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Surf City 2021 Yearbook
Download high resolution photos here. Password is Sean's last name.
2021 Surf City Beach Patrol
Season Statistics:
Total Rescues – 114
Missing Persons Recovered by the Patrol – 14
First Aid Responses w/EMS – 7
Total Estimated Beach Population – 153,400
Average Water Temperature – 68.3 degrees Fahrenheit
Green Flags - 57 days
Green over Yellow Flags (Limited Bathing) - 14 days
Yellow Flags (Restricted Bathing) - 8 days
Red Flags (No Bathing) - 1 days
2021 Summer Overview
While Covid was still a concern, vaccinations coupled with knowledge and experience with the virus allowed us to enjoy many of the events that make summer fun. It was a busy one! For 2021 we welcomed 10 new lifeguards to the patrol. Jon, Kaden, Zach, Tyler, Jack, Justin, Isabella, Emily, Jessie, and Brooke. I realize I have been saying this for the past few years but I couldn't have hoped for a more responsible and easy to get along with group of new guards. They immediately jumped into the job, asked questions, made friends, and even got involved in the tournaments. Hopefully they will all be back for 2022. The vote for "Rookie-of-the-Year" was even more difficult this year with so many outstanding candidates. When the votes were counted it was Jack who was awarded that honor.
The water temperature started off cold compared to previous summers but warmed up pretty quickly. But still, due to the temperature and the wind we did more training at the bay than during the last few summers. Thanks to the diligence of our guards the beach patrons of Surf City enjoyed another beautiful summer on the best beach on the planet.
Recognition of Outstanding Service
Jack K. - This incident is best described by the guard who told me about it.
"I was on 12 and ran down to assist. He handled
the situation perfectly like 2 weeks into his guarding career. Kid walked up to
him complaining about neck pain and passed out in his arms. Kearns kept him
stabilized and lowered him onto the ground. Kept talking with the kid until Jon
James and the rig came.
Think this is definitely a prime example of high performance in a guard."
Beach Patrol Events
It was a busy summer! Here are the highlights for the beach patrol events.
15th
Annual Surf City Epic Tournament –
Monday July 12, 2021
2nd Place Epic Run Swim - Julia, Charlie
1st Place 1500' Paddle - Julia
1st Place Singles Row - Pepper
1st Place Paddle Relay - Lauren, Kelsey, Pepper, Julia
1st Place Doubles Row - Julia, Pepper
1st Place Paddleboard Rescue - Julia, Lauren
1st Place - Iron Woman - Pepper
(9 gold medals combined for Julia and Pepper!)
2nd place Beach Flags - Parker
2nd Place Doubles Boat - Charlie, Mark
2nd Place Paddle Relay - Julia, Charlie, Scotty, Adam
Ortley Bush Classic Lifeguard Tournament – Wednesday July 21, 2021
Ship Bottom Invitational – Monday July 26, 2021
1st Place Paddle Relay
- Adam, Pepper, Scotty , Julia
3rd Place Boat Swim - Scotty/Julia
3rd Place Rescue Race - Pepper, Zach, Natalie, Adam (Line Rescue), Scotty/Kieran
(Paddle Rescue), Julia, Mark, Matt (Boat Rescue)
3rd Place Mile Row - Charlie/Mark
3rd Place Women's Paddle- Julie
2nd Place Iron Woman - Pepper
2nd Place Doubles Row - Charlie/Mark
3rd Place Women's Swim - Natalie
3rd Place Paddle Reescue - Scotty/Kieran
Ventnor Goudy
Rescue Races – Friday August 20, 2021
15th
Annual Surf City Epic Tournament –
Monday July 12, 2021
Thankfully lifeguard tournaments are back for 2021 with
our 15th Annual Surf City Epic Tournament kicking things off on Long
Beach Island. Charlie and Julia once
again took on the grueling Epic Run-Swim event.
I think this is their 4th year doing this event.
They pulled off another great finish for Surf City with a 2nd
place cross-country scored team finish.
The swim relay team of Matt S., Pepper, Natalie, and Sean handled this event with a 3rd place finish.
