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Recover and Rebuild

Corona’s effects on our beach are both eerily familiar and completely foreign all at the same time. But Galveston, like the rest of the world’s beaches, has had a long history of disruptions.

Reading accounts from the 1800’s there are times when the bay and parts of the beach water froze completely over. You could ride a horse drawn cart to the mainland over the frozen surface of the bay according to one account. Other times in the 17th century, the lifeguard service fell to a minimum or was completely disbanded for a time, at least until there was a traumatic event with multiple deaths. This was a pattern that continued all the way until the 1980’s where, after the event, the community invariably renewed their interest and commitment in maintaining a lifeguard service.

In the 20th century we saw Waikiki Beach ruined and rebuilt because of erosion caused by construction projects. Part of Miami Beach, Jersey coast, and Southern California were also lost to a pattern of erosion caused by building projects, dams, and natural disasters.

Here in Galveston, we are no strangers to this pattern in the past few centuries. In the later 1800s there were massive wooden beach pavilions that were lost in two storms in the later part of the century, and again in the Great Storm of 1900. The Great Depression had a huge effect on beach attendance, both because people didn’t have resources for recreation, but also because the beach is free recreation. We see this pattern even today when the economy dips or gas prices increase, and we get more day trippers to the island.

Even in the relatively short time I’ve been with the Beach Patrol we’ve been knocked down by Hurricane Alicia, where I sat helplessly with another guard watching pieces of the Flagship Hotel being ripped off by high winds and falling into the water. The next year the guards spent the second half of the summer keeping people out of the water and capturing birds for cleaning because of a massive oil spill. We’ve seen our resources swell because of new beaches created in the 90’s and dwindle again when the convention center was built. And of course, we worked up to and through Hurricane Ike, only to see budget reductions right afterwards when the Great Recession hit.

Corona had brought, and will bring, another big challenge to Galveston’s lifeguard service. We’ve cut all seasonal staff and are not working any tower lifeguards. Our amazing, dedicated year-round staff is still working and tasked with the unenviable job of keeping the beaches clear of people. But the real challenge lays ahead. We are almost completely funded by hotel tax dollars and the hotels have taken a serious financial hit. No one really knows at this point when things will get back to the point when business picks up, or how the larger economic picture will affect the hotels and tourism industry.

Rough times are no doubt ahead, but history shows us that we will recover and rebuild.

Beach Closures

I want to hand it to my staff and the Galveston Police officers who are out there day after day keeping people off of the beaches. This is hard for everyone and they have not faltered or complained, even though they’re putting up with a lot. Right now the lifeguard trucks alone are moving a little less than 100 people off the beach per day on the average, but when it’s nice it’s a few hundred. Here are a few examples of the type of thing they’re seeing and hearing:

“Oh, I’m allowed to be on the beach. It’s a private beach and I own a house/condo there”.

“I thought that was just for the tourists. I’m a local. In fact, I’m a BOI.”

“I know its not allowed. Its just a dumb rule so we’re doing it anyway”.

“I agree that we don’t want people moving around or spreading Corona. But it doesn’t hurt anything if its just me out here”.

Then there are the extreme cases. Last Tuesday we had a guy run out on the south jetty to get away when we told him to get off the beach. It took two lifeguard vehicles and a police car about half an hour to fish him off of the rocks. Another day one of our Supervisors was working the west end and found a few kids frolicking along the shoreline. When they asked the kids to go back to their house one of the kids told them they didn’t have to. When the Supervisor looked to the beach house for some help from the parents, Dad lead by example and whistled at the kids. But instead of calling them to the house he told them to go back out in the water.

My favorite one so far reminded me of something I saw back when I lived in Botswana, Africa. On the edge of my village, there were a number of farms with big fences around them to keep out wildlife that would have eaten the vegetables. This big group of baboons lived on a nearby hill. Baboons are super smart. They knew that humans wouldn’t hurt a cute little baby, so they’d throw the little baboon over the fence. The baby picks the fruit and tosses it over to the adults. Then it waits till people come and they always release it because its so cute and cuddly and all. Please don’t misunderstand me. I’m not comparing people to baboons in any way, but I did catch some parents doing something similar and lowering some really little kids over the barricades on the seawall steps so they could go play in the water. 7 kids and two adults. It hurt to see the face of the cute little 4-year-old girl’s face that had just been lowered to the steps to go down and play with her siblings when I made Dad call her back.

We’ll be happier than anyone when the beaches open back up, but for now we all need to just keep doing the right thing.

