Dateline: LACo Training Center, 2600 Strand, Manhattan Beach, Calif.
Date: Wed., June 6, 2012
For your consideration and entertainment, we present a photo album of some of the lifeguards we were able to snap photos of during this eventful day which also happened to be the first day that the buoy swim course was returned to its customary distance of 500 plus yards.
Enjoy!
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| Low tide, 0630 hrs, June 6, 2012; arrival at Training Center... |
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| How did (Steve) Hotchkiss get here before me? |
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| And Steve Snyder too!... and already well into his yoga posturing! |
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| And Hotchkiss is the first to put his uniform on too... and 0630 hrs! |
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| And Tom Thorson, retired LACo Recurrent, stopped by at 0645 hrs to say 'hi'. |
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| Surf conditions at 26th St. during first morning break around 0830 hrs... |
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| Eldin Onsgard and Steve Snyder discussing the meaning of life on the first morning break |
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| I'm thinkin' this is Recurrent, Kevin Maxwell, also a Mammoth Mtn. ski instructor. |
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| Eldin!.. back at it and upstairs for the infant cpr module |
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| Infant CPR group lesson/training upstairs on the deck... |
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| The Board Room... |
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| LACo Recurrent, Anto Boghokian, on the Outside looking in... literally. |
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| LACo Veteran Recurrent, Steve Contarsy, stretching it out before the swim... |
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| Recurrents warming up for the recheck swim... |
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| The Start.... |
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| Recurrents battling the surfline.... |
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| First out of the water, Azad!... by a large margin too! |
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| Completion.... guards gathering and cheering on their mates as they finish. |
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| Eldin's stoked! Another year, another successful recheck swim finish! |
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| Lunch Break; "Recheck Pizza"! Woo Hoo!... |
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| Lunch break over; Back to lectures... |
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| Close up of No. Section Recurrent, Joey Everett, engaging a topic in 1,000 words or more... per Brad Heinrich. :-) |
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| Prof. Mike Murphy's lecture on drowning, etc. |
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| Close up of Recurrents discussing life saving issues of import... |
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| Finally, the day is nearly over! |
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| Clean up and 10-7... |
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| Post-Recheck Huddle |
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| Happy Recurrent at 1500 hrs at conclusion of recheck |
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| Captain Albertson makin' it happen at the Training Center ! |
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| Permanents x 3!; with Capt. Kyle Daniels, at center |
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That's all, Folks! We are out of here and on the road and heading back to Central Section! Ciao!
10-4
Until next time.....
"County Recurrent" News
http://CountyRecurrent.blogspot.com
Service • Training • Commitment
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2 comments:
What year was the course shortened to 500m? Why did it go from 660m at Venice pier to 500m at 26th st? Are we confused with the ridiculous 10 min winter pool swim, shouldn't it be in the ocean where we rescue people? As Frazier pointed out "it is tougher to become a "C" junior lifeguard than pass our recheck"
Ivan Wilkins
Hey Ivan: Please contact your LACOLA Representative and see if they can provide you with the answers you seek. My understanding is that the recheck swim expands and contracts at the whim of the people in charge at the Training Center and/or the Dept. Venice Pier is not the holy grail distance, as it were, either. Before Venice Pier was ever the recheck venue, we did the recheck at SMC in the old pool (22 laps in yards). Another year in the late 70's we did it at Hermosa HQ in the ocean at nite under dim lights in the spring which was a hoot for us young college aged swimmers but hated by the permanents, some of whom failed that swim. And get this, I spoke to Robert Torres recently and he mentioned that Sam Bertolet was in Manhattan Beach shortly after the buoys were first set up a month or so ago at the longer distance and he was out on the MB Pier and from that angle it was his impression that the two buoys were further out than usual. He then went back on his own time, out of curiosity, on another day at a high tide and measured the course with his Garmin gps while paddling the course and he estimated the course at 780 yards, which is also consistent with Arthur C. Verge, who estimated the distance at 800 yards after swimming for 12 minutes straight in the Hawthorne pool the day following his recheck at the beach this year when he swam the recheck at the longer distance in 12 minutes. Incidentally, Gabe Campos successfully passed the recheck yesterday under 13 minutes. I do not know what the current distance of the now shortened course is but the times of those swimming it are back to and generally consistent with the times on the course at 26th St over the past 10 plus years. The bottom line is that the distance at 26th St. was demonstrably extended without prior notice this past May.
The winter pool swim for OLS'/Permanents is another issue altogether but I can tell you that such a course is laughable compared to what was presented to recurrents last month without prior notice and which was disparately indicated at first to be in the 550 yard range, then it became 680 yards and now we know that it may have, in fact, been closer to 800 yards. So the smart and reasonable thing to do for the future is to set the course at a certain distance at a certain tide and use technology such as gps or the like so that there is uniformity and fairness, instead of an unknown, arbitrary and uncertain distance that obviously favors the fast swimmer. 10-4. Maguire. SMS Forever!
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