Lifeguards must train in the rain

The past few days in the Cape Region have been windy and wet, which was good for my dried-out rain barrels and farm fields without irrigation, but bad for vacationers who wanted to spend time on the beach. The poor weather is also why red no-swimming flags have been flying from lifeguard stands.

After a couple straight days of strong northeast winds, I went down to the Deauville Beach end of Rehoboth Beach Thursday morning to check on the status of the recently replenished beach. It was about 45 minutes before high tide, and while it looked like some sand had been pulled out into the ocean, the first thing I noticed was that the beach was holding up pretty well. The water and wind had clearly been pounding the shoreline for hours on end, but the beach was still pretty wide. If anything, it’s helped smooth out the wall of newly pumped sand to the waterline.

The second thing I noticed was members of the Rehoboth Beach Patrol were out there training. Next to the lifeguard stand at the far end of Deauville was a group doing body-weight squats, push-ups, lunges and sand sprints. Coming from the south, running north, was another group getting their soft-sand distance running in.

Rehoboth lifeguards aren’t alone in training in poor weather. Dewey Beach Capt. Todd Fritchman told me years ago that his lifeguards train in these conditions because there might be a member of the public who decides to not heed the warnings and needs saving. The lifeguards, he said, need to know what they’re doing.

It’s encouraging to know the local lifeguards are willing to do what it takes to make sure the people they’ve chosen to protect are as safe as possible.

Get in the water when peeing at the beach

On a completely different tangent, I enjoy a good pee in the ocean as much as the next person. Everyone does. Well, almost everyone.

I was at the beach recently with the family, tossing the football around in the water with my son, when I noticed a guy standing at the water’s edge. The front of his shorts were a bit wet, but I didn’t think too much of it. A few seconds later, while chasing my son’s errant pass, I couldn’t help but notice the wet spot was getting bigger and there was water coming down one of his leg openings. I tried not to look, but it just caught my eye. A few seconds after that, he was back on the dry area of the beach. Not once did he get into the water to rinse off or attempt to hide that the front of his shorts were wet because he just stood there and peed.

Pro beach tip – don’t be the guy standing at the water's edge peeing without actually getting the rest of your bathing suit wet. If that’s your thing, at least wear a bathing suit that’s not going to go from dull in color to dark when wet.

Joke of the Week:

If the weather holds out, Running of the Bull takes place this weekend in Dewey Beach. One of the more interesting stories I’ve done during my time here at the Gazette was when I donned the bull costume in 2015. In fact, I have the honor of being the first person to wear the head of the newest version of the costume. This isn’t exactly a bull joke, but Jeff sent this in a few weeks ago and the costume looks kind of like a buffalo too. As always, send jokes to cflood@capegazette.com.

Q: What did the buffalo say when he dropped his kid off at school?

A: Bye son.