Pat R. and Gaby took on the Block-Pull Mixed Doubles row and unfortunately got involved in some tie ups with other boats, which had them finishing at the back of the pack.
In the final event, the Medley Relay Charlie ran
(again!), Matt swam, Scotty paddled and
Long Beach
Township Women’s Tournament – Thursday July 15, 2021
Team Rothstein up again in the Line-Pull event with
Emily swimming (of course), and Lauren and Julia pulling.
Honestly it was over halfway through the swim.
Despite Emily dropping a fin on the way out she quickly recovered and got
to the buoy about 15 seconds before the 2nd place swimmer.
Lauren and Julia sealed the deal for an easy 1st place in the
Line-Pull.
Julia up again in the 1500’ Paddleboard Race.
Different year, same result.
Another 1st place finish for Julia and the Surf City team.
Natalie had to settle for a 4th place finish in the Women’s
Swim in a very tough field of female swimmers.
Pepper right back into the mix in the 1000’ Singles row
after exiting the boat from the Mile Row only a minutes earlier.
She fell behind the leaders a bit but proved able to handle the boat
through the surf on the way to the beach better than the other rowers and came
away with another 1st place finish for Surf City.
Julia was back into the mix in the Mile Run and came
away with a 2nd place finish.
Lauren was the first leg of the Paddle Relay and put the
team into first place. Kelsey went
up again some fast second legs and we dropped back to 3rd place.
Pepper, fresh out of the boat from the Singles Row took the board and
pulled the team back into first place.
Julia, just finishing the Mile Run took the board from Pepper and left no
doubt to yet another Surf City 1st place finish.
Brooke and Natalie gave Pepper and Julia a much needed
rest and competed in the Buoy Rescue with Brooke being the rescuer and Natalie.
They executed a perfect race and it was really exciting coming right down
to the finish line! Brooke and
Natalie would have to settle for a hard fought 2nd place.
Julia and Pepper’s rest was over as they were both in
the boat in the Doubles Row. They
rowed a very nice race, straight to the buoy, solid turn, and good line back to
shore and crossed the line in 1st place.
Julia and Lauren were up next in the Paddleboard Rescue
with Julia swimming out and Lauren paddling out to pick her up.
Another Surf City 1st place finish!
Pepper was up next in the Iron Woman.
Let’s see, so far she rowed the Mile, rowed the Singles, paddled in the
relay, and rowed in the Doubles row and now she would compete in the grueling
Iron Woman! She entered the water
with the rest of the women and quickly pulled away from all of the other
competitors with the exception of the Ship Bottom competitor who tried her best
to make a race of it. By the end of
the swim Pepper had probably a 15 or 20 second lead in the swim, which she
opened up more in the paddle and row for another Surf City 1st place
finish.
When the scores were tallied Surf City won the
tournament with an astounding 66 points while Harvey Cedars came in 2nd
place with 37 points. Well done,
that’s four for four.
Seaside Park
Lifeguard Tournament – Monday July 19, 2021
It’s common knowledge that most of the Surf City squad
considers the Seaside Park tournament the most fun tournament we attend.
Maybe it’s the fact that it’s a mixed tournament?
Includes both male and female beach flags and a 6 person run relay?
Eating on the boardwalk after the tournament?
Probably all of these factors…
First year lifeguard Jessie B. was up first in Beach
Flags. Keep in mind that every
competitor in this even is the fastest women on their squad.
Believe me, they are all super fast!
Jessie cruised through the first few rounds, but had to battle a bit
through the semi-final and final round.
The result? A 1st
place finish for our rookie lifeguard Jessie B!
Amazing performance!
Charlie started off the Medley with the ½ mile run,
which is more like ¾ mile, and got Pepper into the water in the middle of the
pack. Pepper held on against a field
of undoubtedly D1 male swimmers and Scotty did his best picking up a place or
two. Pat R. and Parker has some
troubles at the turn and sighting the beach in the row and we ended up finishing
at the back of the pack.
Charlie and I were up next in the 1000’ Doubles Row.
The launch was good and it was a tight race among the top 3 boats to the
buoy, our turn was decent and we came off the buoy with Ship Bottom and the
always strong rowers from Ortley.
