California State Parks lifeguard painting with artist. Painting is 4 feet by 8 ½ feet, acrylic on unstretched canvas.
Before summer rolls in, California State Parks holds tryouts for aspiring lifeguards up and down the coast. It’s a test of grit and physical fitness, an opportunity to prove you’ve got what it takes to guard our beaches. I was there, camera in hand, at Sycamore Canyon State Beach near Oxnard, California, documenting the action. It wasn’t your typical sunny beach day. The surf was rough, with six-foot waves, heavy winds, and a rip current strong enough to make even experienced swimmers think twice.
What It Takes to Become a Lifeguard
These tryouts are no walk on the beach. Applicants must complete a 1,000 yard open water swim within 20 minutes. Then it’s straight into a grueling 200 yard run, 400 yard swim, and another 200 yard run, all within 10 minutes. If they survive that, and I do mean survive, they face an interview and then an intensive 80 plus hour training program. CPR, AED certification, open water rescues, and first aid. And if you’re not up for it, the ocean has a way of letting you know.
The Scene at Sycamore Canyon
The conditions that day were so gnarly, they canceled the official tryout. Instead, they let the hopefuls practice in the high surf, a kind of "trial by fire" (or water, I guess). Watching the regular State Parks lifeguards prep the swimmers was something else. They positioned people a few hundred yards up the beach, accounting for the currents that would drag them along the coast. The lifeguards themselves had their hands full just getting jet skis and rescue boards into the water. It took multiple attempts and a whole team to even get started. Honestly, it was chaos, but controlled chaos, the kind where you see the real pros at work.
Why I Chose This Moment to Paint
Amid all this intensity, one lifeguard caught my eye. She stood out, not just for her skill but for her presence. Something about her posture, calm, focused, ready, captured the essence of what it means to take on this job. I snapped about a hundred photos that day, but I kept coming back to her. That’s the image I decided to turn into a painting.
The Painting
The result? An 8.5-foot-tall acrylic piece on unstretched canvas. It’s big. I wanted the scale to reflect the enormity of the challenge these lifeguards face. Her back is to us, her yellow "State Parks Rescue Lifeguard" shirt bright against the muted background. She’s holding a rescue buoy, looking out toward whatever’s coming next. The whole thing feels alive to me, like you can almost hear the waves crashing in the distance.
This painting isn’t just about a lifeguard; it’s about resilience, about stepping up when conditions are less than ideal. It’s a tribute to the people who put themselves on the line to keep others safe. And maybe it’s a reminder to all of us to face our own challenges head-on, ven when the surf’s up and the current’s pulling hard.