 

 

Beach Closures

It’s amazing how quickly our lives change. Last week we were out enjoying some really nice beach moments as the Corona cloud started to close in. Suddenly the Mayor and City Manager made the difficult decision last Sunday to close the beaches. If you drove down the seawall last Sunday afternoon right before we stared clearing the crowds, you’d have seen that the amount of people who came down to enjoy the beach and the beautiful weather left no choice. Tens of thousands of people were out, and it looked like one of those booming Spring afternoons. As nice as it was to see everyone out having fun, there’s no way we an tamp down the spread of Corona unless we reduce the people moving on and off and around the island. It was a good call.  

Our guards were fairly busy with the crowds and had moved quite a few swimmers from dangerous areas. We’d even made two rescues. They were already on point, but when the call came and I told them to clear the beaches, I was really impressed how they rose to the occasion. Both the tower guards and the Supervisors in the trucks went into action, as did quite a few Patrol Officers of the Galveston Police Department. Within two hours, all 32 miles of beach, including beach park parking lots were clear of people and cars. As I made my way home around sunset, I saw city Park Department crews out erecting barricades, and by the time noon Monday rolled around, every beach access point on the west end was blocked from vehicular traffic, every access point on the seawall was blocked, and the Stewart and East Beach Parks were gated and barricaded. Couldn’t be prouder of my crew and more impressed by the police, park, and public works departments for how quickly and professionally they made all that happen. 

All that was on the heels of a huge grass fire at the East End Lagoon Saturday. The wind was blasting from the north, which caused the fire to spread really quickly. Galveston Fire Department responded quickly and called for help from a number of other departments, including Galveston Marine Response partner Jamaica Beach. It was a heroic battle that lasted throughout the night. When the sun rose, it was still smoldering and there were little spot fires popping up, but it was mostly out. The fire made it to the berm behind the East Beach pavilion, over to Apffel Road. But fortunately was stopped just short of jumping the road and devouring Beach Town.  

Now the dust has cleared from a crazy weekend. Tower Guards aren’t working and our full-time supervisors, along with the Galveston Police Department, have the unenviable job of telling locals they can’t use their beach during sometimes beautiful Spring weather. But, as always, they’ve jumped into the task wholeheartedly because they know how vitally important it is that we all reduce contact so we can save a lot of lives.  

Beyond Coronavirus

It’s hard to think about anything but Corona right now. It’s all we hear about, and I feel like I just go from one meeting about Corona to another about the economic impact of Corona on the tourist industry. Then we worry about our budget which now relies 100% on hotel tax. But since I wrote about the effects of all this craziness on the Beach Patrol last week, I decided to make a conscious effort to focus on something else.

We, as humans, get so completely concerned with our immediate interests that we forget that we’re only one of the many creatures sharing this planet. The rest of the world is moving on without a care for our concerns about whether or not we can get enough toilet paper to make it through the week.

I’ve been so impressed with, and proud to be a part of, our local emergency management team. Galveston in particular has taken very proactive steps to reduce the spread of the disease. One of the things they’ve been working to do is to find a balance between reducing people coming down to our beaches, and the need for locals to get out of their houses for a run or a walk on the beach. Our Mayor and City Manager have made it very clear that if people don’t adhere to the mandate to stay in place as much as possible to contain the threat, they’ll have to take an even more restrictive approach. But they’ve also made it clear that if we all voluntarily follow the rules that we can, within reason, still get out there and enjoy the beautiful place we live in. On my daily patrols, I’ve noticed quite a few people out jogging on the seawall, going for a solitary surf, catching fish, or walking their dog. I have to think that will keep us a little more sane as a community.

And what a great time of year to get out there! Those of you who’ve been out west or on the east end may have noticed that the migratory birds are showing up. These visitors come every year starting around this time and add so much to the beachfront, bays, and marshes.

The water being up into the mid-70s finally means no more wetsuits, which is always a big marker for the change in seasons for me as well. Early the other morning in the fog I was enjoying some particularly beautiful, glassy waves on my stand-up board. As I was paddling back out, I caught a strong whiff of that unique watermelon smell that means the trout are back. That to me is the true mark that Spring has sprung.

The natural world has a cycle. And, like Galvestonians have done time and time again for a century and a half, we’ll get through this as well and get back to enjoying our island, our community, and all the creatures that we share this beautiful place with.

