The Dog Days Are Over
By by Kailey Aiken
The peak summer season is coming to a close as our college-age lifeguards go back to school and the weather begins to cool down. The crowds will soon start to shrink, and less lifeguard chairs and beaches will be open as September nears.
This past weekend was beautiful weather-wise, and hurricane Debby brought great waves for surfing. However, these waves made our jobs as lifeguards much more difficult. The undertow and rip currents worsened, and we were in and out of the water all day on Saturday and Sunday at Beach 97th. Saturday morning started off hot with a surfer being knocked unconscious by a board on the closed beach next to us, followed by a drunk man passing out on the sand on Beach 95th street, all before 10:30 in the morning.
The day only continued to become more chaotic as we went in for case after case. Around 5:30 p.m., three very drunk men were thrown off the beach after being told they couldn’t go in the water. They couldn’t even walk, never mind swim, but began running through knee deep water and splashing lifeguards who tried to tell them to get out. Once the PEP officers and cops walked over to deal with them, one of the men ran off the beach soaking wet in nothing but his boxers to escape being reprimanded. There really is never a dull moment on that beach, for better or for worse.
Summer’s not over yet, but this week is many lifeguards’ last week on the beach. It’s been a crazy summer, but we’ve had countless great days on the beach. Sometimes it’s easy to take for granted what a great job we have — to be sitting on the beach with our friends every day — but as people start leaving and we start saying our goodbyes, we remember how lucky we are.
