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Surf City 2018 Yearbook
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2018 Surf City Beach Patrol
Season Statistics:
Total Rescues – 85
Missing Persons Recovered by the Patrol – 19
First Aid Responses w/EMS – 9
Total Estimated Beach Population – 255,500
Average Water Temperature – 69.8 degrees Fahrenheit
Green Flags - 45 days
Green over Yellow Flags (Limited Bathing) - 19 days
Yellow Flags (Restricted Bathing) - 13 days
Red Flags (No Bathing) - 3 days
2018 Summer Overview
One again we started with a warm ocean so we rarely had to train in the bay. The average ocean temperature was a nearly record breaking 69.8 degrees. On the other hand the water was quite rough and "rippy" for much of the summer as our 19 limited bathing, 13 restricted bathing, 3 days of no bathing shows. But do to the vigilence of our lifeguards rescues were actually down to 85 from 99 last summer. We hired quite a few new members to our "family" this year. Mike A., Taylor B., Adam C., Natalie D., Liam D., Zach G., Lukas G., Luke G., Shannon M., Conner M., Isabella M., Katelyn R., Hunter T., and Bella T.
This was also the first year of the Surf City Lifeguard-In-Training Program which was run beautifully by Program Director Jenn W., and Instructors Ashley M., Ross R., and Lauren R. Kudos to them on a very successful inaugural season of our LIT Program!
After not winning an open tournament since 2012 we finally broke the streak this season at Seaside Park. Led by triple 1st place event winner and MVP Pat H. Surf City triumphed over Ortley, Seaside Park, Lavallette, and others. Meanwhile the women kept their tournament juggernaut rolling with decisive repeat team victories at the Long Beach Township and Lavallette women's tournaments.
Beach Patrol Events
As always between the tournaments and other events it was a busy summer!
Surf City Epic
- Monday July 2, 2018
Charlie and Julia earn a 2nd place finish in the Epic Run-Swim losing only to
professional triathletes.
Seaside Park
Lifeguard Tournament - Thursday July 19, 2018
Pat H. is the first Surf City lifeguard to win beach flags at Seaside Park.
Scott and Pat H. win the paddle pick-up.
Pat H, Lauren, Scott, Max, CJ, and Chris win the run-relay.
Surf City wins the tournament!
Pat H. earns MVP.
Upper Township 7 Mile Row - Monday July 23, 2018
Bring Your Best Dish - Thursday July 27, 2018
Ship Bottom Tournament - Monday July 30, 2018
LBT Women's
Tournament - Tuesday July 31, 2018
Emily, Lauren, and Julia win the Line-Pull.
Gaby and Anna
win the Mile Row for the second straight year.
Julia wins the 2000' Paddle.
Maria wins the 1000' Swim.
Pepper, Emily, Lauren, and
Julia come in 1st place in the Paddle
Relay. Second year in a row SC wins this event.
Katie wins the Mile Beach
Run.
Pepper and Maria win the
Buoy Rescue for the second straight year.
Julia and Maria win the Paddleboard Rescue.
Pepper wins the Iron Woman.
Surf City wins the tournament 2017 and 2018!
Long Beach Island
Championship "Islands" - Friday/Saturday August 3/4, 2018
Julia wins the 2000' Paddleboard.
Pepper wins the Iron Woman.
Scottie wins the 1500' Paddleboard.
Lavallette Women's Tournament - Tuesday August 7, 2018
The team of Pepper, Emily, Julia, Lauren, Bella, Anna, Gaby, and Maria win the
tournament while winning 4 of 7 events.
Island Beach Mixed
Tournament - Thursday August 9, 2018
Pepper and Maria
again destroy the field in the Buoy Rescue.
Julie R. and Kelsey
decimate the field in the Paddle Pick-Up.
Emily, Beth, Julia F, and Lauren R. win the
Line-Pull.
The Swim Relay Team of Pepper,
Alyssa, Emily, and Maria hold off a
very talented and determined Lavallette Swim Relay to win this event.
