1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:09,000
This episode is sponsored by Transcend, a veteran owned and operated performance optimization company that I introduced recently as a sponsor on this show.

2
00:00:09,480 --> 00:00:14,080
Well, since then, I have actually been using my products and I've had incredible success.

3
00:00:14,440 --> 00:00:20,240
There was initial blood work that was extremely detailed and based on that, they offered supplementation.

4
00:00:20,240 --> 00:00:29,600
So I began taking DHEA, BPC 157 for inflammation based on the fact that I've been a stump man and martial artist and a firefighter my whole life.

5
00:00:29,600 --> 00:00:31,120
Lots of aches and pains.

6
00:00:31,120 --> 00:00:37,080
Dihexer to help cognition after multiple punches to the head and shift work and peptides.

7
00:00:37,080 --> 00:00:48,240
Four months later, they did a detailed blood work again and I was actually able to taper off two of the peptides because my body had responded so well to just one of them that it was optimized at that point.

8
00:00:48,240 --> 00:01:07,000
So I cannot speak highly enough of the immense range of supplementation that they offer, whether it's male health, female health, peptides to boost your own testosterone, which I would argue is needed by a lot of the fire service, or whether it's exogenous testosterone needed, especially after TBIs or advanced age.

9
00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:19,320
Now, as I mentioned before, the other side of this company is an altruistic arm called the Transcend Foundation, which is putting veterans and first responders through some of their protocols free of charge.

10
00:01:19,320 --> 00:01:28,320
Now, Transcend are also offering you the audience 10% off their protocols and you can find that on JamesGearing.com under the products tab.

11
00:01:28,320 --> 00:01:36,520
And if you want to hear more about Transcend and their story, listen to episode 808 with the founder Ernie Colling.

12
00:01:36,520 --> 00:01:41,520
Or go to TranscendCompany.com.

13
00:01:41,520 --> 00:01:54,440
Welcome to the Behind the Shield podcast. As always, my name is James Gearing and this week it is my absolute honor to welcome back for the third time Ocean Lifeguard and the man behind Never Off Duty, Jason Bitzer.

14
00:01:54,440 --> 00:02:05,720
Now in this third conversation, we discuss a host of topics from the neuroblastoma diagnosis his young son James had, immunotherapy versus radiation and chemo,

15
00:02:05,720 --> 00:02:14,640
fitness standards in the lifeguarding community, the prevalence of shark attacks, the importance of trauma kits and so much more.

16
00:02:14,640 --> 00:02:19,680
Now, before we get to this incredible conversation, as I say every week, please just take a moment.

17
00:02:19,680 --> 00:02:26,440
Go to whichever app you listen to this on, subscribe to the show, leave feedback and leave a rating.

18
00:02:26,440 --> 00:02:33,120
Every single five star rating truly does elevate this podcast, therefore making it easier for others to find.

19
00:02:33,120 --> 00:02:38,480
And this is a free library of almost 1000 episodes now.

20
00:02:38,480 --> 00:02:40,560
And I also want to put one more thing in.

21
00:02:40,560 --> 00:02:52,680
I don't normally do this in my intros, but today I released my second book, Kindr, which you can find on ebook and paperback on Amazon.com or Amazon in your country.

22
00:02:52,680 --> 00:02:58,280
So with that being said, I welcome back onto the show Jason Bitzer.

23
00:02:58,280 --> 00:03:18,200
Enjoy.

24
00:03:18,200 --> 00:03:22,160
Well, Jason, I want to start by saying welcome back to the Behind the Shield podcast.

25
00:03:22,160 --> 00:03:28,280
We had a phenomenal conversation last time and I know we're going to unpack some some new topics today.

26
00:03:28,280 --> 00:03:31,200
But firstly, I just want to welcome you back.

27
00:03:31,200 --> 00:03:39,920
Thanks, James. I love going on this podcast because I get to hear from other angles to other professions and kind of adapt it to what my expertise is.

28
00:03:39,920 --> 00:03:43,600
So it's good. I love listening to the podcast, too. So I appreciate it.

29
00:03:43,600 --> 00:03:47,040
So where on planet Earth are we finding you today?

30
00:03:47,040 --> 00:03:55,400
I'm actually back in my hometown after 22 plus years. I purchased a home in Manasua, New Jersey, and I'm back here now.

31
00:03:55,400 --> 00:03:59,240
Pretty much settled with my family for my son's health care, but doing good.

32
00:03:59,240 --> 00:04:05,720
My kids are in school and kind of just, you know, normal family life, just not in Hawaii right now.

33
00:04:05,720 --> 00:04:08,640
Well, speaking of your son, I think that'd be a good place to start.

34
00:04:08,640 --> 00:04:13,880
Since we did the the last episode, obviously, your little boy started having some health issues.

35
00:04:13,880 --> 00:04:22,040
So kind of walk me through as a parent what you saw. I think these stories are really important in case someone else sees the same thing in their own child.

36
00:04:22,040 --> 00:04:29,000
And then walk me through the diagnosis, some of the self-advocacy that you forged to make sure that he got the best care.

37
00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:31,600
And then let's talk about where he is now.

38
00:04:31,600 --> 00:04:40,960
Yeah. So being on an island, you know, like it's it's one of those things in Hawaii that it's such a wonderful place, but it has its limitations.

39
00:04:40,960 --> 00:04:50,640
And we got blindsided back in February of 2023, where my son was perfectly healthy literally days and weeks before.

40
00:04:50,640 --> 00:05:01,680
He just suddenly stopped walking. It seemed he had like some type of inflammation just kind of to speed up through the process of what happened is he stopped walking one day after beach day.

41
00:05:01,680 --> 00:05:04,800
And we thought maybe it was the sand, just, you know, soreness.

42
00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:11,240
They thought it was synobitis, which is typically in boys post viral syndrome. They ruled that out.

43
00:05:11,240 --> 00:05:16,480
Sent him back home. Another week went by. He was doing better. Went to do another beach day.

44
00:05:16,480 --> 00:05:23,480
Went back in. Same issue after a litany of trying to fight with different scans because just just the way it is.

45
00:05:23,480 --> 00:05:27,120
And it's no fault of the medical system will start with one part of the body and move on.

46
00:05:27,120 --> 00:05:30,560
They're not just going to go to like a full body MRI or PET scan or something.

47
00:05:30,560 --> 00:05:38,680
They're going to kind of go, you know, by the numbers because of costs and just and just the way they the protocols are run.

48
00:05:38,680 --> 00:05:49,960
We went through the process. We got a bone aspiration and long story short, sadly, he was diagnosed with stage four neuroblastoma, which is an extremely rare cancer.

49
00:05:49,960 --> 00:05:57,000
One in one point seven million the last I checked and stage four because of his age and also because of his bone marrow.

50
00:05:57,000 --> 00:06:09,720
When we come to find it was 85 percent of his bone marrow. So it had metastasized from a very small tumor on his left adrenal gland and come to find later when we got to New York's little bit of his limbs were affected.

51
00:06:09,720 --> 00:06:18,560
But it does a lot of the times a neuroblastoma go to the adrenal glands. It sounds like neurological because neuro, but it's not.

52
00:06:18,560 --> 00:06:27,800
It can kind of find its way into any part of the body. But fortunately, it was in the spot that it's the normal place where they look to as far as the soft tissue.

53
00:06:27,800 --> 00:06:34,400
But the bone marrow was very prevalent. They do a score, a score called curing score of 25.

54
00:06:34,400 --> 00:06:43,440
We were at an 18, so we were super high, very, very, very daunting, especially when we didn't understand the disease.

55
00:06:43,440 --> 00:06:55,200
And what we did is we basically looked at the options. I actually canceled the surgery in front of the surgeon just because I didn't feel confident of no offense, anyone that the knowledge base of this disease in Hawaii.

56
00:06:55,200 --> 00:07:03,640
They didn't treat it much. They had two studies and they basically were looking at the sky saying, hey, this one's going to make your son step and sterile in death.

57
00:07:03,640 --> 00:07:07,080
And so this one and we don't know the outcome.

58
00:07:07,080 --> 00:07:20,600
The doctor there, even within our first 15 minutes of talking, said, yeah, this is one of those diseases where we need to talk about the ethics of treating, where it gets to where we just don't treat anymore because it's not ethical.

59
00:07:20,600 --> 00:07:27,040
So those are the first conversations we're having there. No offense to them. It's just, you know, they I have a very high fighting attitude.

60
00:07:27,040 --> 00:07:31,640
I'm not going to say no for an answer. I'm not going to just take a defeat before we even start.

61
00:07:31,640 --> 00:07:41,720
And in that process, I actually fortunately got a call from Sloan outside of network just to have a quick consult while I was about to go into surgery with my son.

62
00:07:41,720 --> 00:07:51,080
I saw a two to one number and I just picked it up on speaker and handed it to a very great doctor in Hawaii, too, which was very applicable to speak to them, not knowing it was going to be our doctor later.

63
00:07:51,080 --> 00:07:56,080
I thought it was just an admin person. But that conversation, I tried to listen as intently as I could.

64
00:07:56,080 --> 00:08:03,120
And I canceled treatment in Hawaii. We put in the port there and under Sloan's guidance, we did the first round of chemo.

65
00:08:03,120 --> 00:08:10,400
And then we were on a plane early April, late March and made the move with basically four boxes to go to Sloan Kettering.

