Heatwaves

by Kailey Aiken

Things kicked up on the beach this week with our first big heatwave of the summer. Beaches were packed all weekend, and even more so on Monday and Tuesday, leaving us all wondering what all of these people could possibly do for work. I probably should have asked a few of them and taken note.

The hot weather brought what we anticipated: big crowds, (temporarily) missing children, a few cases (rescues), and plenty of time spent in the ocean. Luckily, the water was very calm throughout the weekend and into the week, making our job a lot easier.

On Tuesday, probably our hottest and most crowded day on the beach, the patrons of 97 lost and found a few small children, and one group of teenage friends lost one of their friends. When they came up to the chair and told us he was missing, they said these dreaded four words: last seen in water.

This means we have to clear the entire water and conduct a submersion to ensure we didn’t let someone slip under during our watch. We line up together and dive down to the sand, sweeping our area to search for the missing boy.

After about fifteen minutes of diving, the teenage boy was found — alive and well on the sand, with no idea that the search taking place was for him. We told him not to wander too far from his friends again and everyone was then able to return to the water to escape the heat.

Aside from missing persons, 97 Shack had only a few small cases (rescues). The biggest thing I had to stay vigilant about was making sure people weren’t setting up directly in front of the chair. One group placed their umbrella legitimately inches from the footrest of my chair and was genuinely surprised I told them they couldn’t sit there. Personal space is hard to find on Beach 97th.

The latest vendor on the beach that I’ve seen is the cannoli man — still working on a brand name for his business. He did give me a free cannoli and it was delicious, so if you see him walking the beach, I recommend.

Many of the 16-week courses across NYC have ended or will this week, meaning new lifeguards are being sent to the beach! Hopefully this will mean more shacks will be consistently opened, and the ones that already are, will have the necessary manpower to operate smoothly. June is always a tougher month for lifeguards as we wait for our numbers to go back up.

As public schools end this week and the weather begins staying consistently warm, we expect the crowds and chaos to continue and escalate. We were lucky this week with how calm the water was — especially with the huge number of people who went back in as soon as we left the beach at 6 p.m. But if the water had been even just a little bit rougher, I might be writing a completely different story right now. So, stay safe and only swim when lifeguards are on duty.