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It's Friday afternoon at La Jolla Shores and John Sandmeyer, a sergeant with the city of San Diego Lifeguard Services, is applying alcohol pads to a young boy's jellyfish sting. It's a common occurrence today. Sandmeyer can't get far down the beach without another parent approaching him about their stung child. But jellyfish stings aren't the most pressing safety issue on 38-year-old Sandmeyer's mind. He is keeping an eye on "the hole," an area north of the Shores lifeguard tower that is experiencing dangerously strong rip currents. After treating a few stings, Sandmeyer parks his truck facing the hole and surveys the water. It's not long before he spots a swimmer who has drifted into the current and is unknowingly being pulled into deep water. The swimmer starts exhibiting signs she is in trouble, and the lifeguard hops out of the truck and paddles out on his heavy-duty surfboard. Two more lifeguards on water craft arrive at the same moment. Seconds later, the swimmer is back on the beach. It's an instance of safety serendipity that only training and "knowing your beach" can provide. "A lot of times, what we'll do is we'll post up in a location that has a rip current," said Sandmeyer a 22-year lifeguard veteran, "and it's like a cafeteria of people that will just keep kicking around." Eyes on the water Sandmeyer can spot a single person in trouble in a beach filled with swimmers. Watching the way a wave smashes into the back of a swimmer's head can be an indicator of struggle. "By clicking off a series of tests," he said, "we can find the one who really needs help." Those tests, combined with being in the right place at the right time, has paid off. Lifeguarding is a job that requires a keen eye for not just spotting trouble when it happens, but identifying it before it occurs. Though the guards have a number of water craft, floatation devices and other equipment at their disposal, spending a number of days at the same beach is very important. The same perils emerge over and over again, and the guards learn just how to anticipate them. A number of La Jolla lifeguards utilize their years of experience by applying their knowledge to situations swimmers may not even know they are getting into. They also try to pass that knowledge on to younger lifeguards who will be working these beaches for years to come. Jimmy Canali has been a local lifeguard for 25 years. He was mentored by the late Ron Trenton and started as a junior guard in 1964. He is currently working the Rocks, a term among lifeguards for the area around La Jolla Cove. Canali is on a first-name basis with a lot of people who frequent the Cove and admits that he loves working the beach. It's obvious in his demeanor that he has achieved a certain comfort zone at the Cove. But that comfort level doesn't allow him to take his eyes off the water very often. "There are some characters who come here every day, every year, forever," he said. "La Jolla takes real pride in its people, and if you've been around, they treat you super. The people are super good to me, and I'm very lucky." Knowing the elements Over the last quarter century, Canali has witnessed the increasing population of La Jolla and its effects on his job. "When I started, the surfers knew what WindanSea was, but nobody else did," he said. "Our beaches are so crowded now ... and the traffic is nearly impossible to get through." In contrast to the Shores, which can resemble an impressionist's masterpiece when it's filled with people on an average summer day, the Cove is a cozier setting. It gets busy with regulars and swimmers and some tourists. But, the smaller setting doesn't make it any less dangerous for a swimmer who doesn't know the conditions. Canali, like Sandmeyer, stays on top of things by knowing the elements. "It's not just the water," he said. "You have to know what's underneath the water. You have to know where the rips are. You have to know where you can hold, where you can swim and where you can stop and wait." His years of experience working the Cove gives Canali an extra tool. He is not only a student of the beach's conditions, he also knows the conditions of the people who regularly come there. "I know my public," he said. "I know who has a heart condition, who has a pacemaker. I know what medications they're on. I know who's going to panic first, when they are going to panic. I know what order to get them, which makes me a better lifeguard." Everyone needs a lifeguard Canali splits his time between the tourists and their children who frolic on the crest of the water and the swimmers who regularly exercise by swimming to the buoy and back. Both groups keep Canali busy for different reasons. Tourists don't know the conditions, and athletic swimmers can overestimate themselves. Some swimmers have told Canali to watch them as they attempt to swim to Scripps Pier, a request Canali admits is impossible. "I can't see them. If there's a foot of white cap, I can't see them. I always recommend that they go over to the Shores and then go across. Because if they are out there," he said, motioning to the blue-green emptiness between the Cove and the pier, "they are in the middle of nowhere. They have this false image that I'm going to go out there and walk on water and get them, and I can't." It's good to have a lifeguard on duty, but people enjoying the beach should realize more than anything else that staying alive is their own