66
00:08:10,400 --> 00:08:17,760
And through that whole process, we've we've just been learning about the disease and kind of trying to pick up, pick up the pieces where we could, so to say.

67
00:08:17,760 --> 00:08:21,840
So that got us, you know, that got us there. How was James at that point?

68
00:08:21,840 --> 00:08:28,480
So he had just turned three in November. So neuroblastoma is weird.

69
00:08:28,480 --> 00:08:31,560
And we've and I'll give some details again. I'm not a doctor.

70
00:08:31,560 --> 00:08:44,320
So do your own research. But we found some interesting things just because a lot of the information that was being delineated to us, mostly when someone's an infant to one, they don't worry about neuroblastoma.

71
00:08:44,320 --> 00:08:53,440
They let it go just because it usually processes out the tumor will go away and it won't be an issue once they get to two and a half, three.

72
00:08:53,440 --> 00:08:59,040
It jumps pretty quickly to stage four because the tumor is matured and that's wild.

73
00:08:59,040 --> 00:09:04,280
But then I come to find that what's the differentiating between a two and a half year old, three year old and a one year old.

74
00:09:04,280 --> 00:09:13,400
It's breastfeeding. Right. So mother's milk and something we found over the last six months through my hunch that colostrum would help his gut health

75
00:09:13,400 --> 00:09:22,320
from all the antibiotics and things that they give them. My wife ran with that and found a derivative called lactoferrin, which is they spin it in a centrifuge.

76
00:09:22,320 --> 00:09:28,360
And this material drops out and it's an iron binder, which helped him through his chemo when he had a relapse.

77
00:09:28,360 --> 00:09:33,680
And it boosted his blood counts really off the chart for how much treatment he was getting.

78
00:09:33,680 --> 00:09:40,280
So right now, a lot of different parents are using it because it's benign when it comes to interactions with any of the Western treatments.

79
00:09:40,280 --> 00:09:46,600
And it's a big inflammation. You know, just it drops inflammation grade there.

80
00:09:46,600 --> 00:09:52,120
You know, the blood counts go up, the iron goes up, all the neutropenic things that happen with chemo lessen.

81
00:09:52,120 --> 00:09:54,160
So we've come to find some really cool stuff.

82
00:09:54,160 --> 00:10:01,680
And I'm just very blessed to have a biologist as a wife, scientist as a wife that kind of backs my crazy ideas because it's starting to work.

83
00:10:01,680 --> 00:10:06,160
That's interesting to say that I just flashback to growing up on a farm.

84
00:10:06,160 --> 00:10:11,440
That was a veteran research. And I remember ice cube trays filled with colostrum.

85
00:10:11,440 --> 00:10:16,560
And I think if I remember rightly, they used to defrost it and then we'd bottle feed the young lambs that were struggling.

86
00:10:16,560 --> 00:10:18,560
So that does make a huge amount of sense.

87
00:10:18,560 --> 00:10:21,640
It does. Yeah. And kind of like, you know, they're going to have to do more studies.

88
00:10:21,640 --> 00:10:29,440
But my wife found white papers that were being studied in India and they were using it with high grade curcumin, which is turmeric,

89
00:10:29,440 --> 00:10:34,720
but like not synthesized, but really like a very strong derivative of it.

90
00:10:34,720 --> 00:10:40,720
And the two combined help with radiation effects and actually help chemo find the tumor cells.

91
00:10:40,720 --> 00:10:46,400
So it's weird how it's just such a natural thing, but actually it's helping the Western,

92
00:10:46,400 --> 00:10:54,720
but also on the back end on a daily just helps general health and gut health and all the things and the inflammation markers.

93
00:10:54,720 --> 00:11:03,200
So what's interesting is I've had this conversation many, many times coming from a basal medical perspective because I'm not an M.D.

94
00:11:03,200 --> 00:11:07,280
I'm certainly not a specialist, but we're taught a lot more of the building blocks.

95
00:11:07,280 --> 00:11:13,400
And when you think about certainly the 80s, 90s treatment of cancer, basically it's agent

96
00:11:13,400 --> 00:11:17,640
orangeing the entire human body and then fingers crossed that it's going to back up.

97
00:11:17,640 --> 00:11:21,120
That's it. That's what we were doing essentially the first six months.

98
00:11:21,120 --> 00:11:24,880
Yeah. So you're breaking them down to build them up.

99
00:11:24,880 --> 00:11:30,480
Absolutely. So then I'm hearing more now about the immunotherapy, which sounds like it's a lot more promising.

100
00:11:30,480 --> 00:11:35,080
So what was that spectrum of treatments that James went through?

101
00:11:35,080 --> 00:11:45,960
So they started with and it makes sense because I asked this right when I got there, said, why if chemo is known to do what it does and immunotherapy is working?

102
00:11:45,960 --> 00:11:51,000
Why are we doing chemo and immunotherapy versus immunotherapy?

103
00:11:51,000 --> 00:11:59,520
The theory behind it is that when cells are rapidly growing, you need to freeze them in their tracks, which does have a lot of validity.

104
00:11:59,520 --> 00:12:09,800
And then the immunotherapy on the back end teaches your immune system to fight that specific cancer.

105
00:12:09,800 --> 00:12:18,000
So whether it's, you know, it could be a certain type of leukemia or it could be a certain type of melanoma or for an R case neuroblastoma,

106
00:12:18,000 --> 00:12:25,000
there's there's targeted things on the end that help the GD2 and find that and actually target and fight it.

107
00:12:25,000 --> 00:12:30,720
So I love immunotherapy. It is a very intense procedure, but the juice is worth the squeeze.

108
00:12:30,720 --> 00:12:38,800
It's what cleared him. It cleared him with this one that Sloan specifically got the research, what is called 3F8.

109
00:12:38,800 --> 00:12:40,440
And it's just because that's the number that they found.

110
00:12:40,440 --> 00:12:53,400
But the 3F8 was a humanized version of the dino taxidermide, which is the one they found before, which was a chimera, which the body can uptake, but it also can reject depending on the person.

111
00:12:53,400 --> 00:13:00,120
So this one was a much more intense, the 3F8. It's done over an hour versus 12 hours.

112
00:13:00,120 --> 00:13:04,360
It worked really well. And unfortunately, it cleared him.

113
00:13:04,360 --> 00:13:14,960
Fortunately, it cleared him after two months, but he had a very small relapse clearing in September and then having a relapse in February of bony tissue, bony material, and is left humorous.

114
00:13:14,960 --> 00:13:22,920
So it was very heavy news, but I wasn't, you know, just my knowledge base of the of the disease grew.

115
00:13:22,920 --> 00:13:29,400
And then we went back into dino tucks. And what they do is they switch so that way you don't get resistant to one or the other.

116
00:13:29,400 --> 00:13:32,960
And I was always wondering why wouldn't you stick with one that's already working?

117
00:13:32,960 --> 00:13:37,360
But it's just like anything. It's like your body gets adjusted and then the efficacy.

118
00:13:37,360 --> 00:13:41,600
So they're very good about managing on how they use their tools.

119
00:13:41,600 --> 00:13:45,800
So that's that's why we went to Sloan, specifically from the Western side.

120
00:13:45,800 --> 00:13:47,800
So what about emotionally, mentally?

121
00:13:47,800 --> 00:13:56,920
You know, obviously, James is there doing all the fighting himself and going through the suffering, but that takes a toll on siblings, on parents and then obviously the patient as well.

122
00:13:56,920 --> 00:14:05,200
So walk me through those those elements, because they don't seem to be as discussed as, you know, the actual chemistry is going on.

123
00:14:05,200 --> 00:14:11,120
Yeah, I think as a parent, there's there's only so much you can take as far as watching.

124
00:14:11,120 --> 00:14:18,960
You know, unfortunately, I just don't want to candy coat this because if anyone is preparing for this or have been through this,

125
00:14:18,960 --> 00:14:24,720
your experience is extremely relevant because it's the only thing I can think of is even comparable to being at war.

126
00:14:24,720 --> 00:14:29,000
But I almost think it's worse than it because it's your own child and there's no target to fight.

127
00:14:29,000 --> 00:14:35,640
So you're stuck in this conundrum of decision making without without a determined outcome.

128
00:14:35,640 --> 00:14:44,280
You don't know what your decision now, if it's going to be successful or not, but you do need to make a decision on their behalf and advocate for them and the stress of that.

129
00:14:44,280 --> 00:14:47,520
And then also being surrounded.

130
00:14:47,520 --> 00:14:50,480
It's like this is a bad way to think of it.

131
00:14:50,480 --> 00:14:56,400
It's a bad terminology, but the only way I can think about it is like if you want to see clowns, you got to go to the circus.

132
00:14:56,400 --> 00:15:00,400
And if you go to a cancer ward, you're going to see a lot of children with cancer.

133
00:15:00,400 --> 00:15:06,400
So the thing is, if you're going to the place where the negativity is,

134
00:15:06,400 --> 00:15:11,520
you have to have a very strong mind to stay positive in that foxhole.

135
00:15:11,520 --> 00:15:14,040
And it's very difficult.

136
00:15:14,040 --> 00:15:20,920
I have from our from my experience of being a first responder, being in critical situations,

137
00:15:20,920 --> 00:15:24,400
probably a little bit more resilience to stress than most people.

