Introduction, Foreword, Whatever

Hello and Welcome to the Danger Zone...a name that will probably end up being more exciting than the actual journal. Who knows?

Coligny Tower & rescue board
 first thing in the morning

Part I

So- a quick recap: Starting on 3 May 2014, I’m flying down south to begin my second summer as a beach lifeguard. I’ll be staying for four months. Where, precisely?

Robert Murdoch

Shore Beach Service

116 Arrow Road

Hilton Head Island

29928 South Carolina, USA

North America, Earth,

The Solar System

 Milky Way, Local Group

 Virgo Supercluster

 Observable Universe.

The thing that got me writing this journal is my fondness for another web log; the blog of Neil Peart. Neil is the drummer for the band RUSH (my favourite band) and an avid adventure travel writer. He travels across countries between concerts on his motorcycle, blogging about his travels and experiences. I’m aiming to also do this type of writing, with one small difference: I won’t be doing much travelling. The adventures will come to me, in the form of the (literally) millions of tourists who come to our sunny shores each year. ‘Tourist’ has a bit of a negative ring to it, though, and while some are more than deserving of the title than others, I suppose I’ll be fair and call them ‘visitors.’

An idea that Neil mentions in his writing is how wonderful it is to appreciate an experience while it is happening, and how important it is to make the effort beforehand to make that moment- to put yourself in places and situations that may turn out to be excellent. I suppose that is part of my reason for doing what I’m doing. That, plus it’s a freakin’ awesome summer job.

Hopefully this will be a bit more visually interesting than some looong email I would send out, and you can feel free to either read it regularly, or (as my friend Christian confessed he’d probably do) binge read sometime near the end of the summer. That’s okay; the stories will still be here.

Speaking of stories to tell, my lovely friend and co-worker Natasha has her own wonderful blog, with a much more down-to-earth vibe. (Not called something stupid like Danger Zone.) It can be found here. It was she who taught me how to dance to country music- let’s hope I still remember! She actually got me thinking about this blog stuff. I’d originally thought- Cool, a blog! Then it was- Maybe she’d let me do a guest post or something... Finally- No, idiot, write your own blog.

Part II: What I do.

A Highchair

Shore has two types of lifeguards: rental guards and highchair guards. Both are equally trained and certified- the difference is in their duties. Highchair guards are just that; they are assigned to water observation. They sit in a wooden highchair platform that they move up and down the beach with the tide. Because of the shallow slope of the beach on Hilton Head, there can be hundreds more feet of beach during low tide than at high tide.

The other type of guard is the rental guard. They guard from a ground position and also operate a rental stand that lets out chairs, umbrellas, fun cycles, boogie boards, and sometimes sailboats. We are the only company licensed to operate on the beach. Some visitors have criticized this arrangement. Our company’s stance is that a rental company would be on the beach regardless, and we are ensuring that a fully qualified lifeguard, whose first priority is water safety, staffs every stand. Locations with less traffic usually only have a rental stand, while heavily populated areas have a chair guard to accompany each stand.

This image from the UK’s Daily Mail (of all places) illustrates the relationship between the two. Here, at the normally bustling Coligny Public Beach, strong winds and rain from an incoming tropical storm resulted in the closing of the umbrellas, and trash bags being pressed into service as makeshift ponchos. In the back of shot, the yellow ‘caution’ flag is flying, warning visitors of the rough surf conditions.

Photo: Associated Press

As of this writing, my assignment is the rental stand next to the access that leads to the Disney Resort’s Beach House, or “Disney” for short. Typically every major hotel has a stand in front of it, and indeed it’s how we name the positions. Instead of being the guards at marker 85, you’re the Marriott, or the Marriott chair. Along with running the Disney stand, I’ll be alternating weeks on highchair duty, at random chairs over the Island.

Once I’ve started, I intend to post a description of my workday. Not that I can’t do it here, but I’m afraid you’re getting bored of me by now. Hopefully this has made things clearer and not more confusing.

So! Bye for now, and thanks for reading all the way to the bottom! You made it 800 words without crying.

P.S.- This blog is for you too! If there are things you want to see or want me to write about, let me know!