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BPAC Kickoff

Something new is brewing at the Park Board that has potential to have a lasting and positive impact for the increasing number of beach users that the island sees each year. We are about to launch a Beach Patrol Advisory Committee (B.P.A.C.).

The mission of the Beach Patrol Advisory Committee (BPAC) is to support the Galveston Park Board of Trustees (PBOT) on issues related to the safety and security of beach patrons using Galveston Island Beaches, including long-term planning, budgeting, staffing levels, funding, and safety equipment.

If you’re a regular reader of this column you likely have a feel for the myriad of services Beach Patrol offers in addition to direct guarding of 32 miles of beach. In order to stretch our resources to address the needs of one of the country’s busiest beaches, we augment the core program with volunteer programs, a large day camp, a beach park security program, disaster response, 24/7/365 “on call” program, a large water safety educational program, and numerous collaborations and partnerships that enhance beach safety. But even with all of this, keeping the beaches safe and the drowning fatality rate low is an ongoing challenge. And with increasing use on the west end, the stretch between Stewart Beach and East Beach, Babe’s Beach, and the entire beach during what was formerly known as the “cold season”, looking at how to meet these trends is critical to our moral imperative and economic health as a tourist destination.

The B.P.A.C. Committee will take direction from the Park Board of Trustees and the annual work plans authorized by the Board to develop solutions, recommendations, insight, metrics, analysis, and direction on issues related to the safety and security of people who use Galveston’s beaches.  BPAC’s meetings, recommendations and reports will be open to the public, with all written recommendations and findings sent to the Board chairman for consideration by the Board.

This committee is to be comprised of 13 individuals elected by the Board of Trustees including 1 representative each from local law enforcement, fire, EMS, and the Hotel and Lodging Association. Joining them will be 4 Citizens at large, 1 beach related business representative, 2 representatives from volunteer organizations dealing with beaches, and 2 members of the Park Board of Trustees.

A representative for the City of Galveston and several from the Beach Patrol shall serve as non-voting resource members.

I see this as a real opportunity to share the good job that my crew does and to gain a fresh perspective and increased connections to the groups the members represent. I’m a big believer in organizational transparency and see this as an opportunity to enhance that. But most importantly, as a life long public safety professional, it’s a wonderful opportunity to focus on something most organizations don’t spend enough energy on. Planning for the future and working out responses in advance to all types of hypothetical stumbling blocks. It’s the same principle we teach new guards. Plan for and practice responses to as many variables as possible before you’re diving in the water to make a save.

Cold Water Precautions

The water temperature on the beachfront dropped considerably in the pasts couple of weeks. This is a pretty dramatic shift, as only a degree or two makes a significant difference when you’re swimming.

Because the water is so shallow here on the upper Texas coast, the water temperature is constantly changing during the fall and spring. A few warm or cold days can have a big impact. And when fronts blow through and take the warm water sitting close to the surface out to sea, the deeper and cooler water wells up.

With recent water temps in the low 60’s, getting out on the water requires more foresight and preparation than during warmer months. A quick dip in the water when you’re a couple miles from shore can become a serious thing without proper gear. Kayakers, surfers, kite-boarders, stand-up paddlers, etc. should not only wear a wetsuit, but should have the right wetsuit for the activity and conditions. When at all appropriate, it’s a really good idea to not just bring a life jacket, but to wear it. That way, when the unexpected happens, you’re able to float and wait for help long after the cold water prevents swimming.

When the air is warm, but the water is cold, the conditions are ripe for sea fog. This fog can appear all at once or as a white bank that rolls in. Our Houston/Galveston National Weather Service office, one of the best in the country, is very tuned in to the aquatic environment and puts out all kinds of relevant marine warnings. That said, localized fog can happen without warning. Rescue workers from all agencies associated with the “Galveston Marine Response” coalition as well as the Coast Guard are kept busy when kayakers and boaters get lost in fog in the West Bay and San Luis Pass areas. Stranded people could be really close to shore but have no idea where they are.

