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Back in the Day at Stewart

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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

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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.

Late Summer Tricks

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“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

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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!

2023 USLA National Results

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The best of the best went head-to-head for 4 days in Virginia Beach last week. The United States Lifesaving Association National Lifeguard Championships had over 800 Junior Guards, Open Lifeguards, and Age Groupers who battled it out over a long, 4-day competition.

All of the Lifesaving Sport events simulate some facet of open water rescue. Some are directly related like the 400-meter swim, run-swim-run, 2K beach run, rescue board race, and the swim and rescue board rescue. The more grueling ones combine different events, like the American Iron Person, which involves a 300-meter swim, 600-meter rescue board paddle, and 1000-meter row in a 1–2-person surf boat. Same for International Iron Person which substitutes a surf ski (long, skinny, ultra-fast kayak) for the surf boat. Most of the events mirror the international standard, but a couple of races are specific to USA lifesaving history. The surf boat race is a nod to our past since most of us use jet skis these days. Same for the Landline race where a swimmer swims 300 meters out dragging a long line behind them to make contact with a “victim” which two other people drag to shore by pulling the line in with repeated sprints.

Galveston made its mark both with our Junior Lifeguard team and the adult lifeguard teams.

In one long, grueling day our Juniors went at it, and in typical lifeguarding fashion they and their adult counterparts made friends with the competition. They compared notes about beaches, programs, and rescue techniques, and had a great time. Some of our more significant finishes were:

Maddy Scott- 2nd in distance run, 3rd swim rescue, 9th paddle relay, 10th run-swim-run

Zoey Scott- 1st distance run, 7th rescue board, 6th swim rescue, 6th paddle relay, 5th run-swim-run, 3rd iron guard (run-swim-paddle), 6th distance swim

Ryan Pryor- 8th distance run, 7th beach flags, 9th swim rescue, 3rd paddle relay

Houston Pryor- 8th distance run, 4th paddle relay

Caroline Livanec- 8th beach flags, 4th paddle relay

Abby Hart- 4th paddle relay

For the next three days the big guards were up. We ended up with an overall 6th place in the mid-sized teams category, which was impressive with only 8 competitors and most of the points being made in age group events. Jacque Emmert was our standout, raking in points on both age group and open events. Standout performances included:

Mac Livanec- semifinals in open Surf Ski (big deal!)

Jeff Mullins- 4th in American Ironman and 16th in mixed open row

Peter Davis- 2nd American Ironman, 3rd Surfski, semis in open Surfski, 4th Beach Flags, 4th International Ironman, 5th Rescue Board, 6th Run-Swim-Run

Jacque Emmert- 9th open American Ironwoman, 9th open Single Surfboat, 2nd Surf Swim, 2nd Run-Swim-Run, 3rd Rescue Board Race, 5th Surfski, 2nd American Ironwomen, 4th 2k Beach Run, and a GOLD medal in the International Ironwoman

Congrats to our athletes and kudos for all the blood, sweat, and  training that went into preparing. And a special thank you to our guards who stayed home and kept our beaches safe during a busy, busy weekend!

De-stress Training

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The golden orange early morning light slanted across the surface as the bow of the surf ski sliced through glassy, emerald water. The only sounds a mile and a half from shore were from paddles dipping into the water and rhythmic breathing, punctuated by the occasional bird sound. 15 minutes into an hour and a half training session and I was in the zone, when an unexpected wet blowing sound just off to the side startled me. This ended up being one of the best paddles of the summer.

A dolphin had broken the surface off to the right side and as I saw its tail slip beneath the surface, I realized how clear the water was. I was able to track it under the front of the boat and see it moving off to the left, along with several other shapes that were swimming in tandem. Another surfaced, then another, and I realized they were all over. It was a pod of around twenty bottle nosed dolphins. I adjusted course to track with the group and for the next 10 minutes saw them play, come up beside me and look at me with curious, all too human eyes, and jump in the air. Eventually they drifted off and I resumed my course farther offshore.

In what is arguably the busiest beach and hottest season Galveston has seen, the demands on our staff are many. They have risen to the occasion and have done the hard work of keeping people from danger day in and day out. To do this we’ve had to find balance. Physical balance includes daily exercise, staying hydrated/healthy, and being self-aware enough to realize when you shouldn’t push too hard or shouldn’t take that extra shift. But equally important is the need to maintain psychological balance and build things into your routine to counteract the stress that being constantly on the watch for ways to keep people from hurting themselves brings. We’ve tried to build that into our routine as an agency by allowing time for daily training, providing formal leadership/resiliency training, and encouraging social time outside of work. In fact, last Friday our non-profit lifesaving association hosted a very nice dinner and awards banquet for the whole staff with the help of a generous donation from the Sasser family (thank you!). It was really cool to see the crew relaxing with friends and co-workers outside of work. Special congrats to our 2023 Lifeguard of the Year, Josh Schmidt, who was chosen by his peers and whose name is now memorialized on the lifeguard of the year plaque that hangs in our Headquarters!

