OL Recheck Swim: Friday, May 21, 2021: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

Dateline: 26th St., Manhattan Beach, Calif. at the Training Center at and after 0800 hrs... What were the conditions like? Think: Big Wednesday meets Victory At Sea!... A NW swell with wind, a sweeping lateral current from right to left... meanwhile for the first two heats of lifeguards, the course was two right shoulder buoy turns AGAINST the current... Add to that 3 - 4 foot sloppy consistent surf with very short intervals..... In short, fun times..... Here are some photos and videos which capture some of the drama but certainly not all of it given that I was in the first heat and focused on getting out through the danger zone and finding myself 50 yards in the wrong direction (south) of the first buoy... yet did make it under 13 minutes and don't have to do it again. :-) The early bird gets the.... first heat

*** Video #1: Pre-Swim Reconnaissance ***

And the troops start to show up for the 0800 hrs recheck, with other rechecks at 0900, 1000, and 1100 hrs...

*** Video #2: Shoreline Pre-Swim Course Reconnaissance ***

And it's getting close to SHOWTIME!... as the Safety Team is gathering...

And then both the first heat and second heat of swimmers were launched..... sorry, no photos of the first heat and I only remembered to take some photos just before the first four swimmers in the second heat were finishing... And you should have seen the majority of swimmers in the second heat get swept by the right to left lateral current south of the first buoy, even though they started to the north of the second buoy to compensate for the lateral current!... I tell ya it was HOOVERING!... So the next photos pick up as the first four swimmers to finish from the second heat run up to the finish line...

*** Video #3: Post-Swim Video from the Beach Shower... ***

And then on the way off the beach, back upstairs to the Training Center, I captured some more photos of other Ocean Lifeguards arriving for later rechecks that same day and, lucky for them, they will get to swim with the current as began with the 3rd heat... OL Chris Ro, below, followed by yours truly thanks to Chris grabbing my camera and taking my photo! Thanks Chris!...

Additional shots of lifeguards in waiting.....

NOTE: Close up photo immediately above shows Heat 3 swimmers swimming out through the surfline just to right of the right buoy, e.g., in the reverse direction (of heats 1 and 2) due to the lateral current and the "Powers That Be" making the change on the beach due to the elements and the lesson learned from Heat 2 with the majority of the swimmers in said heat getting swept from right to left inside the surfline, with quite a few not making the 13 minute time limit... *** Video #4: Post-Swim Video from the Parking lot of The Third Heat... *** NOTE: This is the heat that got to swim the course right to left, e.g., buoy b to buoy a and back to shore..... with the current!

And then I hit the road for a post-recheck celebration with a #Fantastic breakfast at the Fantastic Cafe in El Segundo!...

========== That's all Folks! Until next time..... "County Recurrent" News *** All photos and videos by and Copyright Will Maguire 2021. *** *** ***