Mixing lifeguarding and umbrella renting makes our beaches more dangerous
I read with interest your article about the dangers along the Grand Strand from rip currents and the interaction of the water safety staffs with the public. I want to take issue with the comments by Bill Bigham from Beach Services Ltd about the role of a lifeguard with a dual purpose: to guard the public and to sell services such as umbrellas and beach chairs.
It is an unsafe practice and should undergo more scrutiny by those communities employing such services.
“His guards spend their days searching for struggling swimmers, warning against dangers like jellyfish and ensuring swimmers don’t stray too far from the shore. Bigham said the rentals are not a distraction because the chairs have to be set up at the start of his guards’ shifts, and must be finished by 9 a.m.”
I have been enjoying the ocean on the Grand Strand since the early 1980s, having bought a condominium in the north end of Myrtle Beach. I am a beach person.
Our beach is serviced by a similar private beach service and seem to employ two or three “guards” on the beach from about Memorial Day to Labor Day. They stage 75 or so umbrellas with beach chairs daily from one end of the beach to the other, about 300 linear yards, for $30 per day per umbrella and chairs. ($30 x 75 = $2,250)
It is true that they are ready for the public by 9 a.m. and that they leave at 5 p.m.. However, is is not true to a significant degree that they spend their time “searching for struggling swimmers, warning against dangers like jellyfish and ensuring swimmers don’t stray too far from the shore.”
In fact, the “guards” spend a great deal of their time renting umbrellas and chairs to guests. Paperwork must be done, fees collected, credit cards run. Extra chairs delivered and staged if needed. Breaks must be taken, lunches eaten, etc.
And the work to tear down the umbrellas starts at 4 p.m., with all guards participating so they can be off the beaches promptly at 5 p.m. In between and prior to 4 p.m.,they sit on their stands watching the ocean. Rarely do the patrol the beach from the shoreline. Rarely do they interact with the public about ocean conditions. In fact rarely do they even go into the water.
The public does not come first; the umbrellas and chairs do. It's all about the math, probably $10,000 a week, give or take.
As a former beach patrol lifeguard from New Jersey, I can say from experience that the mixing of umbrella rentals with lifeguarding is dangerous. Watching the beaches along the Strand looks deceptively easy since the water is extremely shallow even at high tide. Sand bars are numerous. The low tide adds 10 -20-30 yards to the beach. But that adds to the distance a lifeguard must cover before entering the water to commence a rescue.
I have never seen a guard at our beach move his stand from the high water mark to a closer position to the water at low tide, probably because of a need to be near the umbrellas for rent. Rip currents are numerous and water “running” from left to right or right to left at the shore easily leads to bathers distress.
With 400 to 500 bathers in the ocean at the same time, guards must be watching closely to spot hazardous conditions and bathers at all times - not in between umbrella rentals, and not from the high water mark.
I hope you look into the issue of beach rental services and lifeguarding further. I have spent some time speaking with the “guards” at our beach from year to year. What I have learned has scared me. Guards from Ireland, Russia, inland states - none with ocean guard backgrounds.
The practice of bringing these young people into the U.S. for the summer, providing room and board to them, vetting them, training them, needs exposure. More time is spent on umbrellas than on guarding.
The public should come first, not umbrella sales.
The writer lives in Myrtle Beach.
This story was originally published August 22, 2016 at 8:32 AM with the headline "Mixing lifeguarding and umbrella renting makes our beaches more dangerous."