Lifeguards get a workout during Labor Day weekend

Andrew Edwards

Labor Day weekend was full of hard work for Laguna’s lifeguards. The

Marine Safety Department reported making hundreds of rescues

throughout the weekend, which was punctuated on Saturday by a rip

current that almost spelled disaster for several swimmers.

At about 4 p.m. Saturday, the waters off Main Beach became a

treacherous combination of lateral and rip currents, Marine Safety

Chief Mark Klosterman said. Compounding the danger were several large

waves, as big as 8- to 10-feet tall.

About 20 swimmers became trapped in the water, Klosterman said,

and about seven lifeguards hurried into the water to help.

One of the lifeguards, J.P. Mathot, was inside headquarters with

another guard, Travis Lowery, when they were called out to assist the

rescue.

“We just got our tubes and fins and went out and just got into the

rip,” Mathot said. “It was pretty amazing though, because that rip

was pulling big.”

Mathot pulled out a man who was exhausted from struggling against

the currents, he said. The man and other rescued swimmers were caught

off guard by the surging currents.

“So much water was moving, and it took a lot of people by

surprise,” Mathot said.

None of the swimmers who were taken out of the rip current, some

of who were being pulled far away from the beach, suffered serious

injurious, though Klosterman said swimmers could have been mere

moments from drowning.

“We were able to get all of them, and it became a matter of

seconds, but we were able to get them all before the aspirated

water,” he said. “The difference between a rescue and a drowning is

one ventilation, one breath.”

One cup of water inside an adult’s lungs is enough to cause a

drowning, Klosterman said.

About one-third of the summer lifeguards had already left the

beaches and returned to school by the weekend, Klosterman said.

Guards who took part in the mass rescue had been on the job six or

seven days in row before they battled the currents on Saturday.

“We’re lucky we didn’t have any lifeguards seriously injured that

day,” Klosterman said.

One guard suffered a sprained shoulder when he was knocked down by

a wave, but he was able to get back up and continue with the rescues.

Saturday was not the only hectic day on the beaches. Large crowds

were at the beaches throughout the weekend, and Klosterman said

lifeguards made 405 rescues on Sunday and 185 on Monday. The

lifeguards single day record is about 500.