BEHIND THE HEADLINES:’You still have to be a good swimmer’

Newport Beach Lifeguard Battalion Chief Reenie Boyer is almost an institution on the city’s beaches. She’s worked for the city for 24 years, she created the highly popular junior lifeguard program, and she coordinates training for 220 seasonal lifeguards as well as the 17 full-time lifeguard employees.

Boyer, 49, was recently named the city’s 2006 employee of the year. The Daily Pilot talked with Boyer about how she came to work for Newport and what it’s like to be a lifeguard.

Question: You’ve worked for the city for 24 years. What did you start out doing, and why did you want to work for Newport Beach?

Answer: I was hired as a seasonal ocean lifeguard and to start the junior lifeguard program. I’d heard really good things about it [Newport] and my family lived there. Both my brothers were ocean lifeguards for Newport Beach. I’d worked at Huntington Beach, but it was a challenge to start a new program. The first year we had about 50 students in the program, so to start the program, I had to advertise it and set up where we were going to meet and make sure we had junior guard instructors and set up the curriculum…. I remember our first swim test we only had two people show up, and it’s just grown from there. And both the people who showed up were city employees’ children, and both people later became lifeguards. Initially we just had one swim time and it didn’t matter how old you were, and probably 15 years ago we went to a graduated swim time.

Q: What’s the toughest part of a lifeguard’s job?

A: I think the toughest part is just being out in the ocean elements and the beach environment all day. Even though that’s exciting, day after day that’s also tough. But it’s also the most exciting thing that you get to enjoy the beach environment.

Q: How’s enrollment for junior lifeguards going? After last year’s experiment with two shorter sessions, what do you expect from the program this year? What about the shorter swim test times?

A: We were able to accommodate everybody who passed the swim tests. This is the first year ever we have online registration. We’re finally computerized, which is really exciting. Some people didn’t pass the swim test less than 100 students out of 1,200 passing, but the ones who didn’t pass the tests, it wasn’t because of the new time standard. We’re super psyched because it’s the first year that everybody that passed the test that wants to sign up got in.

Q: How has a lifeguard’s job changed over the last 24 years?

A: It’s become much more technical. When I first started we didn’t even have computers. Now there are computers, we also have a camera system, which I don’t think anybody even thought of before, so our communications have improved…. When I very first started we had can buoys that were made of tin. If they hit somebody on the head that you were trying to rescue it could give them a bruise. Now we have the Peterson tubes [flotation devices], so that’s a really good example of how the equipment has changed.

But also a lot of lifeguarding has stayed the same. When you go out to rescue someone it’s just you and your buoy and your fins. To be a lifeguard you still have to be a good swimmer.

Q: What’s the most rewarding part of your work?

A: Truly the people I’ve developed friendships with, and to see some people who have worked for me as a seasonal ocean lifeguard get hired full-time by the city. It’s super-rewarding to see those people be rewarded in what they want to do for their career. [Fire Department spokeswoman] Jennifer Schulz was a junior lifeguard instructor. [CERT coordinator] Matt Brisbois was junior lifeguard instructor. Jon Mitchell was a seasonal ocean lifeguard, and now he’s a lifeguard captain. Those are some examples of people who were awesome seasonal employees and their dream was to work for the city, and all three of them have fulfilled that dream.