JERSEY SHORE / NEW YORK — It's the great paradox of late August on the US East Coast: the water's the warmest it's been all year, Labor Day weekend (Monday, September 7) is shaping up to be packed… and lifeguard chairs are emptying out one by one. The reason is pretty simple: in the US, lifeguards are mostly college students, and college is back in session.
The numbers from New Jersey are staggering. Sandy Hook has wrapped up surveillance for the season entirely. Seaside Park has had unguarded beaches since August 18. Sea Isle City, Ship Bottom, Wildwood, and Cape May City are only staffing some of their posts. North Wildwood is now publishing a named list of the few chairs still covered through September 7 — 1st & Surf, 6th, 8th, 10th, 12th, 14th, 15th, 18th, 19th, 22nd, 24th, 25th — from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and nothing outside those hours.
Meanwhile, the ocean isn't taking a break. In early August, New York City officials flat-out banned swimming at Coney Island, Manhattan Beach, Rockaway, and four Staten Island beaches: the National Weather Service had flagged a high risk of rip currents with waves running 1.5 to 2.1 metres. Only Orchard Beach in the Bronx stayed open.
The statistics explain the caution. Over twenty years of US data, rip currents account for 81.9% of rescues on surf beaches (from 75.3% on the East Coast to 84.7% on the West Coast), and researchers estimate they kill more than a hundred people every year. On the flip side, the United States Lifesaving Association puts the drowning risk at a lifeguarded beach at 1 in 18 million. All the difference comes down to someone sitting in that chair.
The National Park Service puts it bluntly: "Swimming when lifeguards are not on duty is DANGEROUS… Drowning can occur within seconds."
The rule to remember applies everywhere, not just in New Jersey: no flag doesn't mean no danger — it means no one's watching. And if a rip current catches you, don't fight it — float, catch your breath, then swim parallel to the shore to get out of the channel.
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