11th Annual Surf City Banquet - Saturday August 11, 2018
Harvey Cedars Cutter's Cup - Tuesday August 14, 2018
Ship Bottom Barnegat
Bay Challenge - Monday August 20, 2018
Chris and Mark
finish in 1st place.
Hammer Row - Thursday August 24, 2018
Last Day Crew - Monday September 3, 2018
2018 Memories
Surf City Epic Lifeguard Tournament - Monday July 2, 2018
Since the Epic has quite a
bit or running in it, it's best that it take place at low tide.
Believe me, running in quick sand for 2 miles is no fun!
This year the date was set for July 2 because if we waited for the next
low tide we'd be right in the middle of competition season and it would be hard
to find an open date. Early in the
season there is always the risk of cold water but on this day the water was
"tolerable"
for swimming at 64 degrees. The
waves were small enough to be safe but large enough to make things interesting.
For whatever
reason only four teams attended, Surf City of course, Barnegat Light, Harvey
Cedars, and Ship Bottom. Long Beach
Township said they would attend but didn't show up.
I suppose the four teams that thought they could win competed.
We invited every LBI team and quite a few off-island teams.
The Epic is grueling and after teams come once most don't return, that
list is growing... Brigantine, Upper Township, Beach Haven, …
Julia and
Charlie once again took on the rigorous Epic run/swim duties and finished in 4th
and 3rd places, respectively.
When the cross-country scoring is taken into account Surf City finished
second in this event.
The paddle
relay team of Lauren, Scottie, Pepper, and CJ were close on the heels of Harvey
Cedars but ended up in 2nd place.
The Surf Dash
team of Pat L., Dan, Pepper, and Maria finished in 3rd place.
In the final
event, the medley relay, Bella ran, Maria swam, Scott paddled, and Pat L. and
Anna rowed. The team was doing
pretty good as the top three boats got into the water at the same time.
It was anyone's race at this point.
But as if often the case the boats tied up and Pat and Anna got the worst
of it and finished last.
When the points
were tallied Harvey Cedars once again dominated the Epic while Surf City and
Barnegat Light were tied for 2nd.
But since Barnegat Light won an event we we did not they were awarded 2nd
place.
Seaside Park
Lifeguard Tournament - Thursday July 19, 2018
We have been attending the Seaside Park
lifeguard tournament since the early 1990's and it has always been one of my
favorite tournaments. The events
have remained the same over the years with the exception of women being added to
the events. It's a fun tournament
and always well run. There was some
wind chop and waist high waves on this night.
Competiting teams included
Ortley Beach, Lavallette, Island Beach State Park, Seaside Park, Midway Beach,
Ship Bottom, Surf City, and one other team I can't remember!
As always the
tournament started with the women's beach flags.
Lauren got a tough draw right off the bat and was out in the first round.
Pat H., who had come in 2nd two years ago was doing very well
in the men's competition and finally worked his way to the last round.
Pat was just too fast even though the other competitor tried to trip him
up in hopes of stealing the hose. No
dice. Pat H. is the first male winner ever for beach flags in Seaside Park.
Great performance Pat.
Moving
into the medley relay Bella did a fantastic job for us getting Pat L. into the
water in 3rd place. Pat
had a good swim and Adam C. had a good paddle getting our boat crew of CJ and
Scottie launched in 4th place, which is where we finished up in this
event. I should also note that our
lane which was the Northern most lane did not have the sand bar that the other
lanes did. There was a gully so our
swimmers, paddlers, and rowers couldn't run all the way to the beach like the
other teams. If you mistakenly
jumped out of the boat too early you would have to slog through chest deep water
to the finish line....
Which is
exactly what happened to me and Chris in the Doubles Row.
Despite a crooked row on our part we were out to the buoy just ahead of
the lead boats, off the buoy first and then able to open up literally a two boat
lead as we approached the shore.
Chris jumped probably two strokes early into chest deep water while Ship Bottom
sprinted across the sandbar to the finish line.
It's a tough way to end up in second place but that's how it goes
sometimes.
The swim relay
consisting of Pat L., Maria, Pat H., and Pepper were up next.