138
00:15:24,400 --> 00:15:28,640
But it definitely I had my moments of very close to breaking.

139
00:15:28,640 --> 00:15:34,040
My wife, obviously, was there multiple times, but I had to be there to keep her up.

140
00:15:34,040 --> 00:15:40,000
One of the things that you don't really account for when you jump into this is that, yes, you're in your own battle,

141
00:15:40,000 --> 00:15:47,360
but because there's parents surrounding, you're going to support each other and you will see some with success and some with loss.

142
00:15:47,360 --> 00:15:52,000
And it's you cheer the winds and you mourn the losses.

143
00:15:52,000 --> 00:15:56,600
And they're both constant and sometimes disturbing.

144
00:15:56,600 --> 00:16:02,400
So we've lost two friends along the way that we're very, very, very, very like to this day.

145
00:16:02,400 --> 00:16:04,520
And I think indefinitely will be very hard.

146
00:16:04,520 --> 00:16:09,880
And I can't imagine for the parents because how like James became friends with them, we got close.

147
00:16:09,880 --> 00:16:17,120
Some of them I thought were going to be out of the woods in a better position than James with different diseases,

148
00:16:17,120 --> 00:16:20,840
but similar getting treated and procedural things go wrong.

149
00:16:20,840 --> 00:16:24,320
And, you know, something goes right when it should have gone left.

150
00:16:24,320 --> 00:16:28,520
Infection sets in and then, you know, it's just the way the world works.

151
00:16:28,520 --> 00:16:29,520
It's just who knows?

152
00:16:29,520 --> 00:16:35,600
Like there's a lot of happenstance in the medical world that you can't predict as good as you could see someone one day.

153
00:16:35,600 --> 00:16:37,000
And then the next day they've gone.

154
00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:39,600
That can be from a car accident, be from, you know, cardiac arrest.

155
00:16:39,600 --> 00:16:40,960
You just you just don't know.

156
00:16:40,960 --> 00:16:42,280
So life is fragile.

157
00:16:42,280 --> 00:16:45,040
And this this makes us even more so aware of it.

158
00:16:45,040 --> 00:16:51,920
So, yeah, that was that was one thing that I would say is just like prepare your mind for

159
00:16:51,920 --> 00:16:55,480
an unthinkable amount of things that you're going to come across.

160
00:16:55,480 --> 00:16:57,040
It's not just going to be your own world.

161
00:16:57,040 --> 00:16:58,760
It's going to be the world that you're brought into.

162
00:16:58,760 --> 00:17:00,080
If that makes sense.

163
00:17:00,080 --> 00:17:02,520
It does. Yeah. And I appreciate that perspective.

164
00:17:02,520 --> 00:17:08,120
I think one of the things that I've seen from Make-A-Wish kids that have come to the station when I've worked there and then,

165
00:17:08,120 --> 00:17:15,120
you know, obviously videos from, you know, from social media of incredible young boys and girls that are going through this is

166
00:17:15,120 --> 00:17:19,400
the seemingly incredible strength that these young, young people have.

167
00:17:19,400 --> 00:17:24,440
Whereas, you know, as you get older, you know, I'm sure we would exhibit our suffering a lot more.

168
00:17:24,440 --> 00:17:31,680
So what did you witness, not just in James, but in the ward as far as this young resilience that seems to be fortunate?

169
00:17:31,680 --> 00:17:35,000
They're definitely like beyond my heroes.

170
00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:38,800
I think I understand why that is, not just because they're young.

171
00:17:38,800 --> 00:17:47,720
It's just that when you're a child, your next play date or your next thing is really your world view.

172
00:17:47,720 --> 00:17:55,240
Whereas you haven't had, you know, 20 to 40 years of adulthood that could kind of crush a man's spirit on the day to day life.

173
00:17:55,240 --> 00:17:59,720
So it's hard to like sometimes muster up a fight within a fight.

174
00:17:59,720 --> 00:18:11,120
Whereas a child just wants to hang out with his buddies and they don't have that world view of whereas like they're not looking at the tree and going to hit it.

175
00:18:11,120 --> 00:18:13,360
You know what I mean? Like they're not looking at the negative.

176
00:18:13,360 --> 00:18:16,600
They're only looking at the positive. So as bad as things may be,

177
00:18:16,600 --> 00:18:19,400
they have a really good perspective of how to look beyond it.

178
00:18:19,400 --> 00:18:25,680
And if you give them, I tried to be like him, meaning like I would be like, OK, James can be positive, I can be positive.

179
00:18:25,680 --> 00:18:35,080
So even if I had to force that, I'm not going to look at him and have him see me droopy eyed and crying and just upset and add to a negative situation when he's not that way.

180
00:18:35,080 --> 00:18:38,280
That doesn't make any sense. And that's hard to tell a parent to do that.

181
00:18:38,280 --> 00:18:47,120
But it is a necessity. So I tried to look at things of like what is needed for this child to stay positive in the worst situation.

182
00:18:47,120 --> 00:18:49,720
And so a lot of the times we would just play for hours.

183
00:18:49,720 --> 00:18:51,880
Like we'd be up till midnight because he couldn't sleep.

184
00:18:51,880 --> 00:18:56,840
But if I could distract him and he had the energy, we'd be just playing whatever he wanted to do.

185
00:18:56,840 --> 00:19:04,000
And, you know, in your stress, sometimes the last thing you want to do, like your finances are dropping, your jobs falling apart, moving.

186
00:19:04,000 --> 00:19:09,720
The last thing you want to do is play, but you're going to have to follow his lead, follow your child's lead and what energy they give you.

187
00:19:09,720 --> 00:19:12,440
You need to match and not bring that down.

188
00:19:12,440 --> 00:19:15,000
And sometimes when they are down, you got to figure a way to get them up.

189
00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:19,120
Even if it's if it's beyond you, it's like you can do it.

190
00:19:19,120 --> 00:19:22,960
You just have to kind of put your brain on the side and do what you need to do.

191
00:19:22,960 --> 00:19:27,760
Like, you know, just go against your natural reaction to the situation.

192
00:19:27,760 --> 00:19:31,160
Absolutely. And what about James? How's he doing now?

193
00:19:31,160 --> 00:19:32,640
He's great.

194
00:19:32,640 --> 00:19:36,440
We have we cleared scans last week for the second one in a row.

195
00:19:36,440 --> 00:19:44,440
Thank God. And he did treatment last week and we just got scheduled for his final treatment of this course.

196
00:19:44,440 --> 00:19:48,080
So that will be September 9th. And then we scan in October.

197
00:19:48,080 --> 00:19:55,960
And I don't when I did this, I don't want people to understand like I don't look at things of anything ever being done.

198
00:19:55,960 --> 00:19:58,200
It's just everything in life is a continued process.

199
00:19:58,200 --> 00:20:02,440
I mean, we're very positive. He's doing great. Cancer is not coming back in my mind.

200
00:20:02,440 --> 00:20:07,640
We're going to stay in this pocket. But I just have to look at everything day by day now.

201
00:20:07,640 --> 00:20:10,360
So like we're making plans, but they're always interchangeable.

202
00:20:10,360 --> 00:20:17,600
So, you know, he scans in October. If everything's clear, we're going to go visit in Hawaii and actually take a family vacation in November.

203
00:20:17,600 --> 00:20:24,880
But we've been there before. So like we just go whatever happens as long as he's happy and smiling and my daughter's happy and smiling.

204
00:20:24,880 --> 00:20:30,600
I really the rest is just like schematics. We just go with the flow and do the best we can kind of thing.

205
00:20:30,600 --> 00:20:33,560
Beautiful. And then what about your daughter? One last thing.

206
00:20:33,560 --> 00:20:39,400
When I've heard, especially in this case, you know, when one of the siblings is going through something so brutal,

207
00:20:39,400 --> 00:20:44,720
obviously the focus is going to be on that child a lot and that sibling can feel left out.

208
00:20:44,720 --> 00:20:49,560
Yes. So she obviously she's she's a champ.

209
00:20:49,560 --> 00:20:57,040
She went from never tying her shoes in her whole life from Hawaii to living in the upper east side of New York and riding on subways in a blink of an eye.

210
00:20:57,040 --> 00:21:01,920
So her ability to adapt is wonderful.

211
00:21:01,920 --> 00:21:09,160
That doesn't mean the psychological effect of seeing her go through this is is not daunting or irrelevant because she she dealt with it.

212
00:21:09,160 --> 00:21:12,080
She went to three schools already and finally got settled.

213
00:21:12,080 --> 00:21:21,320
She moved from her island home into New York City and then into family and friends houses and then rentals and then finally getting settled within a six month period.

214
00:21:21,320 --> 00:21:24,360
And she's doing great, though. She's she's surfing again.

215
00:21:24,360 --> 00:21:27,560
She's playing sports. She's getting really good at softball.

216
00:21:27,560 --> 00:21:32,800
The one good thing is her education. She really kind of buckled down and she's doing really well in school.

217
00:21:32,800 --> 00:21:38,040
So I have absolutely admiration for her because I don't know.

218
00:21:38,040 --> 00:21:40,440
I don't know. I like I don't know how things are going to pan out.

219
00:21:40,440 --> 00:21:43,040
You try, but you just don't know. And she's done very well.

220
00:21:43,040 --> 00:21:47,400
It is hard because he gets a lot of attention and he needs it.

