Lifeguards: Ocean challengers

To become a city lifeguard, excellent swimming skills and being in top shape are a must, but being able to handle the pressure of a life-and-death situation is just as crucial.

As full-time City and County of Honolulu lifeguards, Chelsea Bizik and Rachel Bruntsch know that well. They’re part of a small crew of female lifeguards — 10 on a staff of about 200 — who respond to emergencies on Oahu’s beaches. It’s a challenge, both physically and mentally, that demands they prepare every day.

Bizik and Bruntsch became good friends while paddling for the Waikiki Beach Boys Canoe Club and during their time as lifeguards.

Both have competed at least five times in the Na Wahine o ke Kai, the grueling 42-mile canoe race from Molokai to Oahu through the Kaiwi Channel — a true test of endurance and teamwork. In 2014 their crew finished first.

Being fit is part of their job. City lifeguards get a one-hour training break in which to work out. That includes running, swimming and paddling on a rescue board. If ocean conditions aren’t ideal, Bizik likes to do a Tabata workout, a four-minute, high-intensity training workout. box

Bizik and Bruntsch also paddle with their canoe club two to three times a week, in addition to racing on the weekend. But they often challenge themselves in other competitions, such as the Maui Jim Oceanfest earlier this month, which involved six different water competitions, including stand-up paddling, swim and surf ski sprints.

To qualify for a city lifeguard position, Bizik and Bruntsch had to pass a demanding physical performance exam at Ala Moana Beach Park: a 1,000-yard run and 1,000-yard swim under 25 minutes, followed by a 400-yard rescue board paddle under four minutes and another run-swim-run sprint of 100 yards each in under three minutes.

And they must pass the exam annually to remain a lifeguard.

Bizik, 24, born and raised in Kailua as a surfer, considers the ocean a second home. “My dad is a diver and a surfer, so I grew up on the ocean, in the ocean,” she said. “I’d look up to the lifeguards and thought, ‘You know, I think I could do this.’”

Before Bizik became a lifeguard, she took lifeguard and first-aid courses, and it became clear lifeguarding was what she wanted to do. But despite being a natural athlete, she didn’t pass the performance exam the first time. She worked at it, and made it the second time in 2011.

Outrigger canoe paddling has been a pastime for her since she was a tween at Kailua Intermediate School. It goes hand in hand with lifeguarding — the better she knows the ocean, the better she is at her job.

Bruntsch, 32, also grew up surfing, but in San Diego. She moved to Hawaii in 2003 to study at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. But even though she graduated with a political science degree, lifeguarding was her calling. Her dad and brothers were lifeguards, too. She’s been guarding Waikiki beaches for about 10 years.

“I never imagined doing it for as long as I did, but you get hooked onto this awesome job and lifestyle,” she said. “All the lifeguards over here are such amazing athletes and water people. I am always learning and am inspired by them.”

The best part, according to Bruntsch, is helping people. “I like the action, for sure,” she said.

Each woman has been put to the test, from rescues in pounding waves to situations that require a level head.

Bizik still remembers an accident four years ago on a calm and beautiful day at Kailua Beach.

A Japanese newlywed was doing backflips along the shoreline in front of his wife when he accidentally landed on his head. Bizik responded to screams for help, quickly grabbing a board to stabilize the man’s head and spine. He was awake and alert but unable to feel his arms and legs.

After an ambulance took him away, Bizik felt sad for this couple, whose new chapter in life was marred by tragedy.

“As a lifeguard, at that moment you can’t think about all that,” she said. “You do what you have to do.”

Rescuing someone requires a calm focus, something Bruntsch experienced while on the job in Waikiki. She saw a heavyset man on an inflatable mattress who didn’t seem to notice that he was drifting away in the currents.

She headed out just in time. By the time she reached him, he had fallen off the mattress and was panicking in his struggle to get back on. In the process he’d also lost his swim trunks. Bruntsch calmly told him to hang onto her board, and brought him back to shore.

Most rescues, according to Bruntsch, are of visitors who get into trouble because they swim too far out without realizing there’s a sudden drop-off or get swept out by tides. But local swimmers also forget sometimes to pay attention to currents and get pulled out.

“If you’ve never been to a beach in Hawaii, be aware that every beach is different,” Bizik said. “Take about 15 minutes and watch what’s going on, the waves, the currents. If you have any concerns, ask the lifeguard.”

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