Spring Break Updates

Spring Break has been interesting this year. So far, we’ve had quite a few people down on the island, but the weather has alternately been very near perfect or awful. Cold water and warm air have also resulted in quite a bit of sea fog, which makes guarding a real challenge. But every time the sun comes out the beaches suddenly fill up, so there definitely are people here on the island.

With water being in the low to mid 60’s its just warm enough for people to get in for a short time. Seems like just long enough to drift near the rocks so they need to be moved by guards working out of towers or trucks!

The two new fiberglass towers we’re testing came very much in handy last weekend. With wind chill temps in the 50’s, the guards were miserable even bundled up. But the lucky ones assigned to 53rd and 61st were totally happy in their space pods. The new towers have worked out really well so far and have a lot of options for air flow. Windows can be opened our closed so the guards can focus more on their job than how cold they are. Hopefully when it gets really hot and they start opening all the windows there will be plenty of air flow to stay cool. Soon we’ll be installing lightning rods to allow guards to work safely through thunderstorms. Right now, we’re pulling the guards out for their own safety when lighting comes within 10 miles. Even though we have trucks go to there area to clear the water and try and keep an eye on the swimmers, there are gaps in our coverage when we have these conditions. And lightning is no stranger to the Gulf Coast! Part of the test is to see if we’ll be able to recoup the cost of these towers with sponsorship monies. If so, there may be more of them in the future.

We are in the middle of teaching a lifeguard academy right now as well. We had a poor turnout for this one, so hopefully we’ll have bigger turnouts for the next three. The next one will start after tryouts this coming Saturday, so please help spread the word!

The Galveston Marine Response Group had an organizational meeting this week which went well. The addition of the UTMB and the Port Police departments are very welcome. We scheduled upcoming re-certification training for all the team members and are looking at some of the Beach Patrol staff providing training in CPR and First aid to several other departments. We are working on a Swiftwater/Urban flooding course for local agencies. And in May we’ll run a big mass casualty drill to fine tune our coordinated response and communication. With no dedicated funding it’s definitely a labor of love, but to me its really encouraging to see how much these different groups want to do whatever it takes to protect the public.

Spring Break!

Tomorrow, Saturday March 7 it all starts. We have lifeguard tryouts at 7am and will begin training the ones who pass immediately afterwards. Returning guards will do their swim test, drug screen, and rehire paperwork and many will head to the towers to start their first day of guarding of the season. And, of course, Spring Break really kicks off this weekend.

This marks the turning of the season for many of us who work and live on the beach. Its really nice when everyone comes back and starts enjoying themselves on the beach. Its great that we’ve completed all of our winter tasks and my staff can get back to the part of the job they love, which is protecting people who come to the beach from accidents. Its great to see the parks open, smell grilled meat, help lost children find their parents, help people who are injured, serve as island tourist ambassadors, and train in or enjoy the ocean without being encased in a big rubber suit. But its hard to not feel nostalgic about empty winter beaches shared with a few die-hard people who love the beach as much as we do.

Having several hundred thousand people about to hit the water and sand over the next couple of weeks means that there are many opportunities for them to get in trouble. This is a great time for reminders of how to avoid bad things happening.

Learn to Swim- it’s the only sport that will save your life!

Swim Near a Lifeguard- You’ll have an extra layer of safety and there is a trained professional near if you get in trouble.

Stay Away from Rocks- Any structure causes strong, dangerous rip currents.

Swim with a Buddy- There will be someone to raise the alarm if you get into trouble.

Check with the Lifeguards- They’re there for you! And they can give you information about local hazards.

Use Sunscreen and Drink Water- Avoid dehydration and overexposure which increase your risk of something bad happening.

Obey Posted Signs and Flags- Beach Patrol maintains over 300 safety signs along all 33 miles of beach. Many dangers are marked, and the signs let you know where the dangers are.

Learn Rip Current Safety- Rip currents are responsible for 80% of rescues, and likely the same for fatal and non-fatal drownings. If caught in a rip, relax and float and you’ll probably end up on shore without doing anything. Yell for help if possible and if you’re a good swimmer try swimming parallel to shore towards breaking waves, then back in.

Enter Water Feet First- The open water can hide dangers beneath the surface that you can’t see and that can cause a spinal injury if you’re careless

Wear a Life Jacket- especially if you’re a non-swimmer or child when in or around the water.

Don’t Swim at the Ends of the Island- There are dangerous tidal currents at the ship channel and San Luis Pass.

And most importantly, have fun!

