High surf tests PB lifeguards

Hank Newell, 9 of Gulf Breeze considers whether to venture into the big waves with his boogie board Sunday on Pensacola Beach. Lifeguards were kept busy keeping up with people who defied the Red Flag warning and got into distress in the Gulf.

Pensacola Beach's lifeguards got a little more than they bargained for on the first official weekend of tourist season: big waves and even bigger crowds.

"We had probably 45,000 Saturday and 35,000 Sunday if you average three per vehicle," Buck Lee, general manager said of beach attendance on the unseasonably mild first weekend of Spring Break.

Fortunately, Lee said, donated trucks came in handy in saving at least one life.

"Instead of having one truck running from Avenida 10 to the last park to the east that's open, (public safety director) Bob West had two. There was a parking lot this side of Portofino. We got at 3 p.m. Sunday a 911 call of a drowning. (The lifeguard) was there in like 30 seconds. He got his red can, swam out, got the individual, brought him back in, and that's when (EMS) showed up. This kid was in terrible shape. I say kid, he was about 20 years old. If we hadn't had that vehicle patrolling that area, he wouldn't have made it," Lee said.

West said that particular rescue involved a Pensacola Christian College student.

"On a typical day, I have two patrol trucks out there. We actually had two sets of trucks out on the beach this weekend plus an ATV," West said, patrolling 8.3 miles of beach.

Another one rescued was a Minnesota resident, a member of the national guard, who was rescued Friday afternoon by an Eagle Scout.

"He went out there empty handed, which we strongly discourage," West said. "What we want people to do is take a deep breath and grab something that floats, because when you swim out there, you're the highest piece of land around and they will climb right on you."

He also said the best thing to do is call 911 first to activate the system.

There were 986 preventative acts over the weekend, defined as telling someone to get out of the water or having them moved away from danger. On rescues, defined as anytime a lifeguard gets wet, there were 22 rescues over the first weekend of Spring Break.

Eleven of those were in moderate distress and 11 were in extreme distress. There were five people transported to a local hospital over the busy weekend.

On Monday, Bob West said it was another crazy day.

"We had to transport another one, a 16-year-old girl from Pace caught in a rip current, rescued by a lifeguard on patrol. Her mother said, 'I can't believe she got in trouble. She's been out there all her life,'" West said.

West said hurricanes contributed to the conditions causing rough surf.

"What happened with all the surf we've had is it's cut channels where the rip currents flow out, and breaks in the sand bars and inshore holes you can step off into." West said.

"You can go from knee deep water to six-to eight feet of water just like that," he added.

He said the risk groups for drowning fall into the risk takers, typically 15to 24-year old males, and the 45to 54-year olds, who may be parents trying to rescue their children.

A challenge West faces is staffing many college and high school students, who are in school until May.

Seventeen requalified from last year and another group will March 25 and that group plus the four hired will do 40-hour training in April.