My mothers day.....
My day started to be one of the best days I have had in a very long time. As some know, I haven't really been myself lately. Very down and out. I woke up today without the use of an alarm to a new room, a sunny warm day on the other side of my window, and the first day of my sixth season as a beach lifeguard. I had my fucking lunch planned out meatball sandwich, a salad from simple pleasures, and all the orangina a man could want. I got to work to find that it was going to be just me and the boss, Sean Scallan. Sean fucking rules. He has his own dialect of the english language. He is one of the best longboarders in California, and he loves his job, his family, and his life. We have a great hour of catching up while we get the boats and jetski's ready for the day ahead of us, and neither of us can deal with the beauty of the day. It was fuckin phenomenal. Days like this happen three times a year in San Francisco.
We start to head down to the beach, making a pitstop at simple pleasures for some bagels (sesame with garlic herb spread, onions and cucumbers), coffee and my salad to be enjoyed later in the day. We get down to the beach to find one of my favorite co-workers chillin, enjoying the day. Me and Marcus catch up and we are on our way, because Sean and I know that the day is gonna get nuts and we need to get to working, patroling the beach and saying hello to the patrons.
The first half of the day went without any real big problems. Some dogs got into a fight, some super old lady was walking around naked, good times. We got called out on a resuce that was about 2 miles away from where we were. We got there to find that a surfer had helped the person out of the water. We were glad that the person was ok, but we were bummed that we didn't get the rescue. We retured to the busy part of the beach. At that point we noticed our first rescue of the day. Three 18 year olds were caught in a huge rip current. Sean and I paddled out, we got all three. Brought them into the beach, no problems. Got their names and shit and went on our way. Now it should be known that I have been lifeguarding for a very long time. It is pretty rare that you get a rescue, and even more rare that you get a triple rescue. I got that gem on my first fucking day back to the beach. The day truly was a unicorn. We got cleared from that resuce, and spent a while hanging out.
We were driving around a while and we were happy because the day was coming to an end and the crowds were clearing. It was then that I saw Camille and Stephan (koda too). I love them. I can always count on seeing them and getting a huge smile on my face. I got to hang out with them for about twenty minutes. They had to go their seperate ways, and we had to look at more dumb shit everywhere. We drove around, saw a couple of medicals, I ate a sandwich. At this time it was time to go home. We were actually about 20 mins late with getting off the beach. Ocean beach is divided up between the cliff house and Lincoln street by stariwells. Kelly's cove, the northern most part of the beach is stairwell 1. Lincoln is 28. We were going to exit the beach at 15, but deceided to go to lincoln to exit the beach. At stairwell 17 we saw a person running towards us. They said that there was a man drowning. We put on the lights and sirens and started halling balls over to the rescue spot. We got there to stairwell 22 to find three people in the water. As the truck was coming to a skidding halt, I jumped out with my fins and tube. I didn't bring my board or my wetsuit. No time. I swam out 40 yards to only see two heads above the water. I got there to find an 11 year old kid, and an 18 year old guy. The third person was gone. The two in distress pointed down to tell me that the other guy sank. I dove down with Sean about two feet until we felt the guy. We brought him up and his eyes were open, but rolled back. I threw him up onto Sean's paddleboard (sean is still wearing his hat and shirt by the way), and heard him breath (at least I thought). I realized that it was just me moving his lungs. He started to vomit foam out of his mouth and nose, and I couldn't find a pulse on him. On one paddleboard we had this dead gentleman, a child, an adult, Sean, and I. It was crowded. We paddled him in as fast as we could still taking care of the victims that weren't vomiting involunarily. When we got close to the beach, the other victims could stand, so I grabbed the unconcious guy like a baby in my arms and ran him up the beach. At this time there were 250 people gathered around. I was attacked by his family members, who were screaming at me to let him go. I got him up to dry sand and layed him down to start CPR. Two women helped me out because they said that they were nurses, but they started doing CPR wrong. By that time the medics got there and started to take over. In the next five minutes they put a vent on him, and started an IV in his carotid artery on his neck. He didn't have a pulse the entire time. While I was doing CPR his ribs cracked with every compression, as well as shot vomit out of his mouth and nose. I knew that he was dead the second that I saw him in the water. Finally the medics got a V-FIB pulse which is a pulse that is firing very fast like when one is in cardiac arrest. They halled the man away and I helped the hypothermic kid. Upon talking to people I found out that the guy had gone in the water only two minutes before we got there. The reason that he went out was because he saw the kid getting sucked out. He didn't even fucking know the kid. He just went out because he wanted to help. When he got out, they couldn't both gt back in, and the other dude (the 18 year old), went out to help. Then we got there. In the middle of the rescue a surfer came out to help us, and I just told him to go back in and call 911. After everything was done the surfer was crying at the horror of the whole thing. The 18 year old couldn't beleive what happened. The kid and his mom were stunned, and the kid kept repeating that he saved his life. That dude went out there so that the kids mom didn't have to watch her son die on mothers day. He is everything that I try to be in life. I have never in my life worked so hard and saw something so heavy. I was congratulated for being a hero on the beach by cops, medics, firefighters, and beach patrons. I went out for a triple rescue and broght back two. I felt like a failure. After I got up from the CPR, it seemed like slow motion. I looked around to see people holding their arms in the air praying, many people were crying, and the mans family were losing their mind. I had no idea what to say. I went to my partner Sean, and gave him a hug. The man was pronounced dead at 715 at St. Mary's Hospital. He gave his life so that a stranger could live theirs. I don't know his name, and I haven't cried yet. Happy mothers day.
