9/16/14
SHAME on either Trestles staff
and/or OC (State parks) lifeguards.
I
took a swim north of the competition area today (9/16/14) & suddenly a
lifeguard with his little red flotation device came swimming out to me
acting as if I was in distress. I calmly told him "I'm fine" & "I
don't need to be rescued." And he replied, "You appear to be a weak
swimmer, there's a riptide..."blah blah blah. In fact,what this was all
about is probably somebody with binoculars (they had been sternly
admonishing surfers on the other side to stay out of the competition
area all morning,even threatening law enforcement if they didn't comply)
in the Hurley booth saw me drifting a little south towards the
competition area & instead of them kindly asking me to swim a little
further "upstream" they decided to use the pretense of a rescue &
had to add insult to injury by calling me a "weak swimmer." I might add
that I swim out to an offshore buoy (several hundred yards) & back
on a periodic basis at Corona del Mar. I do have a bit of a permanent
shoulder injury that causes me to switch from freestyle to sidestroke on
a periodic basis & maybe makes my freestyle form appear a bit
unorthodox but nonetheless,since when did lifeguards make "rescues"
based on swimmer's style rather than actual need? I sensed the lifeguard
was acting on orders from somebody else,...he virtually pleaded for me
to come to shore,which was what I was in the process of doing
anyways,but I was also cooling off & enjoying just floating a bit.
It really takes some of the enjoyment away from the beach experience
when lifeguards become too nervous. It makes everybody nervous,often
unnecessarily so. You don't need to be a powerful swimmer most of the
time to swim in the ocean.If you think you can defeat the waves by being
stronger than them,you will lose. More important is finesse &
patience & ability to stay afloat. Ocassionally it helps to use
brute strength to power towards the beach,but most people know,its not a
matter of strength that will help you escape a riptide,but temporarily
going with the flow.Anyways,there was not much of a riptide at the
moment,if at all. I sensed this was "political" & I was being used
as a pawn,so that others would see the drama & think it was
dangerous or wrong to swim there. Funny thing is,it didn't work. People
saw me enjoying the water & as I exited suddenly there were at least
20 others splashing in
the cool water on the 100 degree day.