Aside from proper attire and a Coast Guard approved lifejacket, there are a few other things you should do before getting on the water. First, be sure someone has very specific and accurate information about where you’re going and what times you’ll be out. Having participated in hundreds of searches for people, I can tell you the better starting point a rescuer has, the more likely they are to locate the missing person. Make sure your cell phone is charged and in a waterproof case. There are apps that can help you find your way around, but don’t rely on electronics! A compass on my watch has gotten me out of a jam more than once when I was training on my surf ski a couple miles from shore and a fog bank rolled in.

Most importantly, take a moment to think of all the things that could go wrong before getting out there, then plan accordingly. Remember that “Murphy’s Law” increases when wet!

AABL Memorial Committee

Years ago, as a young lifeguard, I was assigned to the 29th street lifeguard station, where I worked for the better part of the season. It was truly a local beach back then, frequented by African American Galvestonians. That spot on the beach was truly a community center. I knew lots of the regulars and was usually given lunch by someone.

Some days, at the end of my shift, a few of the local guys would sit waiting on a bench and take over as unofficial lifeguards into the evening hours. I’d often check in with them and let them know any issues or people to watch before leaving. Normally, someone would stop by the next morning to let me know how the “evening watch” went. I even met some old timers who had been lifeguards on that same beach decades ago.

I was 18 and living more than thinking, but gradually, the layers of the untold history woven into our beaches, much of it involving African Americans, started to sink in. But it wasn’t until my wife, Dr. Carol Bunch-Davis, took an interest and started doing research on the history of black lifeguards in Galveston, that I realized that the beach I worked during those years had been designated, and segregated, as a beach for black people since the 1920’s.

Today, we’ve pulled together the African American Beach Lifeguard (A.A.B.L.) Memorial Committee that has been working on some really cool stuff, chaired by David Mitchell. The Beach Patrol, NIA Cultural Center, Old Central Cultural Center, Visit Galveston, The Historical Foundation, Galveston Lifeguarding Inc., City of Galveston, and others have been working on a multi-staged project. Phase 1 was submission of an application for an “Undertold Story” state marker on the same spot of the seawall that the “Evening Watch” sat. This just received final approval from the County after being OK’d by the Corp of Engineers, and we plan to install it sometime next year!

Phase two will be a database that profiles African American Lifeguards and black beach history. We’re looking for families and friends who can record stories of these heroes and will seek grant funding to hire a researcher to uncover this rich part of our island’s history.

Phase three will be a large, sculptural monument to these lifeguards on the north side of the seawall. The idea is that there will be a way to point your phone at either project and access the database, and this will be part of a much larger cultural tour of the island.

Galveston Lifeguarding Inc. has pledged $5,000 as a match for the $10,000 total we need to pay for the marker base and honorariums for the 3 artists who will be chosen to develop mockups for the monument.  The community will vote for the final design for the big sculpture. We’re looking for donations to get this first part going.

This group has been wonderful to be part of. It’s a microcosm of good things beginning to happen on the island.

It’s amazing to see what we can do when we work together.

Back in the Day at Stewart

Stewart Beach has seen many iterations in the recent past. In the 70s and 80s it was booming. Everyone wanted to be at the beach, and to me, nothing was cooler than being a lifeguard. In the summer of ’83 I worked at a bumper boats ride, just outside of the Stewart Beach entrance. Later that summer, I started working for the Beach Patrol.

Throughout the 80s and into the 90s, after work my friends and I would often hang out and ride go carts or play volleyball. There were a lot of options. Two water slides, a bungee jump, restaurants, a swimming pool, miniature golf, a human maze, and more. If you wanted music, you could go see a blues band at the Patio Bar, which was at one of the water slides and had live music, an outdoor bar, and a pool. Or you could go to either of the two large beach clubs, each sponsored by one of the two competing rock stations in Houston. One club was “97 Rock” and the other was the “Hut Club”, which was sponsored by KLOL.