The gully was even more of a problem for our swimmers since they can't
ride a wave to the beach like the rowers and paddlers can.
Still, they finished in 4th place in a very competitive field.
Scottie and Pat
H. were up next in the paddle pick-up.
They came in 2nd in this event last year.
This year was different as Scottie was first to the buoy.
They paddled great together, caught a wave and won the event.
A PERFECTLY executed event!!!
The boat relay
was next. Chris and I were
determined to fix our mistakes from the doubles row earlier in the night and we
did, handing off the boat to Pat L. and Scott with a pretty sizeable lead.
Pat and Scottie had some wiggles on the way out but overall it was a
solid effort and we were still in first place when Conner and CJ entered the
boat. There were a few wiggles and
popped oars on the way out and by the time they were approaching the beach they
were still in first but it was going to be close.
I ran onto the sandbar to tell them not to jump out of the boat early... 2nd place for Surf City in the boat relay.
As it turned out in all of the confusion they thought they heard “Jump
out!” instead of "Don't jump!" Oh well, three years ago we
weren't competing in boat relays because I didn't think the boys could keep the
boat in our lane. Now we're on the
verge of winning them;) Speaking of
winning...
We were
definitely “in” this tournament. The
paddle relay was next with Pat H. up first.
He got to the buoy in 4th place.
Adam caught a bomb 50 yards off the buoy and pulled us back to 3rd
place and very close to the leaders.
Scottie was next and he pulled us into 2nd place.
Chris reeled in the 1st place paddler from Ortley and they
both came in on the same wave. But
Ortely has the bar and we had the hole so Chris has to deal with 3 feet of water
vs. 3 inches for Ortley.
But that's just how it is in lifeguard tournaments.
We'd have to settle for 2nd place.
Going into the
last event Surf City was one point ahead of Seaside Park in the tournament
standings. I was pretty confident of
our run relay but anything can happen in this event.
Pat H. started it out with a blazing run to Scott who delivered the buoy
to CJ. We're in first place.
Lauren is up next and gives up no ground to the other teams handing off
to Adam and finally Chris, by which point we had a 10 yard lead on the field.
First place in the run relay for Surf City.
First place in the Seaside Park Lifeguard Tournament for Surf City!!!
The last time the men won an off-island tournament was in 2012 at Sandy Hook. There were some challenging rebuilding years but things are coming together.
Upper Township
7 Mile Row – Monday July 23, 2018
Ship Bottom Jack Donlon Memorial Lifeguard Race – Monday July 30, 2018
After a one
week postponement the Ship Bottom tournament was finally taking place.
Unfortunately the waves were large and it was very windy.
Twelve very competitive teams including Brigantine, Ocean City, and
Atlantic City attended.
Pat L. and Dan
and Mike A. competed in the Surf Dash and managed to beat a few teams but didn’t
make the top five which would have earned points for the team.
I rowed the 1000’ Doubles with Dave and as I always say, “sometimes you get the wave and sometimes the wave gets you.” Like last year the wave got us again! Luckily only my pride was hurt.
Scottie and Pat
H. were next in the paddle pick-up.
Scottie had yet another great paddle making it to the buoy in about 2nd
or 3rd place. Harvey
Cedars in usual fashion was out ahead of the field but there was going to be a
battle for 2nd through 5th places.
It looked to me like we had second place but when I checked the
scoreboard they had us down for 4th place?!
The boat relay
was next. Dave and I had a decent
row getting to the beach in 2nd or 3rd, followed by Pat L.
and Max and then CJ and Scottie. I
thought we clearly ended up in 4th place at worst but again after
checking the scoreboard we were marked down for 5th place?
Charlie, CJ,
Scott, and Adam did a nice job in the paddle relay with the highlight being the
180 CJ did on a wave on the way to the beach.
He recovered fantastically and got on the next wave that came through.
Looked like a solid 3rd place finish to me.
I checked the scoreboard and… what?
5th place?!!
What’s going on here?