221
00:21:47,400 --> 00:21:53,440
But she's also very caring and loving towards him, even in spite of her maybe getting neglected sometimes.

222
00:21:53,440 --> 00:22:04,640
But what I do is I try to like. So, for example, a very nice person who I just met had given us tickets to a Yankees game and she's really big into softball and baseball.

223
00:22:04,640 --> 00:22:09,160
So I'll make time where I'm like, OK, these three hours, we're going to go to this what you like.

224
00:22:09,160 --> 00:22:12,640
And we swap. We figure out ways that way.

225
00:22:12,640 --> 00:22:19,200
She's she's because when they're in the same room, even just as a young sibling, a young sibling always gets the attention anyway.

226
00:22:19,200 --> 00:22:23,440
As the one gets to adolescence, it's like their self, their independence, so they start getting less and less.

227
00:22:23,440 --> 00:22:27,240
And at that age of 10 years old, you're not quite a teenager where you're independent.

228
00:22:27,240 --> 00:22:30,800
You're not quite the baby anymore. So you're like in this weird space.

229
00:22:30,800 --> 00:22:33,840
You have to you have to jungle. So we're learning.

230
00:22:33,840 --> 00:22:37,200
But we feel like we're doing a fairly good job of it.

231
00:22:37,200 --> 00:22:41,640
Beautiful. Well, let's transition to the world of lifeguarding now.

232
00:22:41,640 --> 00:22:47,120
We have several things that we're going to discuss, but sadly, I mean, you spent your whole career lifeguarding on the ocean.

233
00:22:47,120 --> 00:22:54,040
I spent my early career lifeguarding on pools, water parks and lakes, so never on the ocean.

234
00:22:54,040 --> 00:22:56,960
But, you know, have a lifeguarding background again.

235
00:22:56,960 --> 00:23:03,880
And we had that absolute tragedy in CrossFit where Lizar Dukic was drowned and seemingly in front of lifeguard.

236
00:23:03,880 --> 00:23:06,640
So this isn't a blame game, obviously.

237
00:23:06,640 --> 00:23:11,280
You know, there sadly sometimes just that perfect storm of all the wrong elements.

238
00:23:11,280 --> 00:23:18,040
But from a lifeguard perspective, obviously, what's important is to learn from lessons and make sure it doesn't happen again.

239
00:23:18,040 --> 00:23:21,640
So talk to me about that event through your eyes.

240
00:23:21,640 --> 00:23:28,440
So like. Good or bad, every time I've done a large major production or event, there's a debrief.

241
00:23:28,440 --> 00:23:31,440
But more importantly, there's a safety meeting prior.

242
00:23:31,440 --> 00:23:37,040
I wasn't there, so I'm not going to arm armchair quarterback response or logistics, because that's hard.

243
00:23:37,040 --> 00:23:39,880
I'm assuming there was a medic team there.

244
00:23:39,880 --> 00:23:43,960
It's a big organization. I've trained CrossFit for over a decade.

245
00:23:43,960 --> 00:23:47,720
I love the modalities. I do like that type of group workout.

246
00:23:47,720 --> 00:23:51,080
I like all of it. I like the competition side of things. It's all good.

247
00:23:51,080 --> 00:23:55,800
It's it's very like lifeguard centric, even though they're not lifeguards in that sense.

248
00:23:55,800 --> 00:23:58,400
But a lot of lifeguards like that type of training modality, the ERG.

249
00:23:58,400 --> 00:24:02,280
All those things are great. You know, things that we do as well.

250
00:24:02,280 --> 00:24:05,520
I will say, though, I didn't see a lifeguard on the water.

251
00:24:05,520 --> 00:24:13,320
So I'll let that flesh itself out as the investigation goes, because I'm sure there will be one.

252
00:24:13,320 --> 00:24:15,360
That's the type of thing that happens in deposition.

253
00:24:15,360 --> 00:24:18,960
And that's why I'll reserve judgment.

254
00:24:18,960 --> 00:24:21,400
But I will say the first things first, there was a loss of life.

255
00:24:21,400 --> 00:24:24,200
So let's respect that. It's very sad.

256
00:24:24,200 --> 00:24:27,680
Now, was there a medical condition? Was there panic?

257
00:24:27,680 --> 00:24:34,720
The video looked like that competitor wasn't a very competent water person.

258
00:24:34,720 --> 00:24:37,400
And they're under a lot of duress from the stress of the workout.

259
00:24:37,400 --> 00:24:42,800
Now, should you exclude someone that doesn't have water capability?

260
00:24:42,800 --> 00:24:45,280
Yes, no, I'm not sure.

261
00:24:45,280 --> 00:24:48,080
They should definitely do a screening for that if they did great.

262
00:24:48,080 --> 00:24:53,080
Good on them. If they didn't, that's something that should have been thought about.

263
00:24:53,080 --> 00:24:56,440
Secondly, when I do water safety, something of that nature,

264
00:24:56,440 --> 00:25:04,600
when it's kind of a set up for a run, swim, run or a distance swim, an open water swim, a lake paddle.

265
00:25:04,600 --> 00:25:14,280
So anything that has water apparatus, at minimum you need a front lead and a back lead lifeguard.

266
00:25:14,280 --> 00:25:15,800
Meaning that there's no one left behind.

267
00:25:15,800 --> 00:25:18,560
There should be a third in the middle because in those packs,

268
00:25:18,560 --> 00:25:22,000
whether it's an Ironman or it's a fun swim or whatever it may be,

269
00:25:22,000 --> 00:25:26,000
you need eyes on a one to eight ratio, really.

270
00:25:26,000 --> 00:25:30,840
So ratios are important. Attention spans are important. Equipment is important.

271
00:25:30,840 --> 00:25:35,680
So maybe they didn't need a jet ski, but someone on a rescue board on front and back at minimum,

272
00:25:35,680 --> 00:25:40,320
I would have had three for that type of thing doing loops.

273
00:25:40,320 --> 00:25:46,040
And then with someone catching from like a just like a very good visual apparatus,

274
00:25:46,040 --> 00:25:51,160
there should someone be in a perch as well watching, so physical.

275
00:25:51,160 --> 00:25:54,720
It's also good to have these days, they even have AI to back you up.

276
00:25:54,720 --> 00:26:00,000
So if you had some type of camera that could they do do those things where they they dictate stress.

277
00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:03,720
So even if you had someone managing a monitor to see blind spots.

278
00:26:03,720 --> 00:26:07,600
But again, I'm a safety risk management specialist. I go overboard.

279
00:26:07,600 --> 00:26:12,400
That's what I do, because I'd rather spend an extra couple thousand dollars at the event,

280
00:26:12,400 --> 00:26:19,000
not lose a life and spend millions on the legal aspect of everything.

281
00:26:19,000 --> 00:26:24,280
So I'm always front ending everything. I do see this a lot. No offense to CrossFit.

282
00:26:24,280 --> 00:26:31,640
It's I see a lot of lacks in general when it comes to production events, whatever it may be.

283
00:26:31,640 --> 00:26:34,800
Not so much in like Hollywood, because they're very great about that.

284
00:26:34,800 --> 00:26:41,880
But I do see it in non-union, non-based event production where they cut corners in the wrong area.

285
00:26:41,880 --> 00:26:46,880
They might spend a ton of money on production value, but then their safety is marginal.

286
00:26:46,880 --> 00:26:51,280
EMT at best, if they're lucky, EMR, volley services, something like that.

287
00:26:51,280 --> 00:26:55,840
They're not they're not paying attention to it. And that that bothers me because that's the athlete.

288
00:26:55,840 --> 00:27:00,240
Does that make sense? So it does.

289
00:27:00,240 --> 00:27:03,360
In my opinion, it's first things first, safety first.

290
00:27:03,360 --> 00:27:08,400
We always say it, but it doesn't really get it doesn't really get the attention that it's needed.

291
00:27:08,400 --> 00:27:14,520
When you have an EMT, not to be offensive or a medic on staff, but that's an oh shit element.

292
00:27:14,520 --> 00:27:17,840
That's not a preventative measure when it comes to aquatic safety.

293
00:27:17,840 --> 00:27:25,320
You're going to need to have specific water safety that works with the ancillary safety team

294
00:27:25,320 --> 00:27:29,120
for if and when something does happen that they back them up and transport.

295
00:27:29,120 --> 00:27:34,520
But you need one prevention and two, the proper equipment, three, the proper certified staff.

296
00:27:34,520 --> 00:27:38,240
And hopefully this changes things because it has to.

297
00:27:38,240 --> 00:27:41,520
I would hate to see this happen again. That's all I can say.

298
00:27:41,520 --> 00:27:46,160
Yeah, I mean, I've only seen that one video clip, which is a few tragic things.

299
00:27:46,160 --> 00:27:49,520
There appears to be people that seem like lifeguards around.

300
00:27:49,520 --> 00:27:53,160
One is seemingly staring at him when it happens.

301
00:27:53,160 --> 00:27:56,400
And I just remember I'm talking again, like absolute basic.

302
00:27:56,400 --> 00:27:58,720
This is what you learn in the pool when you become a lifeguard.

303
00:27:58,720 --> 00:28:03,200
But just if someone is vertical in the water and they're bobbing.

304
00:28:03,200 --> 00:28:07,320
And that was what it seemed to be. And so we talked before we hit record.

