A tough road ahead

About 40 young men and women advanced to the second, and most

grueling round of lifeguard tryouts after passing the physical test

on Sunday.

Starting the first weekend in April, aspiring lifeguards will

undergo 100 hours of physical, academic and skills tests to fight for

the right to sit atop one of Laguna Beach’s 27 lifeguard towers.

“Our training program beats up on them pretty bad,” Chief of

Marine Safety Mark Klosterman said, “but we hope every one of them

passes the tests and joins our staff.”

Klosterman and his staff encouraged the April participants to

maintain their physical fitness over the next month and provided

study materials to keep them up on the academic end of the process.

Fifty-one tried out Sunday, and Klosterman expects to have about

30 new lifeguards when April testing ends.

“We’re aggressively recruiting to help keep our beaches as safe as

we possibly can,” Klosterman said.

-- Mike Swanson