The final event
of the event was the Iron Man Medley with Charlie putting in a gutsy performance
(as always) in the run portion of the event getting Pat L. in the water tied
with the other swimmers. Scottie
paddled and CJ and Max also did well but we ended up out of the points in this
one.
I have referred
to the Ship Bottom tournament as “The Curse” for a number of years now.
Things always seem to go wrong.
Dropped oars, bad lane draws, funny scoring…
Even in 2008 when we won virtually every tournament we came in 2nd
at Ship Bottom. Nothing else to say
really except perhaps next year we’ll break “The Curse.”
Long Beach Township Women's Tournament - Tuesday July 31, 2018
This tournament was also postponed a week due to weather. The waves were a little smaller but the wind chop would still play a big part in this one. It would be an understatement to say the women were well-prepared for this tournament. We've had quite a few really good women's teams over the last 15 years or so but this one is really special. Not just from a talent perspective, don't get me wrong they are supremely talented, but also in their cohesiveness as a team. I am amazed at the way they support not only their teammates but also their competition. Very impressive.
The Rothstein sisters, Emily, Julia, and Lauren executed a nearly perfect line-up and must have won this event by 20 seconds against a very competitive field. All of the women were really good in this event.
Gaby and Anna had a battle on their hands in the Mile Row and it was going to come down to the final seconds. Barnegat Light was heading into the beach first when they sheared on a wave as Gaby and Anna came barreling through on a bomb. Gaby and the BL rower jumped out of the boat at about the same distance to the shore but Gaby was able to hustle to the beach for another 1st place finish for Surf City!
Not much to say about Julia’s performance in the 1500’ paddle. She paddled away from the field and scored another 1st place for Surf City.
Maria N. was up
next in the Women’s Swim and came in 2nd behind the very
talented Harvey Cedars swimmer and just ahead of the very strong swimmer from
Barnegat Light. For one reason or
another there was some dispute about if Harvey Cedars got their registration to
LBT in time and Harvey Cedars had to compete on an end lane unofficially in the
tournament. So officially it was the
4th consecutive 1st place finish for Surf City.
Jenn did a fine job wrestling the boat to the mark in the singles row and managed to come away with a solid 2nd place finish in very difficult singles rowing conditions
.
Pepper started
out the paddle relay and fell a little behind Ship Bottom.
Emily was next and maintained our second place position.
Lauren was the third leg and caught a wave bringing the board into
striking distance for Julia. Julia
caught the Ship Bottom paddle who got hung up in the break before reaching the
buoy. Another 1st place
finish for Surf City. If you’re
counting that’s 5!
Originally Bella was supposed to do the Mile Beach Run but her college visit plans changed and she wasn’t able to make it. Katie R. stepped up and said she’d do it. It looked like a close race for 1st as the women approached the finish line but about 50 yards before the finish Katie turned on the jets (to quote Chris Bigos) and was able to win the race. Her tenacity and will-to-win earned another 1st place for Surf City. By this time the announcer stopped announcing the point totals for the teams as Surf City was really running away with it;)
Pepper and
Maria technically came in 2nd place in the Buoy Rescue behind a very
strong Harvey Cedars team but for scoring purposes it was another 1st
place for Surf City. That’s seven
1st place finishes.
Gaby and Anna
were up next in the Doubles Row and had a little trouble getting cleanly through
the surf and had to settle for a 4th or 5th place finish.
I don’t remember.
Julie and Maria
were up next in the Paddleboard Rescue.
I know the
other towns had some great swimmers in this event because three of the
paddlers took off at the same time after the swim-out portion of the event.
But Julia was having a great night on the board. She got out to
Maria in the lead and the duo only opened it up further on the paddle to shore. That’s eight
1st place finished for Surf City.
The final event
of the night was the Iron Woman. The
events were completed in the order of row, run, paddle swim.
Pepper had some difficulty with the row but came on strong in the paddle
and run to finish unofficially in 2nd place behind Harvey Cedars but
officially it was a 1st place finish.
9 first place finishes out of a total of 11 events.
If Harvey Cedars had been counted in the scoring it still would have been 7
first place finishes out of 11 events for a decisive tournament win.