305
00:28:07,320 --> 00:28:11,160
Again, this is just unpacking it, not blaming anyone.

306
00:28:11,160 --> 00:28:14,000
I mean, I wasn't there. And even the video is very grainy.

307
00:28:14,000 --> 00:28:16,240
And you can't be completely inclusive from that one thing.

308
00:28:16,240 --> 00:28:20,160
But did you see anyone with like a rescue can or tube? I didn't see that.

309
00:28:20,160 --> 00:28:21,960
I can't remember if someone was holding.

310
00:28:21,960 --> 00:28:25,960
But I mean, it seemed like there were some sort of water staff.

311
00:28:25,960 --> 00:28:28,280
And again, were the actual search for an experience.

312
00:28:28,280 --> 00:28:30,280
And that's why I reserve judgment.

313
00:28:30,280 --> 00:28:32,560
First things first, you know, the bereavement of somebody who passed.

314
00:28:32,560 --> 00:28:33,640
That's that's worse.

315
00:28:33,640 --> 00:28:36,400
The worst thing is losing an athlete during competition.

316
00:28:36,400 --> 00:28:40,400
But from from like my professional,

317
00:28:40,400 --> 00:28:44,120
you can always do more so you should have a minimum standard.

318
00:28:44,120 --> 00:28:50,080
And the records of any event will be like, hey, did you have a safety briefing prior?

319
00:28:50,080 --> 00:28:54,000
Did you have one with all the team who was involved?

320
00:28:54,000 --> 00:28:55,480
Where were your setups?

321
00:28:55,480 --> 00:28:57,480
You know, what were the communications like?

322
00:28:57,480 --> 00:29:00,720
Were they in place? Because the thing is, is they need to be designated.

323
00:29:00,720 --> 00:29:03,000
They can't be part of the production staff.

324
00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:06,760
Those are two separate entities and they need to be treated as such.

325
00:29:06,760 --> 00:29:09,840
There's one that needs to focus just on safety and one that does everything else.

326
00:29:09,840 --> 00:29:13,040
So that way the production team has nothing to they just go, hey,

327
00:29:13,040 --> 00:29:15,280
we're all on the same page and done, you know?

328
00:29:15,280 --> 00:29:18,200
Yeah. Yeah. Because I know, you know, when I with lifeguard,

329
00:29:18,200 --> 00:29:21,240
when you see someone in trouble, you know, you almost have to be careful

330
00:29:21,240 --> 00:29:23,600
not to lock in on them. You want to still be scanning.

331
00:29:23,600 --> 00:29:26,080
But you're obviously concerned about that person.

332
00:29:26,440 --> 00:29:28,840
And then I think about as an athlete, when I've done

333
00:29:29,120 --> 00:29:31,480
has there been occasions where I've done a workout at a pool

334
00:29:31,680 --> 00:29:35,520
when you realize that, yeah, when you're and I'm not even a great swimmer

335
00:29:35,520 --> 00:29:38,680
as far as long distances, you know, I swam to lifeguard, to be honest.

336
00:29:38,680 --> 00:29:40,960
I was never a competitive swimmer.

337
00:29:40,960 --> 00:29:43,680
But I was, you know, when you were swimming and only swimming,

338
00:29:43,680 --> 00:29:46,200
you get into that cadence, you try and be efficient, you know,

339
00:29:46,200 --> 00:29:48,880
and then you're sprinting, obviously, if you're getting close to someone.

340
00:29:48,880 --> 00:29:52,280
But apart from that, you know, you you should be leaving somewhat fresh

341
00:29:52,280 --> 00:29:56,080
and then you make the rescue doing it, you know, a workout or possibly one

342
00:29:56,080 --> 00:30:00,440
or two days full of workouts prior to that is a completely different animal.

343
00:30:00,480 --> 00:30:03,320
So you've got that other factor of that.

344
00:30:03,320 --> 00:30:06,160
Well, don't touch them, because if you touch them, then you're going to disqualify them.

345
00:30:06,160 --> 00:30:10,400
You know, there's all these factors now that a person may think that they're strong,

346
00:30:10,400 --> 00:30:13,120
but then they find themselves fatigued at the end of a race

347
00:30:13,120 --> 00:30:16,000
where maybe they went too hard and now they're in trouble.

348
00:30:16,000 --> 00:30:19,520
Or like you said, it was a seizure or a cardiac event or something else.

349
00:30:19,560 --> 00:30:20,840
Yeah, you never know.

350
00:30:20,840 --> 00:30:24,760
And the one thing is, though, is in those those high intensity

351
00:30:24,760 --> 00:30:27,480
type of workouts that are crossfit based,

352
00:30:27,480 --> 00:30:30,960
I personally think they should know that there should have been like a one to eight

353
00:30:30,960 --> 00:30:34,320
ratio trailing that group coming in because, you know,

354
00:30:34,320 --> 00:30:37,320
it doesn't take more than 45 seconds for someone to go underwater.

355
00:30:37,400 --> 00:30:38,000
You know what I mean?

356
00:30:38,000 --> 00:30:40,160
So it's like you need to be on proximity or you're going to be,

357
00:30:40,280 --> 00:30:41,960
especially in the lake or river.

358
00:30:41,960 --> 00:30:45,040
Like it's good luck finding the body if they go under.

359
00:30:45,080 --> 00:30:45,880
You know what I mean?

360
00:30:45,880 --> 00:30:50,480
So it's like it's it's there's got to be stopgaps put in place for that regardless.

361
00:30:50,720 --> 00:30:52,600
And I'm not and I'm not picking on them.

362
00:30:52,600 --> 00:30:54,240
And it's a tragedy.

363
00:30:54,240 --> 00:30:55,280
They didn't want this to happen.

364
00:30:55,280 --> 00:30:58,040
Obviously, not like they sound like they woke up to run this wonderful event

365
00:30:58,040 --> 00:31:01,400
and they thought, oh, today's the day we're going to lose one of our competitors.

366
00:31:01,400 --> 00:31:03,000
That's that's not the case.

367
00:31:03,000 --> 00:31:05,800
It's just when you add water into the element of sport,

368
00:31:06,400 --> 00:31:08,760
you know, like example, the Olympics, right?

369
00:31:08,760 --> 00:31:12,880
The most dangerous elements water could possibly be at Chopu.

370
00:31:13,280 --> 00:31:17,480
And they had an extremely good team, the Tahitian Water Patrol.

371
00:31:17,800 --> 00:31:20,480
I've trained with the Hawaiian Water Patrol for decades.

372
00:31:20,480 --> 00:31:23,560
They're pioneers, best people on the planet to do that job.

373
00:31:23,560 --> 00:31:24,960
And look, everyone came home safe.

374
00:31:24,960 --> 00:31:28,040
And that's in a place where people die like they can die.

375
00:31:28,040 --> 00:31:30,160
They're pipeline Chopu. People can die.

376
00:31:30,160 --> 00:31:31,680
So there's ways to do it.

377
00:31:31,680 --> 00:31:32,880
And we know how to do it.

378
00:31:32,880 --> 00:31:35,200
It's not like the concept has been proven.

379
00:31:35,200 --> 00:31:38,400
It's just that the generic public that are outside of like the surf life

380
00:31:38,400 --> 00:31:40,680
saving space, they don't really give a credence.

381
00:31:40,680 --> 00:31:42,280
And I ran into it, too.

382
00:31:42,280 --> 00:31:43,400
They don't want to pay.

383
00:31:43,400 --> 00:31:45,000
They don't want to add to it.

384
00:31:45,000 --> 00:31:46,040
They think it's nothing.

385
00:31:46,040 --> 00:31:48,160
You know what? They just kind of lackadaisically think.

386
00:31:48,160 --> 00:31:53,320
And then we lose somebody and, you know, you lose your reputation.

387
00:31:53,320 --> 00:31:54,120
Use your brand.

388
00:31:54,120 --> 00:31:56,200
Worst thing is you lose, obviously, the patient.

389
00:31:56,200 --> 00:31:57,720
I can't reiterate that enough.

390
00:31:57,720 --> 00:32:00,720
But, you know, you're cutting your nose off to spite your face,

391
00:32:00,720 --> 00:32:02,000
not doing this the right way.

392
00:32:02,000 --> 00:32:04,120
It's not it's not the way.

393
00:32:04,120 --> 00:32:07,960
Absolutely. Well, I mean, again, perfect examples from our collective

394
00:32:07,960 --> 00:32:12,400
professions is look at Valdi, you know, this is when you don't take it seriously.

395
00:32:12,400 --> 00:32:15,160
We're not proactive when you're not training, you're not communicating

396
00:32:15,160 --> 00:32:17,040
with your agencies around you.

397
00:32:17,040 --> 00:32:19,320
It will happen in the last place I worked at.

398
00:32:19,320 --> 00:32:22,360
If they don't figure out their shit, the same thing is going to happen there.

399
00:32:22,360 --> 00:32:24,800
And that's one of the things that are so frustrating.

400
00:32:24,800 --> 00:32:29,280
And we almost had the pulse shooting where I used to work, which is Disney Springs.

401
00:32:29,280 --> 00:32:30,560
That's where he went first.

402
00:32:30,560 --> 00:32:33,920
And by a miracle, there was so many police officers there that day.

