Sea Bright Public wins

By Walter J. O’Neill, Jr

For the first time in the two-year history of the Borough of Sea Bright Invitational Ocean Rescue Relays, a winner was decided.On August 5, lifeguards from Sea Bright Ocean Rescue, Ship Ahoy, Sea Bright Private, Edgewater, Surfrider and Chapel beach clubs competed in five events. It was a very close contest with Sea Bright Ocean Rescue taking first with 57 points.

Taking second place was Ship Ahoy with 56, Sea Bright Private finished in third with 50, and Edgewater took fourth with 44 points, followed by Surfrider at 38 then Chapel with 31.
Don Klein the beach manager for Sea Bright Public Beaches, who is in his second year, said that last year they couldn’t name a winner.
“We were about halfway through the competition last year when we heard about the search and rescue for a swimmer out at Sandy Hook,” said Klein. He added that all the guards immediately headed out to the Hook to assist those guards in the search effort. “The swimmer was found, but unfortunately it was too late.”

The evening started out with the paddle board pick up. A lifeguard would swim out about 100 yards in the ocean and a second guard would go out on a paddle board to rescue them. That was followed by the landline pull. Same situation as the first, but during these events a lifeguard goes out with a rescue torpedo and a safety line. Once the distressed swimmer is secured by the lifeguard, other guards pull the line in so they don’t have to swim back.

One of the most demanding events was the run-swim-run. Guards run 75 yards on the beach, hit the surf and swim 100 yards out and 100 yards back and then run another 75 yards. The winner of this event was Jo Baird, named Sterns Trailer Athlete of the Week. She beat male and female guards to win the title.

Beach flags are one of the crowd favorites. Guards start off on the stomachs facing away from the end of the course which was 20 meters away. If eight guards are at the starting line there are seven flags in the sand, always one less flag than guards.

Final event was a 100-yard relay with two guards at each end of the course. After all the water and flags competition, it took great physical condition to complete the final event.

Winners of the 2nd Annual Borough of Sea Bright Invitational Ocean Rescue Relays were the guards from Sea Bright Ocean Rescue; Jo Baird, John Decelle, Riley Flanagan, Ryan Dunigan, Ray Reynolds, Robbie Hemphill, and Billy Cusa.

All Teams