from Venice to Playa Del Rey in a car.  The following year many more lifeguards were hired, and the little wooden towers seen above were quickly assembled and scattered along most of the beaches. 


In those days (over 70 years ago) a friend, possibly bringing you a cold drink, could visit at the tower.  Today the girls in the towers are all professional, trained beach lifeguards. 

In the 1940’s the little wooden towers were deemed to be inadequate for the job.  More roomy towers with more storage space were called for.  The maintenance foreman designed the new towers and through the years they replaced almost all the old ones.


                          
A place for everything: rescue board locker, dressing room, and lookout tower.

Well, then along comes the 60’s and who needs all that space, and why a paddleboard at every tower?  A smaller, more economical, functional tower is what we need, one with an outside deck to sit on.  Soon most of the old ones were removed and made room for the new ones even though we kind of liked that dressing room with individual lockers. 
                
                      My last tower, Nicholas Beach, Zero Point, 1976

 
One more and the evolution of the lifeguard tower is finished.  The same principle as the above tower but today’s tower is more roomy, more functional and maybe even more attractive.

               

It’s pretty nice alright but for some reason I really liked those little white, wooden, open towers with all that fresh air and sunshine over seventy years ago.

And the visitors weren’t too bad either.

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("The Lifeguard Tower", by & Copyright 2013 Cal Porter. All Rights Reserved.  Used here with permission.  All photos courtesy of Cal Porter.)

*** Many Thanks to Cal for stepping up once again and sharing another great story with all of us. ***

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Until next time.....


"County Recurrent" News
http://CountyRecurrent.blogspot.com

*** 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.

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

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

"Old Lifeguards Never Die They Just Row Away", by Bill Hinkle

We recently heard from one of our retired L.A. City Beach Lifeguards, namely, Bill Hinkle.  All you dory guys and gals will be especially stoked with this story... so pay attention!  :-)

Bill Hinkle in his "One Man Dory" cruising along in Channel Islands Harbor.  Photo courtesy of Bill Hinkle.

Subject:     one man dory
Date:     April 29, 2013 2:13:44 PM PDT
From:  Bill Hinkle

Will,

"I'm an old LA City guard who decided I needed to do some cardio that didn't involve the pounding that running does to our aging knees.  Rowing dories was always enjoyable but the two man is just too much work.  I finally located plans for a one man boat that looked like just the right thing.  A paddleboard buddy from the old days, Bill Bragg, and I built the boat in my garage.  In the attached picture, I'm enjoying our efforts.  It's a blast to row."

Bill Hinkle


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Well, we were so stoked to see Bill's sweet one man sled and to hear about his rowing that we had to know more and so we asked.... and here's what else Bill had to say:

"Regarding the fun associated with rowing:  In my opinion, neither rowing nor, for that matter, running are fun.  Surfing is fun.  Surfing big waves is really fun. Skiing along with sky diving are also fun.  Rowing doesn't provide the adrenaline junkie hit that you get from surfing and the like.  On the other hand, there is nothing quite like the emotional high that can be achieved while powering a boat across the mirror like waters of the bay in the early morning.  You can feel the boat accelerate with each stoke of your oars.  You can hear the gurgle of the water and see the turbulence of your wake bubble behind you in a perfect v.  You set your pace so that you are breathing hard but not too hard.  Your muscles work in perfect rhythm and your perspiration acts to cool the machine that your body becomes.  Do I enjoy rowing.  Why yes, I do."

Sure.  Go ahead and forward my e-mails, post my remarks and the photo.  No worries. As far as a bio.  I went through rookie school with the City of LA in 1956.  I worked Venice and Del Rey for the first three years and then went into the army (by invitation).  I came back to the beach and worked as an intermittent guard until I took the permanency test in 1965.  I worked Will Rogers, Venice, Del Rey and Cabrillo during that time period.

I asked to be assigned to guard Harbor Lake, out of Cabrillo Beach, when I became permanent.  I don't know how it is now, but back then it was a true anomaly. The tower sat forlornly across the street from Kaiser Harbor City.  Swimming was not allowed and virtually no one came to use the facility during the week except fishermen.  I had weekends off.  Candidly, I was going to law school at night and it was the perfect place to study.