403
00:32:33,920 --> 00:32:37,960
He got back in his car and not a miracle for the poor people in the pulse nightclub.

404
00:32:37,960 --> 00:32:39,840
Yeah, I was just there.

405
00:32:39,840 --> 00:32:44,280
I look at it, too, because I write EAPs and stand in place and shelter in place

406
00:32:44,760 --> 00:32:48,120
protocols for big resorts and like aquatic properties, mainly.

407
00:32:48,120 --> 00:32:49,200
But yeah.

408
00:32:49,200 --> 00:32:51,600
And then you think about it just on the medical side, like you think of like

409
00:32:51,600 --> 00:32:55,560
Demar Hanlon, they had a huge team around him, cardiac arrest, saved.

410
00:32:55,560 --> 00:33:00,240
And then there's a case that they talk about with their child or sporting event

411
00:33:00,240 --> 00:33:03,360
in Newark, New Jersey, had a heart attack and they thought he was just having like

412
00:33:03,840 --> 00:33:07,800
a seizure and they didn't react to it or he just passed out from dehydration.

413
00:33:07,800 --> 00:33:10,600
They didn't know. And he just died on the vine right in front of everybody.

414
00:33:10,880 --> 00:33:12,920
So it's like, you know what I mean?

415
00:33:12,920 --> 00:33:17,080
When you invite someone to a public space to compete, bigger, small event,

416
00:33:17,080 --> 00:33:22,080
there should be something involved in a professional level that takes care of that.

417
00:33:22,080 --> 00:33:25,120
Or at least the people that are there, the trainers, they should be trained

418
00:33:25,120 --> 00:33:29,120
in CPR to be able to recognize that because a lot of it's just basic, you know,

419
00:33:30,120 --> 00:33:31,440
interventions that could save it.

420
00:33:31,440 --> 00:33:33,080
All they really needed to stop that across.

421
00:33:33,080 --> 00:33:35,120
There was a guy on a board going, hey, hold on to my board.

422
00:33:36,200 --> 00:33:37,640
Are you done? No, I can keep going.

423
00:33:37,640 --> 00:33:39,680
OK, I'm going to trail you. Good. Yeah, keep traveling.

424
00:33:39,760 --> 00:33:41,800
I'm not good anymore. Hold on to the board.

425
00:33:42,720 --> 00:33:45,080
That's it. No loss of life.

426
00:33:45,080 --> 00:33:46,960
It wasn't it wasn't very technical.

427
00:33:47,440 --> 00:33:50,000
It really was. And sadly, so. Yeah.

428
00:33:50,040 --> 00:33:51,520
Well, invisibility is a big thing.

429
00:33:51,520 --> 00:33:55,360
I work for years in Long Lake, New York, on a summer camp there for six summers.

430
00:33:55,360 --> 00:33:59,120
And the moment the first person jumped in, all the silt from the bottom.

431
00:33:59,200 --> 00:34:01,840
I mean, literally, you know, as soon as they break the surface, they're gone.

432
00:34:01,880 --> 00:34:02,960
Yeah. And it was terrifying.

433
00:34:02,960 --> 00:34:05,480
We had the whole buddy system that summer camps have.

434
00:34:05,480 --> 00:34:07,560
And occasionally a kid would go missing.

435
00:34:07,560 --> 00:34:10,400
You'd be doing your search pattern, dredging the floor, you know,

436
00:34:10,600 --> 00:34:13,680
waiting to find a dead child, and then they come out of the wood workshop.

437
00:34:13,680 --> 00:34:16,040
Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot my tag. OK, good.

438
00:34:16,200 --> 00:34:19,760
You know, but I mean, having been there, it is it's absolutely terrifying.

439
00:34:19,760 --> 00:34:22,320
And, you know, if you're used to lifeguarding in pools

440
00:34:22,320 --> 00:34:24,920
and now you get employed to do, you know, a lake lifeguard,

441
00:34:24,920 --> 00:34:26,800
you can't rely on being able to see the bottom.

442
00:34:26,800 --> 00:34:30,320
So even that's another, you know, was that someone had worked on lakes

443
00:34:30,320 --> 00:34:32,280
before and they underestimated the environment?

444
00:34:32,880 --> 00:34:37,400
Yeah, I had to do. I think I told you I consult and I like and I train

445
00:34:37,400 --> 00:34:40,120
lifeguarding for some of the camps up in Pennsylvania.

446
00:34:40,520 --> 00:34:41,920
And it's a totally different element.

447
00:34:41,920 --> 00:34:44,360
But when you think we got all those floating docks, a kid does a backflip

448
00:34:44,360 --> 00:34:46,000
and gets knocked out and then he disappears.

449
00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:48,560
And there's a and you know, there's a bit of a current that moves one way.

450
00:34:48,560 --> 00:34:51,440
It's like it's it's a wholly different type of line search.

451
00:34:51,440 --> 00:34:54,280
And it is even in the ocean, like, you know, a gradual like,

452
00:34:54,280 --> 00:34:56,280
you know, like the continental shelf of Florida.

453
00:34:56,280 --> 00:34:59,400
You could do like a walking search if you needed to, you know, in New Jersey,

454
00:34:59,400 --> 00:35:00,520
you can do the same thing.

455
00:35:00,520 --> 00:35:03,600
And even in Hawaii, there's ways to do it like in a lake could be 20 feet deep

456
00:35:03,600 --> 00:35:05,080
in the middle. You know what I mean?

457
00:35:05,080 --> 00:35:06,000
It's you don't know.

458
00:35:06,000 --> 00:35:08,040
And it's weird because you think a lake is safe, but it's not.

459
00:35:08,040 --> 00:35:11,800
I think I was telling you before New Jersey itself has more drownings,

460
00:35:11,800 --> 00:35:13,840
even though the beach is a problem right now, lakes and rivers

461
00:35:13,840 --> 00:35:14,880
with the Delaware water gap.

462
00:35:14,880 --> 00:35:18,040
So it really is like, oh, we're having an event in the lake.

463
00:35:18,040 --> 00:35:19,240
That doesn't mean it's safe.

464
00:35:19,240 --> 00:35:20,960
It does not mean it's safe at all.

465
00:35:20,960 --> 00:35:22,360
Yeah, absolutely.

466
00:35:22,360 --> 00:35:25,320
Well, another hazard that we seem to hear a lot about recently

467
00:35:25,320 --> 00:35:26,640
is shark attacks as well.

468
00:35:26,640 --> 00:35:30,760
And I know that was an event that took one of your friends lives in Hawaii.

469
00:35:30,760 --> 00:35:33,000
So let's talk about that through your eyes.

470
00:35:33,680 --> 00:35:36,760
Yeah, so that one's very fresh and very sad.

471
00:35:38,280 --> 00:35:41,800
I do have like like he's a man of faith to my always one of my best friends.

472
00:35:41,800 --> 00:35:42,680
He's all of our best friends.

473
00:35:42,680 --> 00:35:45,960
That was the odd thing about to my is that if you talk to almost anyone

474
00:35:45,960 --> 00:35:47,760
that knew him for any amount of time regularly,

475
00:35:47,760 --> 00:35:49,880
I got to my best friends.

476
00:35:49,880 --> 00:35:54,320
And it's because he treated everyone like family and he was just a very good human.

477
00:35:56,400 --> 00:35:57,280
This is a hard one.

478
00:35:57,280 --> 00:35:59,520
And I talked to his wife as a good friend of mine, too, is

479
00:36:00,360 --> 00:36:03,760
and I just firstly, just to give that reverence and respect,

480
00:36:03,760 --> 00:36:08,480
like losing someone that they were so close and they're such they're like one thing.

481
00:36:08,480 --> 00:36:10,720
Like they were just like an entity in itself.

482
00:36:10,720 --> 00:36:14,520
So then I just want to like just really it's just a great person,

483
00:36:14,520 --> 00:36:16,880
great relationship, just great, great couple.

484
00:36:16,880 --> 00:36:20,560
But with Tamayo, he was one of those guys, he wasn't going to stop doing

485
00:36:20,560 --> 00:36:24,320
what he was doing, regardless of age and circumstances.

486
00:36:24,320 --> 00:36:27,120
He was still going to be surfing pipeline until he's 60 or whatever.

487
00:36:27,120 --> 00:36:31,040
Maybe it would have something would need to stop him from what he was doing.

488
00:36:31,040 --> 00:36:35,280
And I'm not saying that it's serendipitous or it just happens,

489
00:36:35,280 --> 00:36:40,320
but I don't think he would have changed his ways to avoid that.

490
00:36:40,320 --> 00:36:42,160
He's going to live his life and things happen.

491
00:36:42,160 --> 00:36:45,120
And that's that's the surfer versus the lifeguard, right?

492
00:36:45,120 --> 00:36:49,520
The lifeguard is a risk technician because we're handling other people's lives.

493
00:36:49,520 --> 00:36:53,200
The surfer knows that this is our passion or our lifestyle.

494
00:36:53,840 --> 00:36:59,200
And not to be trite, but if we're so lucky to die doing what we love

495
00:36:59,200 --> 00:37:04,080
versus getting hit by a bus or dying of a mundane medical condition

496
00:37:04,080 --> 00:37:06,800
that we're all going to run into, it sucks.

497
00:37:06,800 --> 00:37:08,000
But it ain't the worst.

