ON THE WATER -- Ready to save lives

Mathis Winkler

NEWPORT BEACH -- With a light drizzle falling on the beach from a

cloudy sky Thursday morning and sea gulls outnumbering people by far, it

seemed difficult to imagine that summer lurks around the corner.

But while Memorial Day weekend is widely considered to kick off the

warm season, Brian O’Rourke, a lifeguard lieutenant in Newport Beach,

said for them, summer’s still a few weeks away.

Memorial Day weekend “is really not the kickoff of summer for us,”

said the 34-year-old Newport Heights resident while sitting in an office

at lifeguard headquarters on Newport Pier.

About 150 seasonal lifeguards won’t start working until June 23, when

school ends and the beaches start to fill up all week long, O’Rourke

said.

“It’s really just weekends right now,” he said.

O’Rourke grew up in Glendale and came to Orange County for its water

polo teams. One of his coaches at Orange Coast College told him about

lifeguard tryouts and after several seasons as a part-time employee,

O’Rourke became a full-fledged team member six years ago.

He already sports a deep tan, but said it’s just part of the job.

“I get white in the winter,” he said, laughing. “It’s good to give the

skin a rest since I’m out in the sun all the time.”

While he now spends a big chunk of his time in the office and trains

rookies, he still gets his fair share of the action.

Just recently, he spotted three people trying to escape a rip current

and participated in their rescue.

“They were going to die,” he said, adding that the two girls and a guy

had been wading in waste deep water when the current caught up with them.

“They were drowning,” he said. “When you make rescues like that it

comes back to you: ‘This is why I love this job.”’

The biggest reason for trouble in the water is that people

underestimate the ocean’s power, O’Rourke said.

“They can’t recognize the dangers and go straight in the ocean,” he

said, adding that everyone should always check with a lifeguard about

water conditions and swim near a tower if there’s a lifeguard on duty.

“That’s how they get in trouble.”

And rip currents get lethal.

“It’s like a river going out to the sea,” O’Rourke said. “People need

to stay calm and need to swim sideways, out of [the current], and never

swim straight into the beach.”

Inadequate swimwear can also be dangerous. When people go swimming

with cutoff pants and T-shirts, it gets harder for them to fight

currents, he said, adding that swim fins should also be worn at all

times.