First Day of Summer 2016...

Dateline: Monday, June 20, 2016... the first official day of Summer... albeit, the second day of summer schedules... in honor thereof, we took an off duty foot patrol of SMN 1550 and 15, as well as from SMS 16 to 26 and back earlier today between approx. 10 a.m. and noon... and here are the photos to prove it!

Below, HQ Capt. Kirk Thomas on the phone looking for lifeguards to fill some daily hire positions...

OLS Alex Vicente doing some on duty in-service training upstairs at CSHQ...

LR200 (aka, the call car) in the garage at CSHQ...

Below, in the squad room, OLS Cosmo Flynn, working a 24 hour shift in LR200 with his partner, an OLS who wishes to remain anonymous and not photographed...

Free TOYOTA beach towels for Central Section ocean lifeguard staff...

Good timing... shot the Baywatch on both sides of SMS 16 as we were starting our off duty foot patrol...

... and check out the surf carved berm north of SMS Tower #16?!...

Meanwhile, on deck and watching the water at SMS Tower #16 is none other than newly minted rookie ocean lifeguard, Connor Virjee... who we just saw graduate this past Saturday!...

Under the pier and approaching SMN 1550...

Center of frame, below, OL Brian Hernandez setting up his flags and signs along the berm at SMN 1550...

SMN 1550 from the water line...

SMN 15, below...

... and guess who is manning the ship at SMN 15?!... it's our Number One on the OL Seniority List, Veteran LACoFD OL, George Hale!

And here comes a Captain in his unit while I just happened to be taking a shot of the tide board with the date on it... and the approaching vehicle...

and then we headed back to Santa Monica South where we said hello to (Academy One) ROOKIE Connor Virjee at SMS Tower #16 and found him still "watching the water!"...  Well done... so far.....

Our next stop was at SMS Tower #22 where we found veteran LACoFD Ocean Lifeguard, Justin Kirby, working on his tan... we also note his preference of keeping his fins in the sand at the base of the ramp.....

... and which makes for a cool photo, albeit in the hot sand!... x-ref: Old School CHURCHILL fins.

Surfing, below, at center of frame, off duty... SMS veteran OL, Lane Murphy, who isn't wasting any time getting his summer started after finishing up teaching this past Friday!...

the view from Tower #22 towards Venice, below...

Early opener at SMS Tower #26, below, is OL Chris Newman (aka, Newmie 2nd Gen.).

 ... and there goes LR200 on a patrol... with Cosmo Flynn and his anonymous OLS call car partner.

SMS Area Captain, Brent Katzer on patrol, below, at center of frame passing Tower #22 where OL Justin Kirby has his hands up in celebration of another summer on schedule along SMS!...

Below, from Tower #22 we used the zoom lens on our Lumix camera and got a closer shot of another 2016 ROOKIE working at SMS Tower #24, namely, Evan Blaney (Academy 2) who we also saw graduate this past Saturday...  earlier we said hi to Evan and he mentioned that yesterday was a busy day in the water with lots of activity, including preventions and rescues...

Below, looking back at SMS Tower #17 and on the ramp sweeping it clear of sand AND still watching the water, veteran OL, Dru Jones!...

... and then we put our sandals back on before braving the scorching hot soft sand as we made our way back to CSHQ...

10-4

Until next time.....

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

(All photos by & Copyright Will Maguire 2016.)

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