It was at Cabrillo Beach that I really got into rowing dories.  Joe Reinich and I campaigned for three summers and had some great races.  Back in those days, White and Hodgert from State completely dominated rowing.  They just never lost.  Not even the surf races.  Joe and I were mostly middle of the packers but we still trained and raced hard. 

You ask about contemporaries.  Great memories. Hal Dunnigan and Eddie Hoffman were my mentors and two guys I have always admired.  In no particular order but apologizing for those I haven't included, Sean Holland, Ron Riddle, Bob Berson, Don Rohrer, Bill O'Sullivan, Ed Perry, Conrad Liberty, Dick Heineman, Bruce Maurer, and Len Green.  Of course, all the Pedro guys, the Williams brothers, Pappas brothers, Burich, Sampson and Adamson have to be included. Eli Guana and I not only lifeguarded together but I was two years behind him at Southwestern.

The most memorable lifeguard I ever worked with was Larry Stevenson at Venice.  I'm speaking strictly in terms of life guarding excellence.  Back in the late 50's the stretch of the beach between the Breakwater and Avenue 21 had a truly frightening shore break and vicious gutter rips when the surf was up. Stevenson guarded Tower 18.  In those conditions he was like Brer Rabbit in the brier patch.  One of his favorite moves was to backstroke into a 10' sand buster with a victim trailing behind on his rescue tube.  Just before the monster could smash him into the wet sand below, the pull of his victim would suck him back into the wave.  After the wave broke and its energy was depleted, he would be left standing on the sand with his victim.  I wish I had words to describe how incredibly good he was.  None of the rest of us ever attempted some of the things he routinely pulled off.

I was working next to him one day when the surf was really up.  A young boy, maybe 9 or 10 got swept sideways into a raging gutter rip.  He went out through the shore break with me closing in behind him.  I was about 10 yards away when he went down.  He was gone.  There was no bobbing back up.  The current was swirling and there was zero visibility.  I swam to where I thought he went down, jack knifed and went down with my hands out in front of me.  Miracle of miracles, my right hand came into contact with one of his wrists.  I've often thought about how close I came to losing him.  We were just lucky.

Truth be told, I became a beach lifeguard by accident.  A swim team buddy of mine from Valley JC called me up and asked how I would like to be a pool guard. I had worked the previous summer washing test tubes and beakers for a clinical lab in the San Fernando Valley so life guarding sounded pretty good.  We went to the Coliseum swim stadium to take the pool guard test one spring day.  While I was filling out my application, it cost a dollar to test, I noticed that the brochures for beach guard were posted next to the pool guard brochures.  Pool guards salaries were posted at $1.56 per hour while the beach was listed at $1.91, a no brainer.  A quick read disclosed that the requirements were virtually the same with the exception that you had to swim a 1000 meters for the beach and only 400 meters for the pool.  I asked the lady taking the applications if I could fill out two applications, pay $2 and have them start two watches on me.  No problem according to her.  My buddy, Fred Held, and I took the blocks together and then we were off.  At 350 I had him by about a body length but he sprinted past me and touched me out at the wall.  I was bummed and started to get out of the water. My timer, Nibs Goldsmith, pretty much ordered me to keep swimming.  I lazed out the final 600 meters and we went home.  Fred only swam the 400.  About a month later I got a call from Fred.  "Did you get your notice to report for in service training", he asked?  No.  I was really disappointed.  I hadn't been fast enough to get on either of the two services.  Two days later I got a post card.  "Report to 2100 Ocean Front Walk for in service training to be a beach lifeguard."  That summer I was on the beach while Fred guarded the Fernangelous Wading Pool in Pacoima."

That's all I got Will.

Thanks,
Bill Hinkle

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(Story by & Copyright Bill Hinkle 2013.  Published here with permission.)

*** Many Thanks to Bill for sharing his photo of his 'one man dory' and for sharing very generously in his remarks about rowing and his years as an L.A. City beach lifeguard, both as a recurrent and a permanent.  And the fellow legendary lifeguards and watermen that he worked with !  Wow!***

Once again, we ask our readership to join us and share a story with our readership, your lifeguard colleagues.  You can use Bill's remarks as a template, as a matter of fact.  Nudge, nudge! 

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Until next time.....


"County Recurrent" News

http://CountyRecurrent.blogspot.com

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.

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

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