Beach Patrol and What’s Coming Up

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This Sunday, May 1st, we are expecting 70 or so lifeguard candidates to show up for lifeguard tryouts. The following Saturday we’ll have another tryout and academy as well. We need them all!

I thought it would be fun to walk you through a sample of a summer day with us to illustrate all the things that are happening behind the scenes.

Starting at 7:30am the first patrol truck hits the beach, puts out flags, gets an overall feel for conditions, and updates the warning system. Our 1st dispatcher arrives and preps for the shifts to arrive. Three shifts of guards arrive starting at 7:45, followed by 10:30, and the main shift comes on just after noon. All shifts go to the beach for physical training, followed by short sessions that rotate between topics related to lifeguarding, medical response, resiliency, leadership, tourist relations or intercultural competency. For every 3 towers we ideally have 4 guards scheduled per day, to allow for breaks. Dispatchers work in a similar way.

We stagger our shifts to best use our resources and aren’t at full strength until after noon. To help fill the gap, many of our Wave Watcher volunteer program are out early checking various areas of the beach. They are a huge help in spotting potential issues before they escalate.

Meanwhile, we are also working administrative staff 9-5 and running our Junior Lifeguard Day Camp, with kids between 10 and 15. The first session of the day runs from 8-12 and the second from 1-5. They typically bounce back and forth from the headquarters to the water. They recover from exercises, games, and skills sessions while having lessons on similar topics as the guards. Then they go back to the ocean for swimming, paddling, rescue techniques, etc. We choose instructors carefully, so they’re learning from the best.

Guards get off around 8:30pm and supervisors and dispatchers continue for another hour. Then, some lucky soul gets to be “on call” and be ready to respond throughout the night to all kinds of emergencies.

Afternoons are our busiest time and can be filled with emergencies, or just the steady work of keeping people from danger. We work a zone system, where each truck takes care of a zone having 5-9 towers in it. We work a zone system, and are always ready to backfill, so we’re able to maintain uninterrupted coverage.

To accomplish all of this, we have approximately 125 lifeguards- most of whom are teenagers, 10 dispatchers, and 15 year-round employees. We cover 9 miles with 34 towers, provide patrol for 33 miles, and respond 24/7/365 to emergencies that happen in about 70 miles of waterfront. We also maintain our police department, support 15 or so Survivor Support Network Volunteers, and about 60 Wave Watchers. And our JG day camp program has 120 kids ranging in age from 10-15.

This all works because we have layers of supervision and coaching, both in our facility and on the beach, where the adults are in constant contact with the teenagers and children.

Wave Watcher Academy

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A group of people stood near the end of the rock groin at 37th street. They took turns removing the ring buoy and attached throw bag from the rescue box and throwing it to an imaginary victim in the water. The ring should be tossed over the head of the victim and gently pulled back to where the person’s head is. If you miss, you don’t take the time to stuff the rope back in the bag but coil it on one hand while stepping on the “bag end” of the rope. Your coils should go from the body out, so when you throw, they don’t cross over the other ropes and tangle. As in much of rescue work, the simplest thing gets complicated if not done the same way each time. It’s all about eliminating variables, so when things inevitably go wrong, you have less on your plate.

We are kicking off our first virtual Wave Watcher Academy. They can certify in CPR and will became official “Tourist Ambassadors”. We cover beach topography and near shore bathymetry, rip and longshore currents, protocols for lost children, beach rules and ordinances, drowning events, dangerous marine life and treatments, and Galveston areas that are hazardous to swimmers. On the final day they’ll tour the beach, will be issued uniform shirts and hats, received an official ID card, and we’ll finished up with a celebratory lunch together.

The Wave Watcher stats are entered into our data base so we can keep track of preventative or enforcement actions. By tracking the stats for the lifeguards, beach park security program, Wave Watchers, and Park Staff we get a good indicator of the amount of work being done to protect our locals and tourists on the beach.

The Wave Watcher program become an integral part of our family. Information is on our website, so let us know if you want to jump in the class!

On another note, I’d be remiss if I didn’t hit on an important upcoming opportunity for Galveston. The proposed Aquatics Center at Ball High would have an indoor, heated, eight-lane regulation length pool, boys’ and girls’ locker rooms, a coach’s office, pump and storage rooms, and bleachers for 300, instead of 30. For the first time in its history, Ball High would be able to host a swim meet. The old pool does not have locker rooms or bathrooms and is not regulation length.

The new Aquatics Center would serve Ball High’s swim team, water polo team, and Jr. ROTC. It would also be used by non-profit organizations (Galveston Island Swim Team, Ace After-School Program, Tor Kids) that teach swimming to Galveston children and by public safety groups. It will also help feed our Junior Guard and Lifeguard programs.

Galveston ISD is the only public entity with indoor, heated pools in the city, and is therefore the only organization that can host year-round water activities. On an island, that’s a good thing. Proposition B on the May ballot will be our chance to support this.

Clean Beaches

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It takes a village to keep our beaches clean.

As Chief of Beach Patrol, I often write this column about our dedicated lifeguards and the volunteers in the Wave Watches and Survivor Support Network, Junior Lifeguards, and community groups that save lives, protect the beach, and raise awareness about water safety.

