Put it in the Books: The 2011 OCBP Season Is Now History

The sunny, hot weather and wide beaches drew record crowds to the 8-mile-long oceanfront and made the summer of 2011 a very busy season for the Ocean City Beach Patrol. The 165-member squad, nationally known for its lifesaving skills and athletic prowess, was prepared.

Under the leadership of the officer corps, the lifeguards upheld the patrol’s 113-year-old tradition of excellence in protecting beach users. 

The OCBP, a branch of the city’s fire department, is led by Fire Chief Joseph Foglio, OCBP Director of Operations Tom Mullineaux, Senior Lt. Jeff Garbutt, Senior Lt. Dennis Swan, Lt. Brian Booth, Lt. Ron Kirk, Lt. Paul Gallagher, Lt. Otis Reich and (now retired) Lt. Joseph Schmitt.

Beach Patrol medics, working at first aid stations located at First, 12th, 34th and 59th streets, handled many beach-related injuries and medical emergencies.  The medics were: Senior Medic Lindsay Zwiebel, Amanda Cherry, Pat Dugan, Chris Dollarton, Amanda Grau, Ali Gregory, Danielle Griffith, Chris Heacock, Mike Katz and Maggie Long.

Jack Rush kept all the lifesaving equipment in top-notch condition.

A total of 16 new lifeguards joined the OCBP after scoring high in the swimming, rowing and running tryouts. The following were in the 2011 rookie class: J. P. Berenato, Sydney Boswell, Samantha Brady, Hunter Devine, Michael DiGalbo, Thomas McCann, Chris McClintock, Chris McTear, Casey Merrill, Sean Mullen, Samuel Newnam, Lauren O’Donnell, Kyle Pietro, Shane Rockey, Greg Woodward and Edward Zipf.      

Thomas McCann and Samantha Brady won the rookie rowing race.   

Training Officer Mark Jamieson spent the summer teaching the rookie lifeguards ocean rescue techniques and how to keep bathers out of dangerous rip currents. Joining Jamieson in the training and evaluation were the following Senior Guards: Tom Bryan, Bryan Chojnacki, Chris Denn, Stephanie Faber, Matt Garbutt, Lesley Graham, Mark McElwee, Scott Pepe and Fran Reed.      

The Ocean City lifeguards, as part of their lifesaving training and conditioning program, participated in the OCBP 15-event intra-squad tournament. The swimming, rowing, running and paddling races were held after work during July and August. The winners of the intra-squad competitions represented OCBP in the inter-city lifeguard competitions.

The following lifeguards won intra-squad events:

Doubles row (male): Andrew Mockaitis and Dylan Kosten

Doubles row (female): Rachel Boudart and Emma Elmer

Singles row (male): Dylan Kosten

Singles row (female): Rachel Boudart

Swim (male): Graham Parker

Swim (female): Erin Curry 

Box swim (male): Brian Pauling

Box swim (female): Erin Curry

Paddleboard (male): Dan Callaghan

Paddleboard (female): Brittany Sedberry

Run-swim (male): Sean Fagan

Run-swim (female): Emma Elmer  

Surf dash (male): Dan Casey, Dylan Kosten, Ian Kosten, Tony Mehalic 

Surf dash (female): Samantha Brady, Stephanie Hauck, Kelly Scheirer, Carly Wray 

Superathalon: Dylan Kosten 

When it comes to winning lifeguard inter-city competitions, no South Jersey beach patrol has a better record than the OCBP. This summer the local lifeguards won the following events: the Cape May County Lifeguard Championship; the Longport Women’s Lifeguard Invitational, Ocean City Women’s Lifeguard Invitational; the T. John Carey Masters Ocean Swim; the South Jersey Lifeguard Swim Meet; and the South Jersey Lifeguard Championship.

The Memorial Day Weekend is only eight months away and the Ocean City Beach Patrol is looking forward to building on its century-old reputation of excellence in the bathing protection.  

(This is the final "OCBP History" column for the season. Look for more from historian Fred Miller next year.)