 

 

Photo by: Billy Hill

Flag Conditions

We are only a week away from lifeguard tryouts and we’re hoping for a big turnout on Saturday the 7th of march. Info is on our website. We’re also right on beach season, so were pushing out public safety information to remind people to be safe. One area that’s important is our Flag Warning System.

The Flag Warning System is used to advise beach patrons of the current water conditions and any applicable environmental warnings. The flag colors described below used to help beachgoers understand the current conditions in the always dynamic environment of open water.

On Galveston Island, informational signs and warning flags are posted each day year-round along Seawall Blvd. at flag warning stations. Also, each guarded Lifeguard tower flies the appropriate flags for the day. They also are displayed at beach park entrances.

We post flag color, warnings, and other important safety info on our Homepage and on multiple social media platforms every day. You can also sign up on our website to receive the notifications via email and/or text message daily.

Here are the different flags we use and some inside background info on them:

Green: Conditions are calm. Swim with care. Remember this doesn’t mean you’re safe. The ocean isn’t a pool or pond so you should always be extra careful even on flat days.

Yellow: Indicates that caution should be used when entering the water. This flag is flown for normal ocean conditions to remind swimmers to stay alert. Its important to stay close to shore on yellow days.

Red: Flown when conditions are rough, such as presence of strong wind, strong current or large surf. Adult swimmers should stay in water no more than waist deep and non-swimmers and children should be kept along the surf line. When there is a red flag flying you should assume the presence of very strong rip currents near any type of structure like groins or jetties.

Purple: Indicates a potential problem with jellyfish, Portuguese man-o-war, stingrays or other marine life that could be a hazard for swimmers. Purple flags will be used in combination with other flags. Every guard trains before every shift so we use ourselves as the Guinea Pigs. If we get several stings while swimming the flags go up. Sometimes a wave of critters comes up midday so we put the purple flags up when we reach a minimum threshold of the ratio of stings to swimmers.

Orange: Indicates there is an environmental warning for air and/or water quality. Ask the Lifeguard for more details. Orange pennant flags will be used in combination with other flags. We have a partnership with UTMB for air quality warnings and one with the Health Districts Texas Beach Watch Program for water quality warnings. Water quality warnings can be specific to certain areas so these flags, when flown, may be just in some areas. We don’t determine when either of these warnings are issued. But we help spread the word by our flag system, or website, or via social media.

Organizational Management Philosophy

I hope you are either avoiding the Mardi Gras festivities or diving into the fray, depending on your preference. For me, Mardi Gras marks the beginning of the tourist season and is the point where we switch from preparations to going into a more operational mode. Of course, this season has been so warm and there have been so many people on the beach that it doesn’t really feel like we had an “off season”.

I think all our full-time staff is looking forward to the seasonal lifeguards coming back and for the organization to transition to beach mode instead of planning mode. Me too, but I’ve been so impressed with how our year-round staff has handled themselves all winter. Especially how the 4 new people that were promoted to Supervisor have been integrated into the system. We had a very minor dispute between a few of them recently and it seemed like a good time to clear the air before we go into the season and our staff size grows with all the seasonal guards.

When we met, we also had the opportunity to discuss our organizational philosophy of communication and decision making. Sometimes it’s good to review this kind of thing to make sure everyone is bought in to the process. Being from a specific generation and from a public safety background, I have traditionally followed a top down management style, where the boss makes the calls always and directives are pushed down from the top. But this doesn’t always work so well with the younger work force who likes to be part of the process. I’ve learned a lot in the past few years from the Texas Police Chief leadership courses, Park Board directed leadership training, my staff, and listening to how other organizations have altered their management style. To a certain extent I’ve changed a bit in how I see effective leadership working.

Being an emergency response group, we always default to a strict chain of command system where it’s very clear who tells who what to do during crisis. This is essential in responding to emergencies because of its consistency and practicality. But when it comes to other types of tasks it seems to work better for us to take a different approach. If we’re figuring out what types of training would work best, working on a maintenance task, or deciding how best to keep guards’ morale up, we move to a non-hierarchical style. The working group may pick their leader/facilitator and the choice may not be made based on seniority or rank. The two systems are not mutually exclusive and through dialogue and practice we’re getting better at moving between the two models.

One example is that we let a working group decide what training they feel they need and let them choose who teaches the modules. After much discussion and debate they’re rotating through topics as diverse as oxygen delivery methods to kite board rescue.  They chose relevant topics and are engaged and bought in to the process.