A great performance for the Surf City women!
1st
Place - Surf City 70
2nd Place - Barnegat Light – 44
3rd Place - Ship Bottom – 37
4th Place - Long Beach Township – 28
5th Place - Beach Haven - 15
Bring Your Best Dish - Thursday July 27, 2017
Long Beach Island Championship – August
3/4, 2018
Medium wind from the South, two to three foot surf... pretty good conditions for the tournament...
Despite having
only four days notice that we’d be rowing the Mile Pat and I felt good.
The start was clean but we just couldn’t get settled into a good rhythm,
the stroke felt rushed. We overshot
the first Mile mark by quite a bit and Harvey Cedars made up some ground.
Then we overshot the second Mile mark by quite a bit and Harvey Cedars
made the smart move of moving to the inside of us and getting off the buoy
first. When we all finally turned
into our lanes Harvey Cedars turned to the shore first, we were about 10 seconds
behind, then BL a few seconds behind us and Ship Bottom a few behind BL.
LBT and Beach Haven were out of it.
Using the sanbar on the start
Establishing the lead
Leaving no doubt
I didn’t see Julia in the Women’s 1500’ Paddle but I was told she won the race by 30 seconds. She is certainly having a fantastic year on the paddle board. From what I heard this was an especially impressive race for her.
Next up were
are 16 year old rookie Buoy Rescue team of Mike A. and Bella.
What a great job they did bringing home a 4th place finish in
a field of much older and more experienced athletes!
The Paddle
Relay was next. Adam had a rough
start, handing off the board to CJ in 5th place.
CJ closed the gap a bit but it was Max’s wave that brought the team up to
2nd place, which Charlie held to the finish.
Great result boys!
It was a crazy
finish in the Woman’s Doubles row with Gaby and Anna barreling in on a nice
sized wave for a second place finish.
Maria and I
were up next in the Boat Rescue.
It’s always tough for a woman to compete with guys in a race but even more so at
low tide when there is a lot of running.
Maria got into the boat perfectly and rowed well but we had to settle for
a 5th place finish.
As usual there
was a battle for 1st and 2nd in the Iron Man between
our LBI top 10 Nationally ranked iron men from Harvey Cedars and Barnegat Light but Pat was all alone in 3rd place,
far ahead of the LBT, Beach Haven, and Ship Bottom Iron Men.
Pat makes the medal stand in the Iron Man!
Pepper had a
really nice run, swim, paddle in the Iron Woman and was only about 10
seconds behind the Harvey Cedars competitor in the Iron Woman who was not having
luck with the pounding surf.
Pepper had a tough time of it as well but finally managed to make it out
and came in 1st place in the Iron Woman!
Great job Pepper!
Since it was so
dark at this point it was decided the Boat Relay would take place the following
night just before the Surf Dash.
Surf City ended day one of the tournament in 2nd place overall with
40 points, Harvey Cedars was in 1st with 50 points, and Barnegat
Light was in 3rd place with 36 points.
Would Harvey Cedars run away with it?
Would Barnegat Light make a surge during day two?
We’d know soon enough…
Pat H., Ryan and Charlie started off the second night’s events with the line pull. Pat touched the buoy third and Charlie and Ryan got him to the beach in third.
Conner and Max
stayed in the thick of things with a third place in the Doubles Row while Maria
and Dan took on the very competitive swim duties.
Maria finished in 2nd while Dan maintained contact with the
pack but was unable to pass any of the other superfast swimmers.
I had a feeling
this was going to be Scottie’s year and he was making it happen getting to the buoy first in the paddleboard rescue just a few
seconds ahead the extremely fast Harvey Cedars paddler.
Scott and Pat put in a good effort on the way back to shore but the HC
team who has won this event for the past 13 years were too much and Surf City
had to settle for 2nd place.
Nice work guys.
The singles row and mixed doubles row didn’t go so well. CJ came in 5th or 6th while the team of Conner and Anna came in 4th or 5th.