Many of the guards worked evening jobs as bouncers or bartenders at the beach clubs after they got off work on the beach. Lots of us went there just to hang out and watch bands play. The bars were nothing fancy, but they stayed packed with people dancing and partying on the sand floors till all hours. There was even a dance club in the pavilion, where we are headquartered currently.

At the end of the day in ’83, the guards would report back to our “Headquarters,” which was a trailer on the beach, to turn in our radios. We only had 17 guards then, so we made it work. Some would head over to Ernie Hunt’s little beach shack for a beer. Others would go in the water for a surf or a workout. Or we would go for a full dinner at Christy’s Beachcomber to enjoy some seriously good food and hang out with Willie, the owner.

Eventually everyone would “shower” in the little water pipe and change into evening attire. For some of us that just meant board shorts and a T-shirt with no shoes. Others got all gussied up with cologne, polo shirts tucked into shorts with a belt, shoes and socks and some hair product (80’s style). But eventually, all of us seemed to meet up at the Patio Bar for at least awhile where we’d drink, eat, and rehash all the day’s adventures. Lots of Galveston was down there so we’d always bump into people we knew. It was a great time to be a young lifeguard.

There weren’t a lot of beachgoing options for people back then, and much of the seawall didn’t yet have sand, so people naturally gravitated to Stewart and East Beach. And it certainly didn’t hurt to have all the attractions there in one place to draw a crowd.

Many of us are looking forward to the revitalization of Galveston’s flagship beach.

Moody’s, Babe and HOT

Bobby Moody’s passing is a significant moment for Galveston, and I imagine it brings up a mix of emotions and memories for people because of both his personal impact and the historic influence his family has had on our island community. As a young kid, I spent a lot of time at the Moody’s house. My mom grew up with Bobby’s wife and my dad worked for him as his financial advisor.

Mostly, I am thankful to Bobby and his family for the kickstart they gave the Beach Patrol back in 1981. We were underfunded and understaffed for the growth in visitation and beach use. Forward thinking leaders realized that if the beaches weren’t clean and safe, a tourist beach town like Galveston would suffer.

The Beach Patrol and Beach Cleaning groups needed help to manage the increasing demand. The Moody Foundation gave a generous grant to Beach Patrol for equipment, Joe Max Taylor and the Sheriff Office provided structure, and Senator Babe Schwartz and others came up with an innovative solution to fund the lifeguard service through the Park Board, Hotel Occupancy Tax (HOT).

To my knowledge, we were the first lifeguard service to be funded by HOT. Senator Schwartz proposed legislation that gave the Beach Patrol 1 penny for every dollar spent from the bed tax collected in Galveston. Many lifeguard services use the same formula now, as beach lifeguarding and tourism development are closely linked, considering the beach is our number one attraction.

And there have been funding changes since then. In 1993, we received an additional half a penny in anticipation of the first big sand nourishment project. But then, some HOT was pulled away from Beach Patrol and Coastal Zone Management (CZM) to help fund the convention center. Today, Beach Patrol is a Park Board department and receives 1.1667 pennies for every visitor dollar spent on short-term rentals and hotels.

This funding is critical for our operations, and it has, fortunately, grown with the increasing need as we see more beachgoers with each passing year. And the creation of new beaches and development projects will increase this demand even more. Because of this funding, we are currently able to efficiently meet our staffing demands and cover 34 lifeguard towers on 9 miles of beach, run summer patrols every day on the west end, a weekend patrol at the San Luis Pass, and provide 24/7/365 “on call” service for the citizens and tourists across 32 miles of beach and 70 miles of total waterfront adjacent to the island.

We run lean and hard. Close to 90% of our annual operation budget goes to salaries, and we currently effect half a million proactive preventative measures a year. We couldn’t do all this without a supportive community, every bit of the the HOT funding we receive, and an amazing, dedicated corps of lifeguards.

