Hilton Head Island’s Lifeguards: Security and Information with a Smile
A bronzed bunch of highachieving, competitive athletes not only guard Hilton Head Island’s beaches, they also find lost children, treat injuries ranging from jellyfish stings to stingray wounds, answer questions and help those in trouble in the water.
But despite the image perpetuated by TV’s “Baywatch” with a near-continuous stream of potential drownings, in real life much of a lifeguards’s time is spent on preventing dangerous situations.
“Most people see lifeguards as waiting to react to an emergency. We train to be proactive, seeking to prevent an emergency in the first place,” said Ralph Wagner, president of Shore Beach Services, which has contracted with the Town of Hilton Head to protect its beaches since 1974.
Anatomy of a lifeguard
On a recent morning, lifeguard Ellyce Lippert studied a relatively empty beach at Coligny from atop her lifeguard chair. Later, the sun would hike temperatures into the 90s, drawing droves of vacationers and residents out to enjoy Hilton Head’s 13.5 miles of beaches.
Thanks to the 50 to 60 well-trained lifeguards stationed on the beach and their support staff at Shore Beach Services, the day promised to be full of sun, sand, surf and fun — something passersby often take for granted but lifeguards work hard to ensure.
“I think people would be surprised to know how much information that we have to take in,” said Jimmy Donahue, a second-year guard.
Donahue, 21, has been a lifeguard since he was 16, but says that the beach is an entirely different gig. The lifeguards are required to know the beach ordinances, how to treat jellyfish stings (they treat about 12,000 per year), stingray wounds (they treat about 300 per year) and help people with any questions that they have on Hilton Head’s beach creatures (don’t take live sea creatures, including starfish and sand dollars).
To earn the red swimsuit and highchair, lifeguards must complete more than 72 hours of training and certifications before they ever see duty on the beach. The guards are required to attend weekly training sessions and periodic in-service training.
According to Wagner, lifeguards must be able to swim 500 meters — or the length of about 5.5 football fields — in 10 minutes or less. Not surprisingly, a majority of lifeguards also are seasoned athletes.
“Most of our lifeguards have competed through high school level in some form of athletics and many have or are competing at the college level,” said Wagner.
In fact, 80-90 percent of the guards regularly run, swim, and/or hit the gym on their own time, he said.
The median age for Hilton Head lifeguards ranges from 20 to 22. A physical is required, as is the completion of training and certification in first aid, oxygen administration, CPR/AED for professional rescuers and open water rescue.
Besides training and being in good physical shape, lifeguards must stay alert and know how to calmly react in emergency situations.
Hilton Head’s lifeguards are from all over the United States, Canada and overseas. Some find the job through the Internet, but many are part of a close network of friends, roommates or siblings who carry on the tradition of lifeguarding on Hilton Head. Wagner estimates that 40 percent of the guards return each year.
Help is on the way
All of their training pays off in the different situations that arise, from parents losing track of a child to treating various injuries to preventing potential drownings.
In one case of frantic parents who reported that they lost track of their child, the lifeguard calmed the parents, asked specific questions to pinpoint the child’s age, description and the area that the child was last seen. The news was quickly broadcast throughout the entire beach via the lifeguards’ hand-held radio network.
Happily, minutes later, the child was reunited with his or her relieved parents.
“Usually we can resolve these situations in 15 minutes or less,” said Wagner, adding that there are about 350 such incidents a year, with about 10 percent being a lost adult.
Recently, Kjell Pederson and fellow lifeguard/managers supervisors Dan Condell and Mycal Rodenbeck, conducted a continuing education class for the guards, which covered injuries and their treatment, preparedness and professionalism.
“Our main priority is to make the beach a safe place for people to come down and enjoy,” said Rodenbeck as the group headed to the surf to practice rescue procedures for potential spinal injuries.
Skim boards account for about 90 percent of broken bones, and chances are most guards will have to deal with someone su ering from heat exhaustion.
Kelli King, a fourth-year guard and a triathlete, said that in her first summer as a lifeguard she had to pull a man and his son in after they had gone out about 75-100 yards on a body board and were struggling to get back to shore.
“I know it’s not very exciting … but it’s safe and that’s what we want. We want safe,” she said. “We practice preventative life-guarding so that it doesn’t escalate to that level.”
One of the things the lifeguards all enjoy is the chance to help others and meet a wide variety of people.
“I really enjoy the social aspect of the job,” said Cari Heckert, a third-year guard who is married to another guard, Dario Saucedo.
Oftentimes, Heckert’s informational chalkboard, outlining tides and surf conditions, is written in Spanish.
“We have a lot of Spanish-speaking visitors and I want them to know that I can help them if English is a problem,” said Heckert, who is fluent in Spanish. “I enjoy meeting different people all of the time and helping them.”
Of course, when people are involved, a sense of humor is necessary.
“One group, for a week straight, brought their CD player every day and played the ‘Baywatch’ theme each time I went into the water,” said lifeguard Lippert. “That was memorable!”
Most people feel lucky to know that a lifeguard is watching out for them while they have fun on the beach. But most lifeguards feel the same way about what they do.
“This is the best job,” said King. “To watch someone who has never seen the ocean experience that, or return a lost child to a parent. I love that. I’m lucky to be here every day.”
Stay safe on the beach
Shore Beach Service recommends that beach-goers:
- Never swim alone. Swim near a lifeguard. Don’t overestimate your swimming ability. Swim sober.
- Never depend on a flotation device for your safety.
- Check surf and beach conditions (posted on lifeguard chairs) before entering water.
- Be aware of the direction and strength of the currents. Watch for rip currents, which can pull you away from shore. To get out of a rip current, do not attempt to swim directly to shore. Either swim out of the rip current in a direction following the shoreline, or float with the rip current until you no longer feel its pull. When out of the rip current, swim back to shore away from the rip current.
- Don’t dive into unknown water, or into shallow, breaking waves.
- Check with the lifeguard when the yellow caution flag is displayed.
- Call and wave for help if you get into trouble, never fake calls for help.
- Get out of the water immediately when you see lightning. Seek shelter off the beach.
- If you get lost on the beach, go to the nearest lifeguard or other member of the beach patrol for help. Do not leave the beach.
- Avoid touching jellyfish.
- Avoid stingrays by shuffing your feet along the bottom as you walk.
- Refill any holes that you dig in the sand (especially important during turtle hatching season which peaks in late June and early July.)
- Obey all beach ordinances. Signs listing the beach ordinances are posted at all beach access points.
- Leave only your footprints in the sand. Do not litter.
- Don’t harm or disturb sea turtles and sea birds or their nests, eggs or young.
Competitions
Shore Beach Service has been a member of the South Atlantic region of the United States Lifesaving Association (USLA) since 1989 and a Certifying Agency of the USLA for Open Water Lifeguarding since 1995. Shore is also a Charter Member of the Professional Beach Service Association (PBSA).
A Hilton Head Island competition is held each June. This year it was June 22 and 24. Each supervisor captains a team for the local lifeguard competition, which was held in front of the Holiday Inn on Coligny Beach. Some of the guards have the opportunity to go on to compete at the regional and national levels. A regional competition is being held this month in North Myrtle Beach. The national competition is in August in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
All competitions are open to the public. Contact Shore Beach Services at 843-785-3494 or visit shorebeach.com for more information.