Scottie was up
next in the super competitive 2000’ paddle race. He has been working very
hard on the board for four years. I remember him at 16 years old going out for
hour long paddles on a regular basis in all conditions.
Out in front right away, caught a wave to the beach, stayed in the lead
on the way back out and then caught a wave back
to the beach for Surf City’s first 1st place finish in the
paddleboard race since 2007. Great
job Scottie!
Next up was the
team of Pepper, Kelsey, Lauren, and Julie in the Women’s Paddleboard Relay.
Pepper got caught up in some dirty water on the start but managed to stay
in the middle of the pack. Kelsey
held position while Lauren moved us up to third place within striking distance
of second. And that was all Julia
needed as she quickly overtook the previously second place paddler.
The end result was 2nd place for the Women’s Paddle Relay.
Since the boat
relay was cancelled due to lack of light on the first night of the races it was
run at this point of the second night.
Pat and I got off to a bad start, shaky launch into a big wave, popped
oars, sloppy turn, and came back to shore out of our lane.
It was not a good row. Conner
and Max had a decent leg but nothing to write home about.
CJ and Scott also had an okay row but overall the turns were sloppy and
wave riding bad. 5th
place.
The final event
of the night as always was the Surf Dash with Dan, Mike, and Bella taking this
one on. Competition was fierce and
while they didn’t get blown out they did finish at the back of the pack. While
we had some ups and downs the good news is that the team seems to be improving
every year; fourth place last year to third place this year.
Right up until the end we had a chance to beat Barnegat Light and finish
in in second place. I sure we’ll be
even stronger next year!
Lavallette Women's Tournament - Tuesday August 7, 2018
The Surf City women won this tournament last year so we knew we'd be in the mix again this year. The Lavallette women's (or mixed) tournament has been around for quite a few years and the women always looks forward to it.
While we didn't get many pictures from this tournament I did take video of it
and you can download the edited video.
Lavallette Tournament video:
SD
version(119MB)
HD version(437MB)
Download the zip file, password is CJ's last name.
The first event was a giant rescue relay consisting of a buoy rescue, paddle
rescue, and boat rescue. All of the
victims would swim which means that you need 5 swimmers for this event.
Pepper was off first as the buoy rescue swimmer and she was to the buoy
with the lead swimmers. Emily was
the swim fin swimming rescuer and arrived at the buoy first.
The duo increased their lead to the shore.
Bella was off next in the swim relay and she held her own to the buoy
getting there in third place. Julia
made up some ground on the way out on the board and the team made up even more
ground coming back to the beach.
Maria would be the boat rescue victim and had a great swim to the buoy
arriving in 2nd place.
Gaby was off in the boat an beat the previously 1st place Lavallette
team to the mark. Gaby and Maria had
a great row to shore and it was a 1st place for Surf City.
Next up was
Emily in the line with her sister Lauren pulling.
Honestly this one was never close.
Emily was first to the buoy and Lauren pulled her in 1st place
by probably 10 to 15 seconds ahead of the 2nd place team.
Maria and Gaby
looked to be first to the mark in the boat swim but to me it looked like both
Barnegat Light and Lavallette swimmers may have jumped a little early so Maria
arrived to the beach in 3rd place.
She protested that Lavallette jumped early and Lavallette disqualified
their own team moving Surf City into 2nd place in this event.
The Iron Man
medley was next and this one was never really close either.
Pepper was first to the beach in the swim and Julia extended the lead on
the board. Gaby and Anna sealed the
deal with a solid row.
Lauren started
the paddle relay and was first to the mark handing the board to Emily who was
first to the beach. Julia was next
and extended the lead. Pepper was
the final leg and Surf City ended up winning this event by 13 seconds over the
second place and very strong Lavallette paddlers.
Julia was the
first leg in the swim relay and got to the mark in 2nd place behind
Barnegat Light. Emily returned to
shore in 2nd. Pepper back
to the mark in 2nd! And
while Maria fought hard she couldn’t catch the Barnegat Light swimmer so Surf
City had to settle for 2nd in the Swim Relay.