responsibility. "The ocean is challenging," he said. "The ocean doesn't care how old you are or give you a break. It's just going to pummel you." Canali can't count how many rescues he has been involved in over the years but says he has treated everything from hypothermia to panic attacks. Sitting in the tower at La Jolla Cove, he can point to people on the beach he has rescued. "It's harder because you're working on people that you know and love," he said. "It's easier to deal with a public that you know. It's kind of a mutual respect." Canali has also watched kids grow up on the beach, "Some of the people I saw here as babies are now lifeguards." Growing up on the beach One of those kids was Lisa Darling, now a fellow lifeguard. Darling recalls seeing Canali working the beaches when she was a kid. She now works the Children's Pool after growing up swimming and surfing in La Jolla. Darling took up lifeguarding as a way to get through college. "I graduated from college and right when I was graduating, they were hiring full time," she said. "I was actually going to apply for grad school and at the same time got interviewed for a permanent (position) and decided I would do it for a few years. And now, it's five years later." Darling, like Canali, enjoys the community atmosphere of the job. "The more you do this job, the more it grows on you," she said. "The sense of working in the community, being an integral part of the community, especially La Jolla. It's kind of a special place for me anyway. So, to be able to give back is really nice." As Darling describes the process of watching a beach, she repeats many of the same things Canali and Sandmeyer said about lifeguarding, about knowing the beach and thinking ahead. It seems to be a common philosophy here. "Different swells totally change your day, so (La Jolla is) a challenging area," she said. "It's not the same old thing every day. ... Once you get into an area, you really learn all the details." A five-year veteran of lifeguarding, Darling will learn more the longer she stays on. And her experience can make a difference on any given day. "I grew up swimming and surfing," she said, "and seeing Jimmy and some of the other people for years. And now, being able to work with them and share their knowledge and being able to pass it on ... I think it's unique. ... You want to continue to have that teaching pattern." Training definitely required It's not all on-the-job training. To qualify for the job, lifeguards must go through a number of tests, a qualifying swim, an interview and a week at the academy, where they are trained in radio codes and observe simulations of dangerous situations. Though a number of guards are making careers out of their jobs, it is still a challenging position and injuries are common. Sandmeyer got into lifeguarding right out of high school and has stuck with it ever since. As a city employee with the Fire Department, Lifeguard Services offers retirement and seniority packages and can be easily turned into advanced career opportunities. As a sergeant, Sandmeyer must contend with personnel issues between lifeguards, arguments from surfers over how much space they are granted on the beach, arguments from swimmers about the same, settling disputes between lifeguards and citizens, even hang gliders who crash on Black's Beach are his responsibility. He also has the autonomy to back up lifeguards on other beaches. Needless to say, Sandmeyer stays busy all summer. Today is no exception. Between the jellyfish stings, the surfing schools, the rip currents and the large numbers of people on the beach, Sandmeyer hardly has time to talk. Staying positive on dark days Even with more than 25 well-trained and experienced lifeguards watching the beaches from WindanSea to Black's, drownings still occur. Canali recalled his worst day as a lifeguard, when, he said, "I rescued two people, and three people died." He speaks seriously and reflectively as he describes how he finished a rescue and ran over to the hole to discover a diver had drowned. He also rescued an intoxicated swimmer that afternoon. After that, three boys jumped off the Clam, an area above Emerald Cove, and two of the three drowned. "One went in to save the other, and they both drowned," said Canali. "Then, the third brother went in. By the time I got there, I got the third brother from about a foot under water. ... That's about as bad as it gets. You see the other side of it. You see how important it is to focus on your job. That stands out in my mind as the worst day ever lifeguarding." Sandmeyer talks of drownings systematically. When speaking about a teen-ager who drowned on the Fourth of July, he describes every detail he can remember about the incident then cites the results of the drowning review. At the drowning review, it was found that all procedures were followed and personnel acted correctly. The guards did everything right. "Sitting up in that tower," Sandmeyer said, "you've got so much concern for everybody in the water." Despite the Independence Day tragedy and others like it, Sandmeyer said that it is ultimately the rescues that keep him coming back after more than two decades. "It's really what keeps you on the job and allows you to work so long at the job," he said. "The thrill of the emergencies, the calls we have. When there is an emergency, we all work together so well. It's the successes that keep you doing the job."
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