Full Time Staff Competition

High stepping into the frigid water we all chose different strategies. Some circled wide, choosing to run a little farther up the beach to account for a moderate lateral current. Others went straight in. Muffled sounds of discomfort were heard over the breaking surf as they hit the first trough and started a series of “dolphin dives”, using their feet to push off the bottom repeatedly. A wet suit is only warm after the cold water gets in and your body warms it up, so the first 5 minutes can be awful.

Once we got to chest deep everyone started swimming. As the old man in the group, I need more warmup time, so entered the water last. Hoping that experience and training would help me in lieu of raw physical ability, I ignored the panicky feeling that first immersion always brings, and focused on a long regular swim stroke and good sighting of the buoys so as not to lose too much time by not swimming in straight line.

As we rounded the first buoy and set our sights in the second, things got complicated because there was just enough fog to prevent seeing it at first. So, we had to use reference points to get a general sense of direction and hoped for the best. Andy Moffett shot ahead and maintained the whole race, and we all used him as a reference point. Or guinea pig.

Coming off the first lap we were warmed up and the water conditions were no longer an issue. I came out after Andy and looked back. Micah Fowler was close, then Jeff Mullin and Joey Walker neck and neck. A little behind them was Dain Buck, then Kevin Knight, Micah Fowler, and Michael Lucero. From there another run, a lap using rescue boards, run, swim, another rescue board lap, and a double run.

The real race was between Jeff and Joey, who went back and forth the entire time. Both are big cross fit athletes, so it was an aerobic battle. Dain took a little while getting going, but he’s a real experienced water guy whose been with us for years. Once he found his rhythm, he used wave and current knowledge to blast by. He almost caught me at the end by catching a great wave all the way on the outside.

We use competition quite a bit to maintain the high level of fitness required of ocean guards and have periodic competitions to motivate the crew. This was a team event between full time staff members. All winter we’ve done once a week training of this exact course to maintain fitness, keep everyone continually adapted to cold, and make sure everyone is intimately familiar to which wetsuit and equipment to use for a variety of conditions. This was the final test between teams and who gets bragging rights. But from here we’ll move on to requalification times for all the staff in the pool, a night swim, daily workouts, and Sunday races.

Rude Dog

The motorcycle came careening across the sand of the packed beach. It almost fell, swerved barely missing a couple of small children playing in the sand, then overcompensated and barely missed an umbrella with a family under it.

Rudy Betancourt, AKA “Rude Dog”, stepped up to the guy on the bike, who looked more than a little tipsy. I couldn’t make out the exact words, but Rudy started as always with a calm low voice. The conversation escalated quickly with the biker yelling some obscenities and then doing something incredibly stupid. He, first of all, tried to throw a punch at Rudy, which was basically a death wish. And to add insult to injury, he tried to do it while straddling a 1,500-pound Harley. His day went downhill from there. Rudy easily ducked the punch and countered with a right cross that put the guy down hard. We ran to lift the bike off the unconscious guy and I distinctly remember a sizzling sound and the smell of burning flesh. I was 17 so the event burned into my memory much more permanently than the burn on the guys leg.

A couple of years later I was promoted to lifeguard supervisor and was permanently assigned to ride with Rudy on the weekends. We rode together for 10 years and became friends for life. In those days the beach was the Wild-Wild-West, with Apffel Park and a couple of spots on the west end in a state of constant party including fights, water emergencies, crazy injuries, and all kinds of insanity. In retrospect I now realize that we had way too few resources for the amount of people visiting our beaches. We only had tower guards at half of the groins on the seawall, and very little security at the beach parks. The Beach Patrol did the best it could but fewer guards means more people getting into trouble. This meant tons of rescues made from the vehicles instead of swimmers moved from danger by tower guards. It also meant that we broke up lots of fights without training or equipment and responded to way more medical emergencies than you can imagine. To my eyes now, as an administrator and Chief this means liability for the city, danger for employees, and a drowning rate sometimes exceeding 25 a year that could drastically reduce tourism attendance and dollars. But as a 20-year-old college kid who came down for the weekends and summer to make money, do some good, and have fun it was awesome. And I couldn’t have asked for a better trainer and guide than Rudy Betancourt.

Through all the rescues, fights, conflict, and parties he was cool as ice. He moved slow until he didn’t. And he passed on more beach wisdom to me and many others than any of us realized.

Now Rudy owns several businesses in Galveston and spends half his time in Panama. Buckle up, catch him at the Black Pearl or the Press Box, and get him to tell you some old lifeguarding stories.