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7A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JULY 21, 2017 Lifeguards: ‘The community has always cared about the safety of this place’ Continued from Page 1A to swim out and bring him back to shore. The lifeguards on duty noticed his actions and brought him into the program shortly after, he said. He offi- cially joined the summer of his 16th birthday and has been a lifeguard ever since. “I have always been com- fortable in the water. I grew up surfing,” Willyard said. “So I didn’t really worry whether or not I was going to make it — I just ran out. At the least, I thought, I could keep his head above water. “I’ve never been afraid of the ocean,” he continued. “I suppose that’s a good quality to have in this line of work.” Willyard is one of eight lifeguards in charge of pro- tecting the lives of the thou- sands of visitors who frequent Cannon Beach during the summer. While the position is seasonal, Cannon Beach’s lifeguard team is rooted in decadeslong tradition, and upheld by a team of people dedicated to returning year after year — and for some, decade after decade. Jana McGill enters the surf near Haystack Rock in Cannon Beach while keeping a close eye on a surfer (not pictured) who was catching waves in a potentially hazardous area. McGill was entering the water with a surfboard as part of a routine training exercise. Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian Jana McGill removes a surfboard from a vehicle near the lifeguard stand in front of Hay- stack Rock in Cannon Beach. McGill is a longtime lifeguard in Cannon Beach and was get- ting ready to perform a training exercise on the surfboard in the waters near Haystack Rock. Hours of training saving Association calculates the chance of drowning on a beach with lifeguards is 1 in 18 million. Cannon Beach and Seaside are the only two coastal cit- ies in Oregon with formal life- guarding programs. Where it began A day in the life The origin of the lifeguard program can be traced to the town’s first lifeguard in 1938, making the program almost 80 years old and one of the oldest on the West Coast. According to the historical text “Comin’ in over the Rock,” the first lifeguard, W.W. Ross, felt strongly about the town’s need for a summer lifeguard and placed collection jars around town to pay for lifeguards for several years. Today, it is a staple of the Cannon Beach Police Depart- ment, and almost everyone on the team has been a lifeguard for at least three to five years, program supervisor and Can- non Beach Police Chief Jason Schermerhorn said. While drownings are still relatively rare on the Ore- gon Coast, the federal Cen- ters for Disease Control and Prevention lists drowning has the fifth-leading cause of unintentional deaths in the United States. The U.S. Life- One misconception head lifeguard Brian Habecker likes to clarify is the notion of lifeguards being “beach bums” or “slackers.” “Everyone here has a col- lege degree or is a student pur- suing one — I know at least three of us have master’s,” Habecker said. “We’re easy- going people, but very serious when it counts.” Habecker has been a life- guard in Cannon Beach for 15 years, the last five as leader. He describes his team as driven, hard-working and all with similar passions and per- spectives on recreating in the ocean. These similarities are by design, he said. “Part of the reason we are such a strong team is because we recruit locally,” Habecker said. “I taught Jesse as a sixth- grade student, and when he got into college, I asked him to apply for the job.” It’s a pattern that has worked well. Habecker him- Cannon Beach lifeguard Jesse Willyard uses binoc- ulars and a scope to keep a watchful eye on the waters and the beaches of the area. self, an English teacher at Broadway Middle School, was recruited by John Rippey, who at the time was an edu- cational assistant when he was a student and head lifeguard for 25 years. Generations of recruitment turned into one large, locally grown family, he said. “There is a total respect and bond in this group,” Habecker said. Up in the tower, Willyard said much of his day is spent meticulously scanning the beach, and answering ques- tions like “Where is the bath- room?” and “Why are there dead birds on the beach?” Getting to work where he likes to play isn’t a bad perk either, he said. “It’s one of the best sum- mer jobs around,” he said. But hours of training go into preparing for the rescues that Habecker said average about one a month. Because there are only two beach towns with formal lifeguards, much of the training regimen has been passed down generation to generation, largely created and directed by the staff them- selves, Habecker said. Every morning in the sum- mer, lifeguards do a half hour of either cardio or weightlift- ing with Cannon Beach Fire and Rescue. Before the season starts, the group meets in June to learn first aid, conduct mock rescues out in riptides and rocks and swimming drills that require lifeguards to swim all the way around Haystack Rock. But every year is differ- ent. Some years Willyard has only seen a few close calls, oth- ers as high as 20. He has done only a handful of rescues, but described each one as a shot of adrenaline, and then a wave of relief. ”It can be hectic, but luck- ily we have people who have been here multiple seasons,” Willyard said. “It’s about pay- ing attention to every person.” In most cases, the goal is to focus on preventative