Local lifesavers earning their water wings
50 saved from rip currents in 2-week span
BY COLLEEN LUTOLF
Staff Writer

MIGUEL JUAREZ staff Brick Township lifeguard Mike Farr patrols Brick Beach III Saturday. Rip currents had Brick lifeguards making at least 25 saves within the past three weeks.

Lifeguarding might seem like just a day at the beach, but the township's lifesaving squad has been so busy recently that a desk job might seem like a cushier position.

"I've been a lifeguard for 15 years, and the last two weeks are one of the top five [busiest]," lifeguard captain Dan Santiello said last week .

Lifeguards made 25 saves in a two-week span beginning in mid-July, Santiello said.

A save is counted every time a guard is called into the water. In those 25 saves, at least 50 bathers were pulled from the ocean, Santiello said.

"One time, the sandbar totally disappeared and made a huge rip," Santiello said. "Fifteen people got sucked out at one time at Brick Beach III. Every guard except one went out."

Twelve guards were called into the water. The one remaining on the beach was left to clear bathers from the shore, Santiello said.

PHOTOSBYMIGUEL JUAREZ staff Above: Lifeguards Patrick Thulen (l) and Keith Doornoos shoulder an ocean kayak as they move through sun bathers on Brick Beach III Saturday afternoon. Ocean lifeguards have been busy this summer. One day, 15 bathers were sucked out in a rip current at once. At right: Dan Rac (l), Kevin Mavin and Charlie Kelly return from a rescue drill at Brick Beach III Saturday.

"Two guards had two people on one torp," he said.

A "torp" is short for torpedo, the red lifesaving aid so named for its shape.

Twelve to 15 guards are stationed at Brick's three ocean beaches; the township's two bay beaches and the Maple Leaf Community Pool at Pine Grove Day Camp in Wall are also guarded by Brick's squad.

Violent summer storms during the first half of the summer have left the ocean floor soft and loose, allowing rip currents, some up to 80 yards wide and 120 yards long, to form easily, usually with the incoming tide, Santiello said.

"The waves weren't that big, but we had some bad rips," he said.

A few times, guards were stationed in the water just catching people as they were about to float by, Santiello said.

Although guards were making a lot of saves, only one swimmer, a 12-year-old body boarder who's head hit the knee of a fellow sponger, was taken to the hospital, Santiello said.

"He had blood coming out of his ear," Santiello said.

The boy was taken to Ocean Medical Center in Brick on July 25, then transported to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune. He was released two days later on July 27, Santiello said.

Sometimes the conditions require the guards to ban swimming altogether, Santiello said.

"The public always thinks we like to close the water all the time," he said. "If it is dangerous, we do have to close the water. Our guards go and train in the morning. If it's bad to them, it's bad."

Training consists of a daily 1-mile run, a 500-yard swim and four practice saves, Santiello said.

Every other morning, guards pull out Annie, a CPR dummy to keep guards confident in their lifesaving skills on land.

Those skills were tested last year on the last day of summer, Santiello said.

A 65-year-old man out body surfing hit the ocean bottom and was left unconscious, Santiello said.

"He sucked in a lot of water," he said. "He wasn't breathing, one guard gave him CPR and got his pulse back. They got him in the ambulance and he made it."

The guards received awards and a proclamation for their efforts, Santiello said.

"They still talk about it to this day," he said. "They used to constantly complain they didn't like training. After that day, they're grateful to train because they felt comfortable in that situation."

Meredith Hudson, 22, a Brick resident and a lifelong swimmer, said she used to guard at another local beach before moving over to Brick six years ago.

"There's a major difference when you work somewhere else and then you work at Brick beach. You realize you are trained in a life-threatening situation," she said. "Other beaches have rowboats. Our training is: what if somebody has a heart attack?"

The guards thank lifeguard supervisor Donovan Brown, whose been training guards to save Brick swimmers since the early 1980s, Santiello said.

"This year our staff is exceptional," Santiello said. "We say that every year and every year they do get better, but I don't know if it could get better than this year."

"The boss, because he trains us so well, it comes easy," said Stephen Healing, 22, of Brick.