Del Mar Lifeguards take strong safety record on city’s beaches into New Year

By Matt Liebowitz

Moving into another year, Del Mar’s lifeguards are committed to keeping the city’s beaches safe and secure for regular residents and throngs of tourists.
Employing four permanent staff and between 30 and 35 seasonal staff members, the city of Del Mar’s Lifeguard Department oversees two-and-a-half miles of coastline. Most of the lifeguards are certified Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT), and the department operates year-round SCUBA, cliff, and swift water rescue teams.
The department also cross-trains for mutual aid responses with the Aerial Support to Regional Enforcement Agencies (ASTREA) and the United States Coast Guard.
The extensive training is often put to the test, explained Pat Vergne, lifeguard chief for the past 10 years. With such active residents, Vergne explained, the guards average 1,200 water rescues per year, most due to strong rip currents.
Guards also perform roughly 800 medical rescues per year, treating everything from dislocated shoulders and head lacerations from surfboards to bee stings and stingray injuries.
The real challenge to the lifeguards, explained Vergne, is keeping everyone safe while managing the large numbers of beachgoers— where they can swim and surf.
With Del Mar’s beaches receiving two million visitors per year, Vergne said, “It’s a full time job just regulating areas for surfing and swimming, but we’ve been very successful.”
Moving into the New Year, Vergne said the lifeguards are committed to maintaining the department’s strong safety record — no one has drowned in Vergne’s 30 years working in the department.
Vergne said one issue that the lifeguards will be dealing with in the near future is whether or not to reinstate the alcohol ban (a temporary alcohol ban was put in place on May 23, and ended Sept. 1).
From a safety perspective, Vergne believes last summer’s ban was successful in that alcohol-related incidents both on and around the beaches were down, and the beaches became more family friendly. He said the lifeguards and City Council will address the ban prior to spring break and again before summer.