mea- sures: namely, educating folks not to turn their back to the water, identifying rip currents and warning beachgoers to stay away from those areas. But when that isn’t an option, Wil- lyard and Habecker both said the most common rescue sce- nario involves beachgoers get- ting caught in strong currents. “The more you do it, the less daunting it is,” Habecker said. “What other people see as heroic, we find exciting. The ocean brings a lot of fear because of the unknowns, and people assume we have the same fear, but for us it’s not an unknown.” But moments of reward and exhilaration are also hum- bled by the reality of when sit- uations do go wrong, like the Oklahoma teen who drowned in Seaside last year. “Out here, it is the expecta- tion that nothing goes wrong,” Habecker said. “If something does go wrong, you have to be able to take the ownership of that on. And that’s what sep- arates our jobs from many others.” Past and present During his 20-year tenure as a Cannon Beach lifeguard, Jim Babson got to see the program evolve. When he started his first summer while he was a student at University of Oregon, it was him and one other lifeguard living in bunks in the fire sta- tion. He started at around $200 a month for seven days a week of work. After that summer he became a track coach and high school teacher in Gresham, yet still found himself back in Can- non Beach lifeguarding every summer until 1993, where he earned the title “lifeguard emer- itus” for his years of service. For Babson, what kept him coming back was the fami- ly-like feel. “I just enjoyed the physical challenge, and if you got to pull a few people out of the water, that’s rewarding, too,” Babson said. “We had it easier back then, though. There were way fewer people on the beach than today.” Peter Lindsey, lifelong resi- dent and the author of “Comin’ in Over the Rock,” wrote about Cannon Beach’s lifeguard- ing program in his histori- cal work, drawing information from his mother, a lifeguard in the 1930s, and from friends like Babson whom he met life- guarding himself. “It always seemed to be kind of a focal point in the com- munity — a point of pride,” he said. “The community has always cared about the safety of this place. It just seemed natural.” Habecker, 46, is starting to pave the way to a graceful exit from the program. But after 15 years, he feels comfortable leaving the program to the stu- dents like Jesse Willyard. “Watching my students grow into the quality people just further rewards my career as a teacher. They’re some of my best friends,” he said. “This kind of bond is something you really only get in a small town like Cannon Beach. It’s ideal — and it has taken many years to get that way.” Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian Members of the Astoria Sunday Market board of directors along with Astoria Mayor Arline LaMear, third from the right, as well as Astoria city councilors and Astoria Sunday Market Board President Jack Ficken, fourth from the right, present a check to Astoria Parks and Recreation Director Angela Cosby on Thursday at the Garden of Surging Waves. Sunday Market: Has donated more than $180,000 to Astoria projects since 2001 Continued from Page 1A The nonprofit organiza- tion has a history of charita- ble giving, including $17,000 for public restrooms in 2004, $3,000 to the Liberty Theater in 2008 for exterior repairs, multiple donations equaling thousands of dollars to the Astoria Downtown Historic District Association over the years and many other proj- ects. All told, the market has donated more than $180,000 to city and community proj- ects since 2001. The market, founded in 2000, occurs every Sunday from Mother’s Day until early October and includes up to 200 vendors offering a variety of products. Parks Director Angela Cosby said the market’s dona- tion is the first, but she has heard from others who are interested in donating, and has fielded numerous inquiries about volunteering. She says all offers to volunteer are wel- come, but the department has a need for organized groups. The Lower Columbia Hispanic Council and a crew from Buoy Beer Co. recently completed maintenance and cleanup proj- ects at two of Astoria’s parks. Over the past 40 years, the department’s responsibilities and park lands have increased, while the number of full-time staff has decreased. Costs have also gone up. This year, the parks department is stretched very thin, Cosby has said in meetings to discuss the issues over the past six months. Coming Soon... The CMH-OHSU Knight Cancer Collaborative is bringing advanced cancer care to the coast. People throughout the Columbia-Pacific region will soon have access to the latest technologies and treatments for cancer. Patients can expect to receive personalized, advanced care from OHSU specialists in a warm, comforting, hassle-free environment. columbiamemorial.org/cancer-care/ Sharks: ‘We don’t want to downplay it’ Continued from Page 1A “We can go years between sightings,” Havel said. “That could just be a coincidence.” Businesses have not felt any effects from recent discussions about the shark sightings, said Brian Owen, executive direc- tor of the Seaside Chamber of Commerce. He attended a meeting with 20 business own- ers Thursday, none of whom mentioned the topic. “We don’t want to down- play it,” Owen said, “but we don’t want to tell people not to come here.” 2111 Exchange St., Astoria, Oregon • 503-325-4321 www.columbiamemorial.org • A Planetree-Designated Hospital