498
00:37:08,000 --> 00:37:13,280
It's still a tragedy that kind of like immortalizes

499
00:37:13,280 --> 00:37:15,200
one of the best humans I ever known.

500
00:37:15,200 --> 00:37:17,920
So I do will forever miss him.

501
00:37:17,920 --> 00:37:20,320
And so we meet again, as we say, like a hui hou in Hawaii.

502
00:37:20,320 --> 00:37:24,320
But he went out doing what he loved at his home break.

503
00:37:24,320 --> 00:37:27,840
And it's like it sucks, but it is what it is.

504
00:37:27,840 --> 00:37:29,760
He was an on-duty lifeguard.

505
00:37:29,760 --> 00:37:33,600
And there's a thing about that that people don't really know

506
00:37:33,600 --> 00:37:37,440
what it leads into the other side of thing with that Bill 41 that's coming out.

507
00:37:37,440 --> 00:37:40,800
So I'm not sure if you heard of the Ben Carlson Foundation,

508
00:37:40,800 --> 00:37:42,320
where Ben Carlson was on a rescue.

509
00:37:42,320 --> 00:37:44,880
And we think we don't know because it's hard to tell,

510
00:37:44,880 --> 00:37:47,120
but we think he got kicked by the patient underwater

511
00:37:47,120 --> 00:37:49,200
because he was a heck of a waterman as well.

512
00:37:49,200 --> 00:37:51,280
Is that the Huntington Beach lifeguard?

513
00:37:52,720 --> 00:37:53,600
Newport, Newport.

514
00:37:53,600 --> 00:37:55,760
Newport, Newport, yeah, they're right.

515
00:37:55,760 --> 00:37:57,440
They're like right next to each other.

516
00:37:57,440 --> 00:38:00,320
And great, he surfed biggest waves too.

517
00:38:00,320 --> 00:38:02,320
He's a great, he wasn't a professional surfer,

518
00:38:02,320 --> 00:38:06,240
but he was for not being a paid surfer, he was as good as anybody else.

519
00:38:06,240 --> 00:38:07,520
And he was a great lifeguard.

520
00:38:07,520 --> 00:38:08,480
Things happen.

521
00:38:08,480 --> 00:38:09,280
We call it the button.

522
00:38:09,840 --> 00:38:10,960
You get knocked out in UFC.

523
00:38:10,960 --> 00:38:14,560
You're on land smelling salts, check your sea spine, you're good to go.

524
00:38:14,560 --> 00:38:15,520
Manage your concussion.

525
00:38:15,520 --> 00:38:19,440
You get knocked out in the water, gone zones.

526
00:38:19,440 --> 00:38:23,200
It's a, unless you have an instant response and there's no current,

527
00:38:23,200 --> 00:38:24,480
you're probably a goner.

528
00:38:24,480 --> 00:38:25,600
And that's what happened to Ben.

529
00:38:26,400 --> 00:38:28,480
With Tamayo, we don't know because it was unwitnessed,

530
00:38:28,480 --> 00:38:32,800
but to my knowledge, he really just jumped in the water to rinse off,

531
00:38:32,800 --> 00:38:35,040
not even to surf, and it was gone like that.

532
00:38:35,040 --> 00:38:36,240
It just wasn't witnessed.

533
00:38:36,240 --> 00:38:38,880
Someone found him within minutes after,

534
00:38:38,880 --> 00:38:41,280
but we all know how quick it is to bleed out.

535
00:38:41,920 --> 00:38:44,160
He lost his arm and he had a bite on his leg.

536
00:38:44,160 --> 00:38:45,280
So it was like two quick hits.

537
00:38:45,280 --> 00:38:49,680
So he could have jumped off a rock into the shark, you know, from the depths.

538
00:38:49,680 --> 00:38:52,720
And it came up and just hit him thinking it was a seal or a turtle.

539
00:38:53,200 --> 00:38:53,840
It just happened.

540
00:38:53,840 --> 00:38:58,160
And unless you have a tourniquet on you, like, and even if so, can you get it on your side?

541
00:38:58,160 --> 00:39:01,760
It's just, it's, it's the circumstance, time and circumstances.

542
00:39:01,760 --> 00:39:06,480
But lifeguards are not treated like other first responders.

543
00:39:06,480 --> 00:39:10,000
They don't have the same recognition as a designated lifeguard.

544
00:39:10,000 --> 00:39:14,000
And that, that bill is going to be introduced to Congress

545
00:39:14,000 --> 00:39:18,400
to have the same protections federally as a open water lifeguard

546
00:39:18,400 --> 00:39:21,360
that a firefighter or PD or any of the other ones do.

547
00:39:22,240 --> 00:39:25,520
I'm really big now that I'm not behind the lines

548
00:39:25,520 --> 00:39:28,080
because I'm not an active lifeguard in any agency.

549
00:39:28,080 --> 00:39:30,320
I'm fighting for that, for the people that are to come,

550
00:39:30,320 --> 00:39:31,680
because a lot of things come with that,

551
00:39:31,680 --> 00:39:34,000
whether it's recognition by the state, whether it's pensions,

552
00:39:34,000 --> 00:39:38,960
whether it's like things that, you know, dictate just standard protections.

553
00:39:38,960 --> 00:39:43,120
I think lifeguards need that because it's just, it's obviously seen as a dangerous job.

554
00:39:43,120 --> 00:39:46,880
You know, it's, it's actually odd that there's less, that there's not,

555
00:39:46,880 --> 00:39:48,880
I'm sorry, that there's not more on duty deaths.

556
00:39:48,880 --> 00:39:53,680
We're just very talented group of watermen that are operating at a very high level

557
00:39:53,680 --> 00:39:54,880
that know how to protect themselves.

558
00:39:54,880 --> 00:39:59,280
But if you, you took that element out and you added like a commonplace person to do that job,

559
00:39:59,920 --> 00:40:03,920
it would be tragedy over and over because most people can't get out of the water.

560
00:40:03,920 --> 00:40:06,960
They can't get themselves out of the situations that we've had to put ourselves in,

561
00:40:06,960 --> 00:40:11,280
let alone you on a multi-person rescue or a single person rescue at a high-serve.

562
00:40:11,280 --> 00:40:12,240
It's difficult.

563
00:40:12,240 --> 00:40:14,560
So yeah, I just, I hope that goes through.

564
00:40:14,560 --> 00:40:19,200
I know Fox with their, I think it's called High-Serve Rescue is the show.

565
00:40:19,200 --> 00:40:22,080
They're using that as a catalyst to promote that bill.

566
00:40:22,080 --> 00:40:25,040
So people are aware and will sign on to petitions and get it moved forward,

567
00:40:25,040 --> 00:40:29,280
which is very nice of them to just kind of back the lifeguards nationwide

568
00:40:29,280 --> 00:40:32,480
and just worldwide really like legitimize the profession.

569
00:40:32,480 --> 00:40:34,800
It's on par and recognize for what they're doing.

570
00:40:34,800 --> 00:40:38,080
And I hope Tamayo and I hope Ben Carlson's life are not in vain.

571
00:40:38,080 --> 00:40:41,280
And there's been others that have died on duty too, like Brandt Vito who had a,

572
00:40:41,280 --> 00:40:42,640
who had a cardiac arrest.

573
00:40:42,640 --> 00:40:43,680
And this is just the reality.

574
00:40:43,680 --> 00:40:48,000
I never was able to speak on this before because I was with the agency,

575
00:40:48,000 --> 00:40:54,080
but he didn't have insurance because they wouldn't give lifeguards insurance that were part-time.

576
00:40:54,080 --> 00:40:58,320
And he was working full-time, you know, 40 hours, but under a part-time.

577
00:40:58,320 --> 00:41:01,920
And then back in the nineties, he died and, you know, he was having palpitations

578
00:41:01,920 --> 00:41:02,960
and he didn't get checked out.

579
00:41:02,960 --> 00:41:04,000
And it was a huge issue.

580
00:41:04,000 --> 00:41:08,720
They fixed that since then, but there's just been a lot of times where we've been bastardized

581
00:41:08,720 --> 00:41:13,440
as an agency in a profession where it's led to deaths and I'm just tired of it.

582
00:41:13,440 --> 00:41:15,840
So now that I'm not, and I can speak, you know,

583
00:41:15,840 --> 00:41:19,760
maybe I'll piss off a few people here and there, but some things need to be said, you know.

584
00:41:20,480 --> 00:41:21,280
A hundred percent.

585
00:41:21,280 --> 00:41:22,320
Well, it's so weird as well.

586
00:41:22,320 --> 00:41:24,720
Firstly, you know, when you look at lifeguards,

587
00:41:25,760 --> 00:41:28,640
yeah, there's, there's a huge amount of volunteerism, but also, you know,

588
00:41:28,640 --> 00:41:30,880
we talked about this in the first conversation.

589
00:41:30,880 --> 00:41:35,200
I use you guys as an example, a lot on the requirements of fitness,

590
00:41:35,200 --> 00:41:39,520
because in police and fire, more often than not, we're held to a standard in the academy.

591
00:41:39,520 --> 00:41:44,000
And that's it for the rest of your career, which is fucking insane.

592
00:41:44,000 --> 00:41:49,440
Whereas even as a pool slash Lake lifeguard, if I didn't pass all my tests, yeah, my quals,

593
00:41:49,440 --> 00:41:50,560
then I'm not a lifeguard anymore.