With the support of the Galveston community, GIBP is dedicated to continuing its much-needed work.

GMR Rescue

“Beach Patrol, car in the water 8 mile road bayside. Occupants possibly trapped inside”.

This call dropped a few years back. A call we dread, particularly at night. Supervisor/Officer Austin Kirwin, now our Lieutenant, happened to be near the radio and asked if the “on call” supervisor wanted assistance, which she wisely accepted. Water calls at night can be pretty scary no matter how well trained you are. Each of our year-round staff members has been there multiple times, and is quick to help each other out.

The 911 dispatcher followed protocol and dispatched the lifeguards first, then all the other emergency responders. In a water emergency it doesn’t make sense to have a police officer or paramedic arriving first and waiting a long time until a lifeguard gets there to enter the water. Life threatening events typically develop much faster in water than on land.

Once Beach Patrol was on the way the dispatcher called the rest of the “Galveston Marine Response” group which, for this call, included police, fire, EMS, and Jamaica Beach Fire Rescue. While on the way they all switched to the shared “Marine Response” channel and coordinated their resources. When the Fire Department arrived they set up lights and located the vehicle. Police blocked off the area and EMS staged for a potential medical emergency.

Austin arrived to find the car still floating after blasting off the end of the road. It was about 70 yards from the shore and a man in a white shirt was sitting cross legged on the roof. Austin grabbed his rescue board and a tube and got there quickly. Upon arrival he first asked if there was anyone else in the car. The man said there wasn’t. After a short conversation to assess the mental status of the man and a quick look inside the car, Austin was able to get him onto the rescue board and paddled him to safety, where he was checked out by EMS and Fire. He was later transported by EMS to the emergency room.  The man didn’t remember how he ended up on top of the now barely floating car. Once he had completed the rescue, Austin went back out to the car to recheck for other victims.

The Police Dive team was assembling, and a police officer and lifeguard supervisor went with Jamaica Beach Fire Rescue in their boat to join Austin in checking the vehicle. They found nothing and towed the bobbing vehicle close enough for a wrecker to hook up to it. The headlights were still on as divers began double checking for victims.

As the island slept, the Galveston Marine Response worked seamlessly to rescue yet another person from a near catastrophe. Each of these groups operates on a tight budget, but they still find a way to make rescues like this happen. Austin didn’t have to respond to that call, but he and the men and women of each of the GMR participating agencies know that their efforts make a huge difference.

Change

The crazy weather this week was a real indication that the seasons are turning. Was fun to get out into the choppy surf after so many flat days. And we’re all breathing a sigh of relief to have some high tides and rain give the beach sand a good wetting down. I’m not sure how many more cars my aging body can push out of the sand!

We’re feeling the change of seasons and of life here at Beach Patrol as well. This is the last weekend that we’ll have seasonal lifeguards out on the beach, and very soon you’ll see our partners in the Coastal Zone Management group pick the towers off the beach so our full-time lifeguards can refurbish them over the winter. Please remember from here on out the lifeguard presence will be greatly diminished and tower guarding won’t happen again until next March. We’ll do the best we can out of the mobile patrol trucks, but nothing prevents accidents like having a guard in a tower. Keep our non-emergency number handy (409-763-4769) if you see something developing that we need to know about, and remember to call 911 if you need us quickly.

The big change is starting to hit us as well. And by big, I mean leaving the building we’ve been in for the past 39 years. With the City Council decision to tear down the building and to move us into temporary trailers on Stewart Beach while we move towards a permanent new home comes some adjustments. We’re starting to pick away at figuring out what is essential and what we can live without. And that “live without” area is massive! We’ve got 40 years of pictures, furniture, workout equipment, lifesaving equipment, plaques, awards, electronic equipment, and on and on. Like much in life, change is painful. But it also can be purifying and exciting. We are looking forward to being part of the design and implementation of a new facility on Stewart Beach. For the third time in Beach Patrol’s long and storied career that dates all the way back to 1875, we’ll be moving into a facility that is specifically designed for our purpose. But to get to that point we’ll first need to cram ourselves into the chrysalis of a trailer compound before we will hopefully emerge into the butterfly of state-of-the-art facilities.