Our line to the beach was not good and the Ortley rower dove across the line
just ahead of Charlie so we had to settle for a 2nd place finish in
the Double Row.
Matt S., Julia, Pepper, and Kieran finished 6th
in a field of very strong male and female swimmers while Scotty and Kieran can
up with a strong 3rd place finish in the Paddle Pick-Up.
That was a really close one!
Charlie and I started off the boat relay and had a good
row to the buoy but as we were turning the mark the Island Beach State Park team
t-boned us! After a long tie up we
finally handed of the boat to Pat and Parker and then the final leg of Adam and
Scotty. Besides our mishap Pat and
Parker also had some trouble with the turn and sighting our lane on the way back
to the beach so no points in the Boat Relay for us this year.
Julia, Charlie, Scotty, and Adam were up next in the
Paddle Relay. I don’t remember the
details other than the fact that Julia was able to paddle with the guys in the
first leg and that all of our guys paddled really well.
The end result was a 2nd place finish just seconds behind the
first place team.
The last event was the Run Relay.
As often happens in this fast-paced event we had a little mishap with one
of our runners stumbling. The
recovery was quick but still costly in such a short event.
Miraculously the Surf City team of Parker, Jessie, Charlie, Julia,
Scotty, and Kieran still came back for a 4th place finish!
Since there was no PA/Announcer or scoreboard I didn’t
know the final results until the next day.
Surf City finished in 3rd place but I don’t know the point
spread. I wonder how close it was?
Either way pretty good for a rebuilding year.
Ortley Bush
Classic Lifeguard Tournament – Wednesday July 21, 2021
1000' Doubles
The Boat Relay
The Medley Relay
The Swim Relay
Ship Bottom
Invitational – Monday July 26, 2021
Matt, Kieran, Kaden, and Sean were up first in the
4x500’ swim relay.
Charlie and I were first in the doubles row and we got
slammed by a pretty big wave and Charlie lost an oar.
I had flashbacks of 1989 when my partner Tre (Cailtin and Gwyneth’s
uncle) lost the oar 3 times on the launch!
He’d drop it and a launcher would get it to him, drop it again,…
It was nuts.
Scotty and Kieran did pretty well in the Paddle Pick-Up if I remember correctly, it's a speedy team.
The boat relay team was me and Pat, Charlie and Pepper,
and Julie and Scotty.
Charlie, Jack, Scotty, and Adam were our Paddle Relay team.
In the final event, the Iron Man Medley, Parker ran,
Matt swam, Scotty paddled, and Charlie and I rowed.
Cape May
Women’s Challenge – Wednesday July 28, 2021
Julia and Lauren decided to have a go at the Cape May
Women’s Challenge this year and earned a 1st place team finish for
Surf City! What makes this
accomplishment even more impressive is the fact that I didn’t check the rules
carefully and assumed they were supposed to use 12’ boards.
The Cape May patrol did lend them 10’6” boards to use but they were
yellow beach boards! Even with that
handicap Julia came in 4th overall and Lauren 11th, which
with cross country scoring earned them a team 1st place.
Great job!
Island Beach
State Park Lifeguard Tournament – Thursday August 5, 2021
The waves were big.
The shore break was big. It
kind of reminded me of the surf at this tournament in 2007 when Chris Bigos and
Jeff Hahn caught a bomb on the last leg of the boat relay.
After careful consideration, for safety reasons the Women’s Doubles and
Boat Relay events were cancelled.
I really don’t remember much about this tournament other
than we somehow lost our green “Tournament Info” notebook and it was in the
middle of a lot of other tournaments.
Charlie and I rowed the Doubles and finished in 4th place.
Next up was the Boat Swim with Scotty rowing and Julia rowing and swimming. They executed beautifully and came in 3rd place!
The Paddle Relay - Oh yeah, must admit I knew we had an incredible team for this one. Besides having four superstrong paddlers with Adam, Pepper, Scotty and Julie, they would also be paddling the larger, heavier, and slower Marine Rescue boards, which favor stronger paddlers. One of the colloquial defintions of "demolish" is to "overwhelmingly defeat a player or team." I'm not exaggerating when I write they demolished the field in the Paddle Relay.
