Its almost time! Friday was beach setup day, Saturday and Sunday were the weekend and lifeguarding, and today was our staff meeting! Tomorrow is the first day of swim lessons!
Beach setup is always interesting and nerve racking. We have two beaches we setup on, Bayview Beach, which is where we guard at. The other beach, Krare (not how you spell it) we set up but don’t guard it, partially because the deep end is waist deep. At Bayview, AKA Pamida Beach, has a diving board and dock, making it the teens hangout (at least until they break the rules). We setup the rope and buoy so that swimmers don’t stray off and boats keep out. The rope is never that difficult after the annoying untangle, but the buoy is a different story. Two cement blocks hold it down as the anchor. We have to some how get it out to the spot and tie the rope around it. Our boat is a plug short of being able to float so we swim it out...well I.
Normally to move the buoy, I would swim to the bottom and lift the bricks and rocks. Not bad for a short distance, but getting it out there is a long cold way to walk at under the water. Oddly one day while lifeguarding I calculated out that a rescue tube we use for lifeguarding is somewhat more buoyant than a cement brick. Using our two beach tubes, I can keep the entire system above water and swim it to the spot, then pull on the straps and undo a slipknot for both tubes and we are set!
This weekend was supposed to be me lifeguarding, but it was cold and cloudy out. Instead I sat in my car and worked on school work and read part of a book. I have read more this summer than I have all year! Too bad the books I want aren't free.
Today was our meeting for swim lessons and lifeguarding. I found out what my classes are for session 1 (Level 2, 1, preschool, and parent child!). We all then worked on practicing rescue skills for the pool and beach. I am glad we do in-services, because the college pool we do not and we do not have to do a lot of rescues at the beach, so its good to try out stuff. What was interesting is there are three of us regular lifeguards who are certified to teach lifeguarding, so we are kind of looked up to for knowing stuff. I wound up supervising the practice with one of the teachers while the other one was working with two guards on what to do if there was a pool rescue. The pool presents a problem in that there is normally only one guard there at a time. If there was an emergency and we needed to do a rescue, we would be by ourselves for a while and need to get the victim to a state where they cannot drown while we wait for help. Luckly in my 5 years there we have not had anything serious occur.
Tonight I am going to the circus here in town, then tomorrow at 9 is lessons!
From the guy with his eye on the sky, Travis...the camping lifeguard
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