For now, at the direction of the city, the Park Board has approved the purchase of 7 trailers which have been ordered and should be here this fall. We’ll be working out of 4 office trailers, one command trailer, one storage trailer, and a bathroom trailer. We’ve also ordered three shade structures that will match the ones currently in use at Stewart Beach and will be soon renting some off-site storage for the bulk of our gear. We’ll still need some space for running our almost constant training courses and our Junior Guard Program out of. But that will be enough to get by while we work towards our “forever home”.

Late Summer Tricks

“Good Morning. Ma’am, do you mind hopping down out of our lifeguard tower?”

“Why?”

“The towers are there for the lifeguards and we prefer other people don’t sit in them.

“That’s ridiculous.”

“There’s a sign right next to where you’re sitting saying ‘no trespassing’, so it would be the same as sitting in someone else’s house and refusing to leave.”

“Well then I guess I’ll leave. But I’m leaving the beach in that case. It’s too hot out here!”

Late in the summer it seems that people just get frayed. There are more complaints, arguments, fights, and weird things happening than earlier in the season. It’s like the veneer of civility gets burned away by the heat and sun and all the raw emotions people usually have tamped down come boiling to the surface. It can be a challenge, but if I have my head right it can be wildly entertaining. I especially like it when people seem to feel that they have their own little bubble of rules that differ from everyone else.

“Excuse me sir, do you mind putting your dog on a leash?”

“Why?”

“Galveston has a city ordinance requiring dogs to wear leashes. Also, there have been instances where dogs have been off a leash and…..” (you get the idea)

Then it goes into a whole list of reasons that all generally have the same theme that this particular case should be exempt from the rules. Some of the best ones are: “he’s really friendly and loves people”, “she just likes chasing birds and hardly ever bites anyone”, “I have him for protection”, or, my personal all-time favorite, “my dog is on a verbal leash”.

The other common technique that can be fun is the “stall technique”. We open with something along the lines of, “Hey, I’m sorry but you can’t use a tent or tarp in this area. You can, however, use it on the other side of those blue poles” And from there it goes a little something like this:

“What?”

“Can you please move your tarp to the other side of those blue poles?”

“I have to move my tarp?”

“Yes”

“Where?”

“To the other side of the blue poles”

“So…. I can’t have my tarp here?”

After it runs on for a while like that, they realize that even if you keep asking the response is the same. Then they might move it. Or if you’re lucky they might go into the previous technique and point out that they need shade more than other people because…..

End of summer grumbling aside, we got through the weekend pretty well. Despite the very large crowds the water was calm until Monday. We moved around 8,000 people from dangerous areas, made a couple of rescues, and a number of enforcement actions. Busy, but not as overwhelming as it could have been with rough water.

It’s been a busy, hot summer and I don’t think any of my staff minded ending the high season with a whimper as opposed to a bang!

Labor Day Advisory

With Labor Day upon us we’re expecting several hundred thousand people to be on the island this weekend. That’s a lot of chances to have something go wrong.

Over the past couple of weeks there have been several rescues that we’ve had to make by the rock jetties despite our best efforts to keep people far enough away to avoid trouble. There have also been a couple of incidents involving young children in area pools. Most or all of these incidents happened at least partly due to momentary lapses in judgment.

People do things when on vacation or out recreating that they would never do in their normal life. Parents who no doubt are very attentive to their children lose them repeatedly at our large beach parks. We have had up to 60 lost kids in a single day at Stewart Beach alone. People who are not generally risk takers swim far from shore and/or pay no attention to warning signs, flags, or lifeguard instructions. Are the parents bad parents? Are the people ignoring safety messages intentionally? Not in my opinion.