My day started to be one of the best days I have had in a very long time. As some know, I haven't really been myself lately. Very down and out. I woke up today without the use of an alarm to a new room, a sunny warm day on the other side of my window, and the first day of my sixth season as a beach lifeguard. I had my fucking lunch planned out meatball sandwich, a salad from simple pleasures, and all the orangina a man could want. I got to work to find that it was going to be just me and the boss, Sean Scallan. Sean fucking rules. He has his own dialect of the english language. He is one of the best longboarders in California, and he loves his job, his family, and his life. We have a great hour of catching up while we get the boats and jetski's ready for the day ahead of us, and neither of us can deal with the beauty of the day. It was fuckin phenomenal. Days like this happen three times a year in San Francisco.
We start to head down to the beach, making a pitstop at simple pleasures for some bagels (sesame with garlic herb spread, onions and cucumbers), coffee and my salad to be enjoyed later in the day. We get down to the beach to find one of my favorite co-workers chillin, enjoying the day. Me and Marcus catch up and we are on our way, because Sean and I know that the day is gonna get nuts and we need to get to working, patroling the beach and saying hello to the patrons.
The first half of the day went without any real big problems. Some dogs got into a fight, some super old lady was walking around naked, good times. We got called out on a resuce that was about 2 miles away from where we were. We got there to find that a surfer had helped the person out of the water. We were glad that the person was ok, but we were bummed that we didn't get the rescue. We retured to the busy part of the beach. At that point we noticed our first rescue of the day. Three 18 year olds were caught in a huge rip current. Sean and I paddled out, we got all three. Brought them into the beach, no problems. Got their names and shit and went on our way. Now it should be known that I have been lifeguarding for a very long time. It is pretty rare that you get a rescue, and even more rare that you get a triple rescue. I got that gem on my first fucking day back to the beach. The day truly was a unicorn. We got cleared from that resuce, and spent a while hanging out.
We were driving around a while and we were happy because the day was coming to an end and the crowds were clearing. It was then that I saw Camille and Stephan (koda too). I love them. I can always count on seeing them and getting a huge smile on my face. I got to hang out with them for about twenty minutes. They had to go their seperate ways, and we had to look at more dumb shit everywhere. We drove around, saw a couple of medicals, I ate a sandwich. At this time it was time to go home. We were actually about 20 mins late with getting off the beach. Ocean beach is divided up between the cliff house and Lincoln street by stariwells. Kelly's cove, the northern most part of the beach is stairwell 1. Lincoln is 28. We were going to exit the beach at 15, but deceided to go to lincoln to exit the beach. At stairwell 17 we saw a person running towards us. They said that there was a man drowning. We put on the lights and sirens and started halling balls over to the rescue spot. We got there to stairwell 22 to find three people in the water. As the truck was coming to a skidding halt, I jumped out with my fins and tube. I didn't bring my board or my wetsuit. No time. I swam out 40 yards to only see two heads above the water. I got there to find an 11 year old kid, and an 18 year old guy. The third person was gone. The two in distress pointed down to tell me that the other guy sank. I dove down with Sean about two feet until we felt the guy. We brought him up and his eyes were open, but rolled back. I threw him up onto Sean's paddleboard (sean is still wearing his hat and shirt by the way), and heard him breath (at least I thought). I realized that it was just me moving his lungs. He started to vomit foam out of his mouth and nose, and I couldn't find a pulse on him. On one paddleboard we had this dead gentleman, a child, an adult, Sean, and I. It was crowded. We paddled him in as fast as we could still taking care of the victims that weren't vomiting involunarily. When we got close to the beach, the other victims could stand, so I grabbed the unconcious guy like a baby in my arms and ran him up the beach. At this time there were 250 people gathered around. I was attacked by his family members, who were screaming at me to let him go. I got him up to dry sand and layed him down to start CPR. Two women helped me out because they said that they were nurses, but they started doing CPR wrong. By that time the medics got there and started to take over. In the next five minutes they put a vent on him, and started an IV in his carotid artery on his neck. He didn't have a pulse the entire time. While I was doing CPR his ribs cracked with every compression, as well as shot vomit out of his mouth and nose. I knew that he was dead the second that I saw him in the water. Finally the medics got a V-FIB pulse which is a pulse that is firing very fast like when one is in cardiac arrest. They halled the man away and I helped the hypothermic kid. Upon talking to people I found out that the guy had gone in the water only two minutes before we got there. The reason that he went out was because he saw the kid getting sucked out. He didn't even fucking know the kid. He just went out because he wanted to help. When he got out, they couldn't both gt back in, and the other dude (the 18 year old), went out to help. Then we got there. In the middle of the rescue a surfer came out to help us, and I just told him to go back in and call 911. After everything was done the surfer was crying at the horror of the whole thing. The 18 year old couldn't beleive what happened. The kid and his mom were stunned, and the kid kept repeating that he saved his life. That dude went out there so that the kids mom didn't have to watch her son die on mothers day. He is everything that I try to be in life. I have never in my life worked so hard and saw something so heavy. I was congratulated for being a hero on the beach by cops, medics, firefighters, and beach patrons. I went out for a triple rescue and broght back two. I felt like a failure. After I got up from the CPR, it seemed like slow motion. I looked around to see people holding their arms in the air praying, many people were crying, and the mans family were losing their mind. I had no idea what to say. I went to my partner Sean, and gave him a hug. The man was pronounced dead at 715 at St. Mary's Hospital. He gave his life so that a stranger could live theirs. I don't know his name, and I haven't cried yet. Happy mothers day.
camilla: