With floodlights illuminating darkened sands and waters, over a dozen ocean lifeguards from Malibu beaches swam, paddled and ran to a first-place finish at an Aug. 2 lifeguarding contest in Hermosa Beach.
The 19 rescuers, Team Zuma Beach, were the first group of lifeguards from the Los Angeles County Fire Department Lifeguard Division’s northern section to win the annual Bud Stevenson Intracrew Medley Relay in 23 years.
Soren Stewart, a 17-year lifeguard, said Zuma’s victory over LA lifeguard squads from Cabrillo/Torrance/Redondo, Dockweiler, Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, Venice, Santa Monica and Will Rogers Beach was a big deal.
“Being able to represent our section with fellow brothers and sisters was great,” said Stewart, who served as the intracrew’s captain. “It’s something about being a part of that moment and that race with everyone else. You feel part of something bigger. This year was special.”
Zuma’s triumph near the Hermosa Beach Pier came amid the four-day International Surf Festival in the South Bay. Hundreds of spectators watched lifeguards display their ocean skills and physical conditioning in various beach and ocean activities. Competitions were held nightly because the lifeguards manned their home beaches during the day.
The Malibu intracrew did more than wade in the water to claim their first relay win since 1995. The band and their competitors each had two runners, four swimmers, four paddlers, one surf ski paddler and four two-person dorys vying for lifeguard bragging rights.
The relay featured the teams going about 300 yards off shore to dash around flags and get back to the beach. Even though lights from the pier beamed on the water, completing the event’s tasks at night was not easy.
Stewart, a member of one of the dory pairs, avoided crashing against competing paddlers, while riding a wave inland.
“You want to get out the water as fast as possible,” he said. “That’s the hardest part. You have to time it to catch a wave.”
Zuma surf skier Hunter Hay said the farther out in the ocean the athletes went, the darker it got.
“I was impressed by the swimmers being able to find the flag line,” said the first-year Zuma Beach lifeguard. “They are in the water, the surf. It’s hard to see over the surf.”
Zuma Beach lifeguard Max Jaben, a swimmer for Malibu’s bunch, said the swim at night had an extra level of energy and excitement.
“I didn’t find myself thinking about much more than what’s going on in the race—reading the conditions and thinking, ‘Is someone catching me?’ or, ‘Is there someone around to catch?,’” he said.
Zuma’s winning relay started with runner Tyler Bleiberg sprinting toward the Pacific Ocean, and ended with doryman Decker Dempsey hopping from his craft and running up the beach. In between, paddler Jamie Jacobson grabbed the lead for Malibu by landing a drop off a five-foot wave to get ahead of a competitor who nosedived off the risen water.
“From that point on, we held on to our lead,” said Steward. “We lost our voices after that.”
Zuma’s pack included lifeguards from Corral, Malibu, Point Dume, Zuma and Nicholas Canyon beaches. Members included Marina Montoya as a runner; Brad Ewart, Nick Vargas and Logan Hotchkiss as swimmers; Joe Rickabaugh, Thomas Ryan and Tyler Morris as paddlers; and Jim Darling, Tony Johnston, Kelby Tursick, Sam Sangster, Colin Simon and Colin Rutherford as dory rowers.
In a celebratory picture, a few of the lifeguards either wore and held green T-shirts with “NORTHERN” emblazoned in gold writing on the front with a similarly colored lightning bolt positioned below it. The shirts symbolized the group was from the northernmost-part of LA’s 72 miles of beach, and their bond.
Stewart was confident they wouldn’t lose.
“We built a team that was highly skilled, but also committed and had a desire to win,” he said.
One obstacle Zuma faced before the race was the drive to Hermosa Beach. The squad had to swim through rush hour traffic. Some of Malibu’s competition was glad the squad finished on top just because of that.
“We were pleasantly surprised Zuma won,” Brian Murphy, a member of one of Manhattan Beach’s two teams, told a reporter earlier this month. “They had to make a two-hour drive after working all day.”
Malibu rescuers skipped the event in some past years because they didn’t have enough personnel or the proper schedule worked out to allow some lifeguards to participate in the relay, while others worked Malibu’s beaches.
Lifeguard Capitan Eugen Atanasio, a member of the last Malibu team to win the relay, made sure beaches were staffed, so the 19 could compete. Afterward, Atanasio took the group out for a big breakfast to celebrate their win.
“Eugene stoked the fire,” Steward said. “His encouragement and willingness to facilitate us to get down there was a big difference.”
Hay and Jaben also snagged lifeguarding wins at the Aug. 8-11 United States Lifesaving (USLA) National Lifeguard Championships in Virginia Beach, Va., an event that featured more than 900 junior and professional lifeguards.
Jaben, 32, won the men’s age 30 to 34 surf race national title, while Hay, 33, was part of a four-person batch that won the men’s Rescue Race crown.
The Malibu duo’s victories helped the Los Angeles County Surf Life Saving Association capture the top spot at the USLA competition. LA has won the spectacle 29 times in the last 31 years.
Jaben said finishing the 400-meter ocean course swim first was a great experience. He said he and Hay received lots of encouragement from their Malibu beach personnel.
“We are a close group of lifeguards,” the six-year rescuer said.
Hay, a lifeguard of 13 years, competed with a lifeguard unit from Wrightsville Beach, N.C. before moving to California. He had become accustomed to seeing the LA team grab top finishes at the USLA championships.
“They would just kick everyone else’s butts,” Hay said. “To get to travel out with them and compete for LA County was pretty awesome.”
He won the Rescue Race with lifeguards Azad Al-Barazi, Kevin Fink and Timothy Burdiak. The activity featured a “victim,” one rescue tube swimmer and two rescuers. The victim swam 120 meters to a buoy, signaled and waited for rescue by the tube swimmer. The remaining two members (Hay was one) entered the water to help their teammates return to shore.
Hay said the four trained hard for the win.
“You are competing against a high-level caliber of athlete,” he said. “You have to be very fit to be competitive.”
Hay said many Malibu lifeguards are interested in training for next year’s Bud Stevenson competition.
“All this leads to them being in better shape and even more prepared for work every day,” he said. “It provides the community with even better lifeguards, which is hard to believe because the caliber of lifeguards we have in LA County is just phenomenal.”
