The Chief Arthur R. Brown, JR Scholarship Foundation will host a fundraiser for The International Lifeguard Museum at James Whelan Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.
This Super Bowl ‘Tailgate’ party will be Sun, Feb 11 from 2p until 6p at Dock’s Oyster House, 2405 Atlantic Ave in Atlantic City.
Tickets are $20 which includes a free mug with $1.00 beverage refills, buffet and various door prizes.
All proceeds benefit the newly formed International Lifeguard Museum, to be housed locally at Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.
“Since Atlantic City was the first municipality to have a beach patrol, it makes sense for the city to house a lifeguard museum.”
And here is something written by Jim Whalen:
The Swim Race.
The run is the worst part; not the run out, the run in. The run out is easy – you’re fresh, you can see the waves coming at you: run, run, hurdle a couple of waves, start diving, first over, then under the on-coming white water until you are beyond the break and you can start swimming.
Sometimes the ocean is flat and the water temperature is a perfect 72 degrees. That’s bad for the real ocean swimmers, good for the pool guys, the hot shot rookie who is spending his first summer at the shore. You want the cold, the chop and slop, the waves, throw in a few jellyfish.
Ignore all those distractions and focus on swimming, getting into a pace that you can sustain for 15 minutes, knowing where the other guys are, let them go off-course, don’t herd up, straight to the flag.
Making the tightest turn, now you’re heading back to shore, check the course right away, using the landmarks you’ve picked out when you went over the course in practice: water towers to the left, hi-rise condo to the right.
Pick up the pace, drive your kicks a little more, passing the inside flags for the single row. Sprinting almost all out, almost because you have to save something for the run. Maybe a nice wave to catch at the end.
The problem with waves, of course, is someone else can catch one and then after 15 minutes of hard swimming, you have to run for it – stand up, get your balance, get a sight line to the finish line (its rarely right in front of you) run over the uneven bottom, trying not to trip.
It’s a swimming race, dammit, not a biathlon event, run as fast as your tired legs and burning arms will let you! That’s the worst part – the 30 second run after a 15 minute swim.
At the finish line, you plop into the sand, catching your breath, feeling your legs, seeing who you beat and who beat you and thinking, “Next week I get to do it all over again.”
Jim Whelan