Back to my personal de-stress routine, once I’d reached a turnaround point about 4 miles offshore, I took a few minutes to swim around in the abnormally crystal-clear water before heading back. On the way I was again startled by a 6-foot Spinner Shark jumping/spinning about 5 feet above the water and reconnected with the big dolphin pod before returning to shore refreshed and ready to start another day on the beach.

Beachfest – Junior Lifeguard Program

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The end of the Junior Lifeguard Program is here and is a big deal for us. Last Thursday the kids went to Matagorda for a full day on that beautiful, deserted beach. Today is “Beachfest”, which is a day of competition where the kids compete in a run, swim, paddle race, run-swim-run, swim rescue, paddle rescue, and beach flags. It’s always a good time and many of the parents come down to cheer, hang out, and enjoy beach BBQ. It’s so cool to see how far the younger kids come in only 6 weeks. I love the 10-11 year old age group paddle race where some of the smaller kids look like they’re paddling boats! The conditions are a little choppy so there will be a bit of a challenge. Its always a good time and I love the part at the end when we spend time story-swapping time under tarps eating great food.

Next Wednesday days the big guards compete in the Gulf Coast Championships of the United States Lifesaving Association in Port Aransas. There are 5 beach lifeguard organizations in the state of Texas and hopefully all will be present. Those who do well will represent “Team Texas” in the National Lifesaving Championships.

This is a four-day event involving both Junior Lifeguard events and Lifeguard events where the best of the best duel it out on the beach. It rotates beaches each year and this year we’ll be at one of my favorite beaches for competition, Virginia Beach. Not only is it a beautiful spot, but the community has done an amazing job of creating an admirable beach product that includes art, performance spaces, and well-maintained amenities. They have a good lifeguard program, police bicycle security program, and do a great job of keeping everything clean and hospitable. Galveston is my favorite beach, but I love visiting other venues to get ideas on how we can be even better.

Another thing we’re excited about is that since the Junior Guard program is over, we start our Community Beach Camps for non-profits that work with kids, prioritizing those that work with at risk youth. These camps are half day camps that are like mini Junior Guard sessions and are taught by our Junior Guard instructors. Kids get to experience a water safety seminar, learn about nutrition, hydration, and sun protection, and have a discussion about what a typical day is like for a lifeguard. Once the classroom portion is finished, they have an introduction to paddle boarding workshop.

Whether we’re talking about competition for young adults, Junior Guarding for teens and “tweens”, community camps for all ages, or our Spring School Water Safety Education Program, hundreds if not thousands of kids and young adults are getting at least some exposure to the beach environment and the values inherent in lifesaving and public safety each season. Our wonderful instructors are great role models, embody these values, and work very hard all season. I’m proud to work with them.

4th of July – Review & General Safety

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Whew! The 4th of July 5-day marathon is over and early Wednesday morning, aside from huge piles of trash being efficiently removed by Coastal Zone Management crews, the beaches returned to normal.

The holiday was a good one, with big, mostly well-behaved crowds and water that varied from calm to mildly choppy. We were steady for all 5 days but not overwhelmed. A big part of things seeming manageable was that we were well staffed. Most towers were covered by two guards, and we had a full complement of mobile patrols including a boat in the water. So, even when we had two or three emergencies happening simultaneously, we had enough to backfill those spots.

By the end of the day Tuesday our stats were impressive. 2,745 water safety talks for beach patrons, a boat rescue, 190 enforcements (42 were vehicles mostly on the west end), 64 medical responses (including 4 stingrays and 46 jellyfish stings), 22 lost children reunited with their parents, one rescue (thanks Coast Guard!). The reason that our rescue number was so small was to a large extent because by the end of the holiday we moved 30,219 people away from dangerous areas (rip currents, swimmers too far from shore, etc.).

There’s plenty of summer left, so as a reminder take a few simple safety precautions that can keep you and your family safe while enjoying all that our beaches have to offer. Of course, swimming near a lifeguard and avoiding rip currents are the most important. Rip currents in Texas typically occur near a structure like a jetty or pier. Obey warning signs and instructions from a lifeguard to be safe. If accidentally caught in a rip, stay calm and go with the flow. Call or wave for help if possible. If you’re a good swimmer, try swimming parallel to shore until out of the current, and then back to the sand. If you see someone in a rip, don’t go in after them. Multiple drownings often occur when a well-meaning Good Samaritan goes in without proper equipment or training. Instead, throw a floating object or line to them, like the buoy and throw bag found in the rescue boxes at the end of each rock jetty.