Congrats to BL, Surf City, and Lavallette for a very exciting swim relay
with 12 amazing swimmers.
The final event
was the Doubles Boat with Gaby and Anna rowing.
It was a close race from start to finish but Gaby and Anna were a little
off the pace at the end and finished up the tournament in 3rd place.
The women displaying what being a good competitor is all about!
Surf City won
the tournament winning 4 of 7 events and coming in second place in two others
and one third. Lavallette didn’t
announce team scores. Congrats to
all of the women who competed. It
was an exciting tournament.
Island Beach Mixed Tournament - Thursday August 9,
2018
Instead of
having an open tournament one night and a women’s tournament the next Island
Beach is now having one Mixed Lifeguard Tournament.
As we do this with our Epic I think it’s a good idea since many patrols
have as many women as men on them.
Gaby and Anna
were up first in the Doubles Boat and came in 5th place.
Chris and I competed in the same event for the men and we screwed up
pretty badly with our sighting and came in way North of the course!
6th place.
The swim relay
consisting of Pat Lavery, Maria, Pat Hyland, and Pepper had a good time of it
and finished in 4th place.
Tough field!
Chris and Maria
came away with a 6th place in the boat swim while our paddling team
of Charlie, Pepper, Scott, and Maria finished 5.
The boat relay
team of Gaby/Anna, Chris/Mark, Pat/Max, and CJ/Scott just never really got it
together and had to settle for a 6th place finish.
In the final
event of the night the Rescue Race Pat Lavery put in a beast of a swim in the
line pull with Maria as the victim and Gaby and Charlie pulling.
This team easily won the line pull portion of this event.
The paddle rescue team of Scott and Pat Hyland lost some ground to the
always strong Harvey Cedars paddle rescue team but we were still in 2nd
place. Chris and Anna rowed out to
pick me up in the boat and we finished up in 3rd place.
We could probably have finished in 2nd if I could have stopped
popping my head up in the boat! Jeez
that water was cold!
It's hard to believe but it's been 11 years since Collette organized the first Surf City Banquet in 2007. It's a great way to wind down the summer after big Island Tournament and announce new members into the Surf City Beach Patrol Hall-Of-Fame.
Harvey Cedars Cutter's Cup - Tuesday August 14, 2018
I don’t remember
much about this tournament except that we’d lost some competitors by this point
in the season and it was really, really foggy.
We had eight guys, “the Pat’s,” Scott, CJ, Charlie, Mike and Dan A., and
Conner in this one. I give a lot of credit
to the guys for representing Surf City in this one. The water was
freezing! There weren’t any outstanding finishes and the conditions
were sketchy to say the least.
Extremely cold water and fog so thick that boats would disappear into the fog
and then reappear a few minutes later!
Still the team did a nice job representing, stayed in their lane, and
completed each event.
Ship Bottom Barnegat Bay Challenge - Monday August 20, 2018
We always have quite a few boats in this event and this year was no exception. I rowed with Chris, Caitlin and Pat rowed, and Conner and Ryan also rowed. Chris and I had a great row winning the event over the always tough Margate crew of Swift and Cote. After the Hammer Row I think this is my favorite distance race.
Longport Hammer Row - Thursday August 24, 2017
As I wrote above the Longport Hammer Row is probably my favorite bay distance race because of the sheer number of boats that enter this race. It's always the last event of the summer so you know that you're racing everybody at their fittest. Pat and Caitlin also rowed this race.
There are generally about 50 boats in this race so avoiding collisions and finding a good line is really important. Most of the lead boats are pretty tightly grouped on the way to the turnaround, which is 2 miles into the race. After that things start to spread out. After the turn all of the boats stayed towards the mainland while AC was more to the East. In the picture below you can see Chris and I leading the pack. The AC boat was to our right out of the frame of this photo. When the boats lined up to go around the rock groin AC got ahead of us and there it's almost impossible to pass on the last quarter mile so we had to settle for 2nd place by seven seconds! It was a really great race.
The Last Day Crew - Monday September 3, 2018
My thanks to every lifeguard for your dedication!