All of us get in a different mindset when we’re away from our routine and when we do something fun. We throw caution to the wind and immerse ourselves in the sea and sand and fun. This is good to a point and that point is sometimes the shoreline. Water is not our natural element. Things can go wrong quickly in the water so it only takes a momentary lapse of judgment or seconds of inattention for things to break bad.

But is doesn’t have to be that way. Taking a moment to observe your surroundings at the beach or pool does a lot. Asking someone who is knowledgeable, like a lifeguard, what to watch for before getting wet means that you greatly reduce your chances of an accident.

When you go out this weekend to enjoy any type of water remember to take a minute to be aware of your surroundings and potential risk. You also want to remember the basics like not swimming alone, staying hydrated, protecting yourself from the sun, observing signs and flags, feet first first time, alcohol and water don’t mix, and non-swimmers  and children should wear lifejackets. At the beach, you should also avoid swimming in areas where rip currents are likely, like near piers and jetties. These are protected by lifeguards and clearly marked with bilingual, iconic signage. And please don’t swim or wade in the San Luis Pass or Houston Ship Channel.

Choose to swim in areas protected by lifeguards. In beaches guarded by United States Lifesaving Association lifeguards, like Galveston with has an “Advanced Level” agency, your chances of drowning are 1 in 18 million.

But above all, YOU are responsible for the safety of both yourself and your family. Lifeguards provide an extra layer of protection in case your safety net lapses temporarily.

Enjoy the Labor Day weekend. You deserve it. See you on the beach!

Colombo

I’ve written before about Leroy Colombo, the most well-known lifeguard to come from our island, but someone so larger than life deserves multiple visits.

We all know that he was formerly credited in the Guinness Book of World Records with saving 907 lives, the most of any lifeguard in recorded history. Most also know that he was stricken with spinal meningitis at age 7 which left him deaf and without the use of his legs. With the help of his brothers he started swimming to rehab and eventually became a champion distance swimmer. As a champion swimmer and the first hearing impaired lifeguard he is a real testament to the human spirit’s ability to overcome adversary.

But it wasn’t until much later in life that he was considered a hero. As with almost all lifeguards it isn’t a career that leads very often to accolades. He did reportedly get a tip for saving a woman’s false teeth and for saving a poodle. And he got a couple of cans of beer once for saving a young girl from drowning. But there were hundreds saved without any type of recognition, even though he is said to have nearly drowned 16 times while making rescues.

He made his first rescue at 12, and by the time he turned 18 in 1923 he tried out for Galveston’s prestigious “Surf and Toboggan Club”. To do so he had to swim 3 hours without stopping. He officially became a Galveston lifeguard that year as well. We continue this tradition today with our “night swim”, the final physical challenge for the incoming lifeguards. All the staff joins them in completing a tough course involving lifeguard skills including swimming, rescue board paddling, running, climbing, and even some knowledge based activities, which can also be as long as 3 hours.

He followed the tradition of the Hawaiian “Waterman” (which included women) in that he lived in a way that was close to the ocean and practiced many of the disciplines related to the surf environment. In fact he was one of the first people in Galveston to practice the sport of surfing. His close childhood friend and fellow lifeguard, Ducky Prendergast, told me stories of how they used to overinflate long surf mats so they were rigid enough to surf on. We were fortunate to receive a wooden surfboard that he owned that eventually will be a focus point in a Lifeguard museum here on the island.

He exemplified the “Lifeguards for Life” motto of the United States Lifesaving Association. Even after he retired at 62 due to a heart condition, he kept swimming for the remainder of his life. That level of commitment doesn’t end just because the flesh wears out or the job is no longer an option. He’s a real role model for those who carry on with the tradition.

Hopefully those of us who share his love of the ocean and commitment to serving others through lifesaving will inspire future generations. He has certainly done this for us.