Adam got off to a strong start getting to the buoy first and Pepper opened that lead up so much I wanted to grab the board from Scotty for the third leg! Just kidding! Scotty opened it up more and by the time Julia got the board not even a "bomb at the buoy" could deny Surf City 1st place in this event.
Adam, Pepper, Scotty, and Julia demolished the field with an easy 1st
place Surf City finish in the Paddle Relay on the yellow Marine Rescue beach
rescue boards.
One of my favorite events in all of the tournaments we
attend is the Island Beach Rescue Race. Nearly the entire team is involved
and it really shows the depth of each team. Going way back we ahve always
done well in this event and tonight was not exception. Pepper
swam out the line with Natalie being the victim and Zach and Adam pulling.
Needless to say that was a very strong team and we entered the Paddle Pick-Up
portion of the event in 3rd place in a very strong field of competitors.
Scotty and Kieran handled the Paddle Rescue while Julia and I rowed the
Boat Pick-Up part of the event with Matt being the victim.
This was another well-executed event and Surf City finished in 3rd
place.
Despite the large and competitive field Surf City came
in 2nd place overall at the 2021 Island Beach State Park Lifeguard
Tournament, a very good result.
Lavallette came in 1st place and Brigantine right behind us in 3rd
place.
August 6,
2021 – Long Beach Island Championship
The undeniable culminating event for Long Beach Island
Lifeguards is our own LBI Championship, aka “Islands.”
After moving from 5th to 4th to 3rd to 2nd
place from 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 we were poised to threaten reigning
champions Harvey Cedars in 2020. But
alas it was not to be due to the pandemic.
We lost quite a few talented competitors but as always we got to work to
train up the best team we could manage and I’m happy to report we had some
outstanding performances.
Charlie and I were up first as always in the Mile Row. It was blowing hard out of the South and the boat was rocking around like a bucking bronco. We passed Beach Haven at the buoy line, had to wait a bit for LBT at the first mile mark but got by them on the ½ mile stretch with the wind. We then made the final turn and headed back to the beach. Unfortunately it would not be our night and we had to settle for a 3rd place finish. Congrats to all teams in this tough race.
Meanwhile during the Mile Row Julia was competing in the 1500’ Women’s Paddle, an event she has dominated the last few years. I of course didn’t see the race but there was some confusion at the start with the eventual winner starting a few steps ahead of the field and missing some whitewater that the other competitors ran into. When it was all over Julia finished in a very close 3rd place.
If you look at the photo below, which is the start of the race you will notice the competitor on the left is on her way to the water while Julia and some others are just getting going. Everybody is fast in these races and a 2 second jump on the start can make a difference if it gets you over a wave before it breaks. Look at the second photo and you see Julia and the HC paddler getting over some whitewater that would be much smaller a few seconds earlier. I asked the jugdes if the start was fair and they didn't notice anything strange so I left it alone. I wish I had this picture to show them. This one should have been run back.
Matt and Natalie executed a perfect race in the Buoy Rescue but came up just short of the medal rounds with a 4th place finish. Adam, Kieran, Zach, and Jack took on the Paddle Relay and they paddled well but the waves just weren’t with them as they finished in 5th place.
Adam, Kieran, Zach, and Jack had a tough break in the 4x1000' Paddle Relay. They are a much stronger team than their 5th place finish would suggest.
First year rowers Lexi and Paige rowed a solid race in the Women’s
Doubles coming in 5th place.
They got some great experience and I know they will be a force to be
reckoned with in coming years.
Matt had a fantastic swim in the Boat Rescue getting to
the buoy just a few seconds behind the HC swimmer.
Pat rowed out well and by the time they came off of the turn they were in
a solid 3rd place.
Unfortunately they came to the beach a couple of lanes North of our lane and
that cost them as they finished the race in 4th place.
First year competitor Sean graciously stepped up and took on the exhausting Iron Man.