As a general rule, pick a lifeguarded area to swim. You are still responsible for your own safety, but they can provide an added layer of protection if needed. They can help with first aid, lost kids, or virtually any type of beach emergency. Remember to swim with a buddy, obey warning signs and flags, assign a “Water Watcher”, and don’t dive in headfirst. Of course, non-swimmers and small children should wear a properly fitted life jacket when in or around any type of open water or swimming area.

We are still looking at some pretty hot and humid weather so be sure and take precautions.

Overall, use good common sense. Know your limits. The ocean isn’t a pool or pond, so you should be extra careful. Then go have fun!

4th & Leadership

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Planning for an event as large as a 5-day 4th of July weekend is quite a thing. We check equipment for the guards, Community Emergency Response (CERT) and the park security programs, and make sure the Survivor Support Network is ready to go. We make sure we schedule everyone including additional coverage for the towers, a boat in the water, additional patrols at the parks for lost children and other issues.

But there are some less tangible preparations that have to be made well in advance that have relate to team cohesion and initiative. With 32 miles of beach to cover, 70 miles of waterfront that we may respond to, night calls, and whatever craziness gets thrown at us, we have to be able to respond to multiple events simultaneously and all the parts have to be able to work autonomously or fold into small groups made up of various people and response groups that work a problem together.

For a couple of years, we’ve been working on these areas, and have an internal program that is peer led. So, lifeguards work with lifeguards to make sure all the elements are in place for how to deal with stress, a variety of people and situations, and to work as a cohesive unit. Team cohesion, leadership, and physical and emotional resilience are essential ingredients for making it all come together.

We have an amazing team of peer leaders that run workshops once a week and we have small modules that are included in our daily training as well. It’s really starting to pay off and has permeated throughout our organization. Bill Bower is one of our peer leaders. He described an exercise in the following communication to the staff:

“I wanted to share with everyone what went on in our Saturday workout. I see it as a major step forward for our class. When we arrived at headquarters, we were told there was no workout, to pick up her bags, and head to tower 17. What happened next was a textbook example of what we’re trying to teach. Captain Pryor gathered everyone around and explained that the majority of guards were not swimming the jetty correctly. He demonstrated complete ownership of the situation, acknowledging that if most people were doing it wrong then they probably hadn’t been correctly instructed on how to do it. This is exactly what we’re trying to teach the guards to do with beach patrons. He explained how Beach Patrol wanted them to do it and then the all-important reason why they should do it. This was something most of them had never heard before. He then took the group in the water and showed them exactly what needed to be done and led them through it. I think this interaction really hit home with them showing how a true leader uses extreme ownership to motivate and lead. It was one of the best examples of leadership I’ve ever seen, and I plan to reference it in our future discussions.”

Night Calls and Memorial Prep

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At 3am a call came over about an attempted suicide at a beach on the west end. Supervisor Stephen Limones was on call and rolled out of bed and drove with lights and sirens to the scene to meet police, fire, and EMS. A family was on the beach and one of them was upset and swam out reportedly to end his life. Fortunately, in this case the family was able to bring him back to shore just as the emergency responders pulled up. EMS recognized that the person was having some kind of episode and made the decision to bring him to the emergency room for assessment and support.

5am the same morning close to the same location as the earlier call, a man was reportedly on narcotics and had evaded the police by running out into the water. Stephen showed up and went out to try to talk the man back to shore. As he got close, the man dove face down in the water and floated until Stephen got to him. Stephen took a risk and grabbed the man from behind and drug him to shore, speaking reassuringly to him. Police officers took over once they reached shallow water and ended up taking him into custody, mostly to protect him from himself until he came down.

More people more of the year means more calls of every type – day or night. This is the reality for first responders of all types working on an island that sees more visitors each year. 8.1 million people coming to the island means a larger number of 911 calls of all types, particularly beach related incidents.

Fortunately, with a lot of work by the Beach Patrol staff, we’ve run an almost continuous lifeguard academy, mostly because foreign Work/Tourist j1 visa holders don’t come en masse, but trickle in these days. Counting those in the academy we are up to a little more than 90 lifeguards, 42 of which are j1 visa holders, plus our 15 full-time Supervisors. We’re not at our target number, but we feel confident at this point we’ll be able to cover all the towers we have in our projections. We’ll be able to hit all the rock jetties each day plus some additional seawall towers where they’re needed. We’ll also be able to start our daily west end patrol schedule from Memorial to Labor Day weekends, and cover Stewart Beach, East Beach, and Dellanara Park.

To add to that we’ve got a new class of Wave Watchers graduated and out checking the beaches, Survivor Support Network is ready for another season, CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) will be here for holidays and as needed, and our partner public safety groups are ready to go.

Wednesday around 5pm at 37th we’ll kick off our annual “night swim” lifeguard academy graduation exercise and run, swim, and paddle our way to Stewart Beach. Come support your lifeguard crew by cheering them on as they make their way through this grueling challenge!