Dear Ben:
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As we grudgingly trudged up the beach we saw the lifeguards corralling people into a roughly 40-by-100-foot area just south of the Pratt Boulevard pier. If a person were to venture outside the invisible “corral boundaries,” they were promptly yelled at and told to get over closer to the designated swimming area. This small area was guarded by no less than four and sometimes five or six lifeguards: one in a boat, two or three on the beach, and occasionally one in the water. In this area, and only in this area, were people allowed to swim.
If this wasn’t frustrating enough, visitors to the beach were being told that swimming was only allowed in half-hour intervals. A lifeguard in a boat would go out, people were allowed in to swim for 30 minutes, and then the guard came in (no one replacing him or her), and people were ordered out of the water. Most of the lifeguards who were patrolling the water during “swim time” then retreated out of sight, leaving one lifeguard to watch the water and reprimand people who attempted to swim. When the roughly 30-minute time period was over, a lifeguard would get into the boat and reposition him/herself at the east edge of the swimming corral, people were allowed back into the water for another 30 minutes, and the process repeated itself.
We applaud Craig Greenman’s protest of the limitations imposed on responsible, adult swimmers. We understand that some precautions need to be taken when lake waters are choppy, and we appreciate the attendance of the lifeguards–that is hardly the issue. But the conditions that occurred August 1, while possibly hazardous to small children (most of whom were under the watchful eyes of parents), were perfectly manageable to most adults. The sequestering of swimmers into such a small area was quite unnecessary and the time limits imposed simply ridiculous, especially with the abundance of lifeguards on staff that afternoon.