This week, I was reminded of the big beach cleanup event tomorrow, Saturday 10th, and recalled the front-line guardians, workers, and volunteers that keep our shores clean, green and pristine. While the official stewards of Galveston’s coastal environment are the Park Board’s Coastal Zone Management (CZM) and the Beach Parks Management teams, they are fortified with thousands of resolute volunteers. ​

While sharing the vision of a new environmentally sustainable Beach Patrol headquarters facility last week with our all-volunteer citizen-led Beach Maintenance Advisory Committee, I saw great work being done. This committee, made up of research and science professionals and engaged citizens, are dedicated ambassadors that talk to residents, share best practices, and make recommendations about keeping our beaches clean.  ​

While beach visitation is ramping up, our amazing overnight CZM crews picked up 36 canopies and miscellaneous beach gear items left on the beach overnight in March; last March the crew picked up sixty-two. Last year they collected 477 compared to 1,458 in 2020. Numbers are trending down, and it could be a direct result of the “Leave No Trace” ordinance enacted in 2018. Many people are doing their part by adhering to the ordinance and not abandoning items that often turn into environmental and safety hazards. Our city, the Park Board, and our residents can be proud that their collaboration and direct efforts in confronting the problem is making a big difference. ​Roundtable discussions and townhalls found creative solutions and promoted individual environmental stewardship.​ So keep reminding your friends, family, and visitors to “leave no trace” and never leave anything overnight.

Education and enforcement are finding new ways to diminish trash on the beaches and freeing up CZM crews to focus on other challenges like driftwood on the beaches. The crews relocated wood every day this week and our environmental experts surmise that it’s coming from the Brazos and Colorado Rivers convergence at the Gulf – a result of the storms that hit central Texas in mid-March.

Portuguese Man-O-War have been washing up on the beaches too. The blue balloon-like organisms are easy to spot. While beautiful, nematocysts on their tentacles can still deliver a painful sting when beached so be careful not to touch, especially when cleaning the beaches this weekend.

Hundreds of volunteers will be part of the Clean Galveston Adopt-A-Beach Coastwide Spring Cleanup this Saturday (April 9) and you can register online at https://www.cleangalveston.org to take the opportunity to be part of a great team.

This column is limited to 500 words and I can’t recognize all the great groups that are part of making our beaches so beautiful, but if you know a group that deserves a cheer, make a comment or post at www.visitgalveston.com.

GIBP Headquarter Crisis

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39 years ago, I stood in the sand with 16 other lifeguards as radios were issued from our “Headquarters.” I studied the old run-down trailer parked outside a small beach pavilion on the sand and thought, “This is the Headquarters?” In 1983, Hurricane Alicia wiped all that away. The following season, we moved into a brand-new space, which was situated in a large, modern, beach pavilion. The effect of a professional facility sparked a fire which increased coverage, professionalism, partnerships, and outreach, and we eventually became a premier lifesaving force of 140 strong. Thirty years later, we have expanded inside that existing pavilion into a space that was once a night club, but it barely serves our ever-growing operations.

 

Our trusty old workhorse’s time is over. Concrete is spalling from salt air and water, the pilings are brittle, and it has become a hazard. We are eight years beyond the maximum lifespan, and despite Galveston’s harsh climate, we’ve protracted the “expiration date” with willpower and elbow-grease. It’s been a good home and it has permitted us, like our professional counterparts around the world, to best serve the public from the most demanding beach. Your Beach Patrol covers all 32 miles of beach 24/7/365, intervenes in a half-million potential accidents annually, and serves over seven million visitors and residents each year. Galveston boasts one of the busiest, challenging, and most visited shorelines in the nation, and the demand increases every year.

 

Lately, the urgent need for a replacement Beach Patrol headquarters facility has been debated. Ideas of including it in a public/private partnership with Stewart Beach amenities were considered, but the two concepts are completely separate issues. Each effort serves different needs, and each financed independently. It is crucial that something happens soon for the Beach Patrol headquarters, as it increasingly costs more to keep it safe enough to occupy, and lifesaving operations are impacted. This summer our Junior Lifeguard Program, a critical feeder for lifeguard staffing, will operate out of a tent to ensure the campers’ safety.

 

With more than 140 lifeguards and dispatchers, 120 Junior Lifeguards, and another 60+ volunteers, a safe, 24-hour, all-weather sand-base facility is critical for training, working space, and supervision. To mitigate risk for our children and adults, direct access to the beach and water must be accessible without the danger of crossing Seawall Boulevard while carrying rescue equipment. When covering assigned beachfront zones, rescue vehicles need to stay on the beachfront to relay information and deliver lifesaving equipment while continually protecting beach patrons and guards. An on-beach facility is also critical in providing an unobstructed view to handle weather and medical emergencies, lost children, and command and control of our most populated beach.

 

Our Park Board is committed to finding a timely, cost-effective solution to meet the needs of the Beach Patrol because Galveston’s beach patrol is one of the largest, most professional, and in-demand lifeguard services in the world. They need your support because Galveston deserves and demands a first-class, professional facility for its world-renowned patrol to work, train, and deploy from.

 

We urgently need a new home, and the clock is ticking.