Anticipating the Swell

          Maybe the summer of 1980 or 1981 I was working the tower near Beach Blvd.  It was late in the afternoon or early evening.  Every other tower was closed.  The surf had been very small all day.  The tide was rising and a pretty solid south swell was just starting to appear.  In between sets the surfline was perfectly flat.  Two or three waves made the first couple of sets, then the next set, soon three or four waves per set.  It was one those great strong south swells that came in with the rising tide. 

            I saw a dad with his daughter, maybe twelve years old, enter the water to my right.  She had a boogie board without fins and a leash.  He did not have fins either and looked less than impressive.  They started to leave the inside break and were going to the outside break.  The water looked really calm..

            While watching these two, I thought “Hmmm. in a couple of minutes they are going to be toast and get hit by a couple of waves.”  They were also drifting away from my tower with the sidecurrent.  Knowing “anticipation” as a key to lifeguarding, I decided not to wait, called it in and quickly ran and swam out there.

            Sure enough, as I reached mid channel a set came, the first wave wiped them out, the boogie board was gone, and the two were separated.  The girl freaked out and could barely swim.  The dad was clueless, panicked, and not ready for the next couple of waves.

            I got there at what seemed to be the perfect time.  If I had hesitated or waited in my tower, who knows what might have happened.        

            The dad said, “Where the hell did you come from?”  These two victims were maybe ten to fifteen feet apart when I made contact.  I got one of them on the bouy, then the other and brought them both back to shore safely.

            The father said, “Thanks, we didn’t even have a clue we could get in such trouble.  That was pretty scary.”

            I really felt like I earned my pay that day.  Lifeguarding was a great job, and I had experienced the true value of “anticipation.”