We have been lucky to have such a strong Iron Woman competitor with Pepper competing for Surf City in this event for the last 5 years. It was a very exciting race and Pepper showed some real determination battling back into second place after coming out of the water in third place after the swim. She has been on fire on the board and in the boat so I had no doubt she would pass the third place competitor for a 2nd place finish. On any other Island this would hve been Pepper's 5th win in the Iron Women as she has to contend with a professional triathlete in the field. That being said one 1st and four 2nd's is a great run!
August 7,
2021 – Long Beach Island Championship
In an effort to save time by
setting up the lines before the tournament starts the second night of the
tournament now starts with the Line-Pull instead of the Doubles Row, which
traditionally opened the second night of the tournament.
Sean was swimming well but I think got too caught up racing the
competitor in the lane to the South of us and ended up swimming too far South.
Zach and Liam did a fantastic job pulling the Surf City team back from 6th
place into 5th.
Charlie and I had a pretty good row in the 1000’ Double and finished in 2nd place. Okay, I'm going to whine a little bit about this one. Yes, I know I always tell you all that the ocean decides these races... a bump here a wave there and you just have to accept that. But when you see a photo like the third one below it kind of gets to you. As you can see Charlie is about to cross the line. BL just landed their boat and SB and HC are still rowing. The three boats I just mentioned honestly are our competition so it's looking good... But wait! A wave for LBT on the North end of the course! Congrats to LBT on their victory!
Kaden
took on the Open swim duties for Surf City in a blisteringly fast field while
Natalie put in a gutsy performance in the equally competitive field of Women’s
swimmers and came out with a medal in 3rd place.
The always strong Paddleboard Pick-Up team of Scotty and Kieran just missed out on a wave and finished in 3rd in this event.
Lukas rowed a solid race in the Singles Row and finished up just out of the medal rounds in 4th place.
Julia and Scotty had a rough set just after the launch in the Mixed
Doubles and those precious seconds lost getting the boat straightened out and
synchronizing the oars are costly and in this case it resulted in a 4th
place finish.
Charlie and I were out first in the boat relay
and had solid row handing the boat off to Julie and Scotty who also had a
good row and brought the boat to the beach in 3rd place.
As they were coming to the beach I knew Barnegat Light would be coming
for them hard so I told them, “You guys want a medal?
Well you are going to have to fight for it!”
This fired them up because I saw them row harder and straighter than they
ever have and returned the boat to the beach in 3rd place.
Subsequently, Harvey Cedars was disqualified for not launching their
third boat leg out of their lane so Surf City ended up in 2nd place
in the Boat Relay.
Pepper started off the Women’s 4x1000’ Paddleboard with putting the Surf City team in good position for the rest of the race. Lauren was the second leg, Kelsey the third, and Emma D paddled the final leg. As usual, the waves have a lot to say about boat and board races and especially the relays since there are so many chances to be impeded or helped by the waves. Needless to say there was no help from the ocean in this event for Surf City tonight and the ladies had to settle for a solid 3rd place finish.
The final event consisted of
three first time competitors, Kaden, Josh, and Tyler and they represented SCBP
well for the final night of the 68th Annual LBI Lifeguard Tournament.
When the team scores were tallied Surf City came in 5th
place, with first going to HC, BL second, SB third, and LBT fourth.
But the difference between third place and fifth place was only 11
points, 61 vs 72. That’s really only
one race going “right” for SC and we might have finished third overall.
This was a very good performance from a young team.
I know the guys and gals already can’t wait for next year.
Harvey Cedars
Midsummer Meltdown – Monday August 9, 2021
Unanimously (and informally) voted the “most fun” tournament of the
summer was the Midsummer Meltdown “draw” tournament in which each competitor was
marked from 1 to 8 and then you event would be drawn and announced over the PA.
It was exciting to hear the announcer say “the following number will be
doing the Double Row…” There were
seven competing teams and they were all very good.
Harvey Cedars, Barnegat Light, Ship Bottom and us from the LBI and
Diamond Beach (Lower Township), Lavallette, and Sea Girt representing the
off-island teams.
In the first even I drew the swim relay along with Charlie, Scotty, and Kieran. Definitely not our strongest swim relay but we managed to stay out of last place and came in 6th.
