LAVALLETTE — For two evenings this week, crowds packed New Brunswick Avenue beach as they spectated Lavallette Beach Patrol’s annual Lavallette Memorial Lifeguard Tournament.
Despite a lingering heat wave, the two-night event drew hundreds to the hot beach, where members of various area beach patrols showed off their teamwork and lifesaving skills in both the women’s tournament on Monday and the men’s/open tournament on Tuesday.
Jack Caucino, captain of the Lavallette Beach Patrol and lifeguard of nearly 50 years, spoke to The Ocean Star following the tournament to discuss how the competition stacks up to others in the Shore region.
“This year we tried to marry the two tournaments (women’s and men’s) together even though they’re separate, and the idea was to go back-to-back nights,” he said.
The tournaments tested guards’ aptitude in various lifesaving-related events, including a rescue race using a torp flotation device, swimming and paddleboarding; a line-pull; a row-out/swim-in; and a medley. During the medley, a swimmer swims out to a buoy (representing a swimmer in distress) and back, then a guard on a paddleboard paddles out to the buoy; finally, a rescue boat is rowed out to the buoy and back.
“The events for the women and men are exactly the same, except in the women’s we don’t have a boat relay,” said Caucino.
“We really want to showcase what our lifeguards, the other neighboring towns’ and different areas’ can do,” he said. “That was the initial goal of why we do that. We’re one of the few towns that hosts the men’s — although, really it’s an open competition — and the women’s-only events. We’ve been doing them together for about five or six years.”
This year, the top three winners for the women’s tournament were Seaside Park Beach Patrol in first place, Long Beach Township Beach Patrol in second place and Lavallette Beach Patrol in third place.
The top three winners for the men’s/open tournament were Harvey Cedars Beach Patrol in first place, Island Beach State Park Beach Patrol in second place and Brigantine City Beach Patrol in third place, with Lavallette Beach Patrol following closely behind in fourth. However, Lavallette came in first place at last week’s Chief Kuhn Brigantine Invitational lifeguard tournament.
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