Title: Coast watch
Identifier: coastwatch00uncs_16 (find matches)
Year: 1979 (1970s)
Authors: UNC Sea Grant College Program
Subjects: Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology
Publisher: (Raleigh, N. C. : UNC Sea Grant College Program)
Contributing Library: State Library of North Carolina
Digitizing Sponsor: North Carolina Digital Heritage Center

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their related hazards vary dramatically from place to place. Crowd conditions, water currents, dangerous sea creatures, weather and many other factors contribute to these variations. 'Every beach has its own personality — energy, current pattern and beach slope," says Jim McCloy, associate vice president of research and academic affairs at Texas A&M University at Galveston and former Texas Sea Grant researcher. "Beaches also have their own culture." Along the Outer Banks, many surfers congregate at the beaches. Because of the rough surf, Outer Banks beaches — from Corolla to Hatteras Island — have beach rescue services in each municipality. From Memorial Day to the end of September, lifeguards sit in stands and also patrol the beaches in all-terrain vehicles (ATVs). 'Ten years ago, there were probably half as many lifeguards as there are now in Dare and Currituck counties," says Sandy Sanderson, Dare County's emergency management director. "The Outer Banks has taken the lead in North Carolina in innovative, proactive lifeguard services. The town of Nags Head was the first in the country in 1975 to use jet skis in formal rescue operations. They were also the first to incorporate an ATV beach patrol operation in 1979." On a typical day, a lifeguard's work isn't as glamorous as on the old television series "Baywatch," according to Yeatts. "We don't have drownings every day," he says. "It is real life and real emergencies." At Kill Devils Hills, the lifeguards first get together for a briefing on the water temperature and surf. Then, they head for the beach where they check out the town's rescue equipment and umbrellas. All told, the town of Kill Devils Hills has 17 lifeguard stands, four patrolling ATVs and two trucks. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, Kill Devil Hills lifeguards arrive at the beach early for physical training — from swimming and running to line pull drills and other exercises. Mirek Dabrowski, owner of Surf Rescue that contracts lifeguard services for the town of Duck, says the hardest part of being a lifeguard is being "out in the sun all day and dealing with different weather conditions." By the end of one summer season, the first-year lifeguards have matured a lot because of the enormous responsibility of the job, according to Tim Morrison, Kill Devil Hills ocean rescue support director. "They also meet people from all over the country and develop a great network," adds Morrison. "It's a great job." Despite the intense training and sophisticated equipment, Yeatts says lifesaving is still the rescuer versus the ocean. "It is so pure — fins, buoys and saving peoples lives," he adds. □ RESTAURANT SHOWCASES LIFESAVING MEMORABILIA As a young boy, Lionel Shannon would often sit on the beach by the old Kill Devil Hills Coast Guard station and watch a captain re- enact a rescue with an old-time lyle gun. "Capt. Pennel Tillett would scoop up a hole in the sand for his stomach and then lay down and line up the Lyle gun to fire it across the practice pole," says Lionel Shannon, one of the owners of Owens Restaurant in Nags Head. Then the Coast Guard rescuers would use the shot line to pull out the block and tackle for the breeches buoy apparatus and pull in the victim, adds Shannon. "From an engineering standpoint, I was always fascinated with how the Coast Guard could do so much with so little," says Shannon. "How many people today could rescue someone 500 yards off the beach in rough waters with simple beach apparatus? They used the same equipment again and again to rescue people." Shannon's fascination led to his setting up displays of U.S. Lifesaving Service and Coast Guard memorabilia in the lobby and hall of Owens Restaurant. The breeches buoy is one of the most frequently used tools employed in U.S. Lifesaving rescues during the 1800s, before the Coast Guard took over the service. "The crew would run up the beach and pull the buoy in and out," says Shannon "The buoy has canvas seats for two victims." The restaurant is filled with memorabilia from Coast Guard ships, including dress uniforms, china and a telescope. "All of my family worked on the water," says Shannon. "One of my grandfathers was chief engineer of a Coast Guard ship. My other grandfather was a fisherman and farmer in Currituck County." A framed 1933 Coastland Times article gives a glimpse into the drudgery and physical intensity involved in early lifesaving services. "Five days a week devoted to drills at each station, boat drill, beach-wear drill, signaling with a wig-wag and semaphore, fire drill and drowning and resuscitation drill so that the crew are kept at a high level of efficiency which can be translated into action in case of emergency," according to the article. -A.G. COASTWATCH 15

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