That
draw left Pepper, Julia, Matt, and Adam in the Paddle Relay and they also came
in 6th place.
The draw for the next round of events worked out better for us. In the Medley Relay Pepper and Julia competed in the Buoy Rescue, Adam and Kieran in the Paddle Pick-Up, and me and Scotty in the Boat Pick-Up. As is always the case all victims had to swim to the marks. We were pretty solid in this event and finished in 4th place.
"This is NASA to Boat Actual, you're cleared for launch..."
But seriously, I was close to losing an oar.
That left Charlie and Matt in the Boat Swim and they came in 4th place.
For the final draw in the Iron Man Medley we had Kieran running, Pepper swimming, Scotty paddling, and Julia and I rowing. We finished in 3rd in this event, our best finish of the night.
Scotty paddling in the relay. Great form on the start and paddling.
Julia takes a quick look for our lane.
Meanwhile Adam and Matt were drew the Doubles Row and finished out of the points.
Charlie
drew the Singles Row and executed a nearly perfect race and finished 2nd.
12th Annual Surf City Lifeguard Banquet – Thursday August 12, 2021
Ventnor Goudy
Rescue Races – Friday August 20, 2021
I’ve been trying to get us invited to this tournament
for a few years now and we finally got invited.
This was an interesting and fun tournament.
Each of the four events is intended to simulate an actual rescue so only
the rowers may launch the boat and you have to run down from the start/finish
line when the horn signals the start of the race.
Also there were bags clipped to the buoys that must be unclipped and
lifted into the boat or brought to shore and across the finish line by the
rescuer. Finally, you don’t have to
finish in your lane as your lane judge will follow you down the beach should you
drift on your way to the beach.
The surf was big and there were 17 team competing.
We drew lane 8 and Charlie and I were up first in the Doubles Surfboat
Rescue. On the start we ran to the
boat and pushed the boat into the wash from the stern oarlocks, as soon as the
boat was in the wash Charlie jumped in while I continued to push until he got
the oars going. We had a decent row
to the buoy probably getting to the buoy line around 5th place or so.
But when we turned to grab the bag the boat ended up between the buoy and
the bag so when I unclipped it the bag was on the other side of the boat and
there was no way for me to pull it under the boat.
I tried for a bit, wasting time and then finally realized I would have to
“walk” the line around the stern of the boat to the other side.
This took some time and I think we ended up around 10 or 11th
place.
Sean was up next in the Individual Swimming Rescue where
he had to swim with a belt to the buoy, unclip the bag, swim it to shore, and
then run it across the finish line.
He did a nice job and beat a few teams.
I should also mention the buoys were set far out, probably 650 or 700
feet.
Kieran, Conner, and Scotty took on the Surfboat Rescue
with Swimmer Race. Kieran swam to
the buoy, unclipped the bag and began to swim it back to shore.
The boat was launched when Kieran dunked the buoy at which point our lane
judge signaled for our boat to be launched.
Conner and Scotty met Kieran on his way to the beach and Kieran threw the
bag into the boat. Like Charlie and
I they had some bag problems as well but still ended up beating a few teams to
the finish line.
Considering the size of the surf and having to launch
the boat alone I think it’s safe to say CJ had the toughest race of the night in
the Individual Surfboat Rescue. CJ
launched the boat well and was on his way to the buoy when he hit a big wave
directly in the impact zone. There
is really nothing you can do in this situation.
It flooded and eventually flipped the boat.
We righted the boat, brought it to shore, drained it, and then like we
always do launched CJ so he could complete the race, which he did perfectly.
We learned a lot and you can be sure we’ll be back next
year!
Longport
Hammer Row – Thursday August 26, 2021
Julia and I competed at the Hammer Row.
Since we had completed the 5 mile bay course in 49:52 during our practice
I thought we had a very good chance to win the Mixed Doubles division at the
Hammer. I was wrong.
There was a very strong boat from Atlantic City that beat us by 17
seconds. To be fair they started the
race a bit ahead of us as the start of this race is always suspect.
Would it have mattered? I
don’t know. Maybe.
We ended up coming in 12th place overall out of 38 boats.