594
00:41:50,560 --> 00:41:51,760
I don't have to serve anymore.

595
00:41:51,760 --> 00:41:56,240
So, you know, so that, you know, puts us absolutely shoulder to shoulder.

596
00:41:56,240 --> 00:41:58,800
I mean, I have a huge amount of respect for Ocean Lifeguard because I didn't,

597
00:41:58,800 --> 00:42:02,080
I didn't lifeguard an ocean and, you know, pools.

598
00:42:02,080 --> 00:42:04,640
Cause aren't it not just to do the Red Cross or, you know what I mean?

599
00:42:05,840 --> 00:42:11,520
I personally think accountability in any first response, but that's just my mentality is,

600
00:42:11,520 --> 00:42:12,800
I think it shouldn't just be us.

601
00:42:12,800 --> 00:42:14,720
I think we all should be held to a standard.

602
00:42:14,720 --> 00:42:18,320
You know, you have to make accommodations maybe throughout the career for what level you're at,

603
00:42:18,320 --> 00:42:21,600
whether you're a lieutenant, if you're a desk jockey, if you've moved into different

604
00:42:21,600 --> 00:42:23,760
admin positions, yes, there should be exemptions.

605
00:42:23,760 --> 00:42:28,080
But if you're an active field officer as a PD or a firefighter,

606
00:42:28,080 --> 00:42:29,360
your job is intense.

607
00:42:29,360 --> 00:42:31,840
Ocean Lifeguarding is extremely intense.

608
00:42:31,840 --> 00:42:33,360
We kind of need those standards.

609
00:42:34,080 --> 00:42:36,000
It does put a strain on the guys.

610
00:42:36,000 --> 00:42:40,960
Like I'm 42 and I can, I've kept that, you know, I've kept that idle high on my engine.

611
00:42:40,960 --> 00:42:45,920
So I can, I, my goal is even though I'm not active to be able to do that test every year

612
00:42:45,920 --> 00:42:49,440
and keep it within a, you know, 10% range of when I started

613
00:42:49,440 --> 00:42:52,640
until I would have retired at 56, just because it's my own mentality.

614
00:42:52,640 --> 00:42:55,520
But I know everyone doesn't have that, but I think it should be.

615
00:42:55,520 --> 00:42:59,600
I think it really should be because you're signing up for something that involves other

616
00:42:59,600 --> 00:43:02,320
people's lives and it's a disrespect to the profession.

617
00:43:02,320 --> 00:43:06,480
If you just get a sandbag and let, you know, just let it fly by the night,

618
00:43:06,480 --> 00:43:08,000
see if it's just going to work out.

619
00:43:08,000 --> 00:43:09,120
You know, I don't think that's good.

620
00:43:09,840 --> 00:43:10,560
Absolutely.

621
00:43:10,560 --> 00:43:10,800
Yeah.

622
00:43:10,800 --> 00:43:14,080
There's a thing I do every year called the 343 Hero Challenge

623
00:43:14,080 --> 00:43:16,880
run by some of my friends in Orange County.

624
00:43:16,880 --> 00:43:20,560
Amazing competition, but they have a master's division, which I think is 40 and above.

625
00:43:20,560 --> 00:43:24,160
And I've never, I've always partnered up with one of the younger firefighters because

626
00:43:24,160 --> 00:43:28,240
exactly what you said, that's great that there's that division, but I'm a firefighter.

627
00:43:28,240 --> 00:43:32,800
And so I hold myself accountable to be able to do what the 20 and 30 year olds can do.

628
00:43:32,800 --> 00:43:34,720
It's not a, you know, showing off.

629
00:43:34,720 --> 00:43:38,080
It's just, well, you know, if I'm going to sit here behind a microphone and preach fitness

630
00:43:38,080 --> 00:43:42,720
and, you know, responsibility and ownership, then I need a bloody walk as well.

631
00:43:42,720 --> 00:43:44,000
There's two things from that.

632
00:43:44,560 --> 00:43:49,280
One, I want to pick your brain on the 343 because I'm doing a professional lifeguard

633
00:43:49,280 --> 00:43:54,240
tournament through the nonprofit to raise money, but also give professionals prize money

634
00:43:54,240 --> 00:43:55,200
with the Waterman's Challenge.

635
00:43:55,200 --> 00:43:57,200
We did a demo this year and it worked out really good.

636
00:43:58,080 --> 00:43:59,040
We're changing it.

637
00:44:00,480 --> 00:44:04,320
The aspect of lifeguard competitions from like dory boats, which is cool

638
00:44:04,320 --> 00:44:05,760
to just run swim runs.

639
00:44:05,760 --> 00:44:10,320
I want to make it a progression based race.

640
00:44:10,320 --> 00:44:17,280
So run, swim, paddle, C-spine package, run, swim, run, CPR all the way to BVM to packaging.

641
00:44:17,280 --> 00:44:22,080
Jet ski time trials through a course with a human pickup efficiently.

642
00:44:22,080 --> 00:44:28,560
If you injure them during the process or would have by the judges saying, hey, that was a fail,

643
00:44:28,560 --> 00:44:29,920
then you can't pass.

644
00:44:29,920 --> 00:44:32,240
You have to go fast, but you have to be accurate.

645
00:44:32,240 --> 00:44:38,320
So it's not just the physicality because lifeguarding is very physical, but it's like they say is like

646
00:44:38,320 --> 00:44:40,400
slow is smooth and smooth is fast.

647
00:44:40,400 --> 00:44:44,560
You have to do things accurately in lifeguarding to have success for the patient to get on the

648
00:44:44,560 --> 00:44:49,520
beach safely without further injury of their back neck, medical, bleeding control, C-spining,

649
00:44:49,520 --> 00:44:50,320
packaging.

650
00:44:50,320 --> 00:44:53,680
The whole nine has to be done within that physical element as well.

651
00:44:53,680 --> 00:44:57,120
And I want to showcase that because then people have an actual idea of what we do.

652
00:44:57,120 --> 00:45:02,800
If you can showcase that as like a professional event showing what actually happens when we

653
00:45:02,800 --> 00:45:07,600
have to put it all on the line and we don't have a pause button because you don't, you

654
00:45:07,600 --> 00:45:08,240
start a rescue.

655
00:45:08,240 --> 00:45:10,720
There's no like, let's stop here and wait.

656
00:45:10,720 --> 00:45:11,920
It doesn't work like that.

657
00:45:11,920 --> 00:45:15,200
The wave hits you when the wave hits you, the accident happens.

658
00:45:15,200 --> 00:45:16,320
It's all linear.

659
00:45:16,320 --> 00:45:17,600
So that's one thing.

660
00:45:17,600 --> 00:45:23,120
I have had captains too that even though they're not required to do the test, they do the runs

661
00:45:23,120 --> 00:45:26,160
from every year just to show unity.

662
00:45:26,160 --> 00:45:30,720
And I appreciate that because if I was still in lifeguarding and I ended up getting to

663
00:45:30,720 --> 00:45:35,360
that position of a position of chief or a captain anywhere, I would still do it because

664
00:45:35,360 --> 00:45:41,840
I think if you can't at least show camaraderie and attempt to show that you can do it, then

665
00:45:41,840 --> 00:45:46,000
it's a good attempt to be a part of your force and like it's not good leadership.

666
00:45:46,000 --> 00:45:48,480
So I appreciate when I see things happen like that.

667
00:45:48,480 --> 00:45:49,680
Absolutely.

668
00:45:49,680 --> 00:45:54,720
Well, talking again about the professional side, this is one thing that's been really

669
00:45:54,720 --> 00:45:55,280
strange to me.

670
00:45:55,280 --> 00:46:00,080
And ironically, where you are now, this is where it's rife, is the volunteer fire service

671
00:46:00,080 --> 00:46:04,880
in super densely populated suburban areas in the Northeast.

672
00:46:04,880 --> 00:46:09,760
And this is this kind of deviation from the hierarchy of needs.

673
00:46:09,760 --> 00:46:12,800
Safety and security is the absolute first level.

674
00:46:12,800 --> 00:46:18,800
So whether it's your beaches or your streets, to rely on volunteerism and volunteerism is

675
00:46:18,800 --> 00:46:19,360
admirable.

676
00:46:19,360 --> 00:46:19,920
It's great.

677
00:46:19,920 --> 00:46:21,040
It's super admirable.

678
00:46:21,040 --> 00:46:21,600
Yeah.

679
00:46:21,600 --> 00:46:23,920
But yeah, I agree.

680
00:46:23,920 --> 00:46:26,320
So where I live, it's super prevalent.

681
00:46:26,320 --> 00:46:31,920
And I want to be very eggshell-y with this because I don't want to ever offend because

682
00:46:31,920 --> 00:46:36,400
I'm an EMT volunteer in my town like if they need me, but they also have a professional

683
00:46:36,400 --> 00:46:36,720
service.

684
00:46:36,720 --> 00:46:40,400
They pick up the backup calls like say if there's three things going on once, great.

685
00:46:40,400 --> 00:46:41,760
You get a page, you get a call.

686
00:46:43,040 --> 00:46:45,840
Fire, they have 12-hour services.

687
00:46:45,840 --> 00:46:47,360
They cut off at 6 p.m. here.

688
00:46:47,360 --> 00:46:53,280
And I very strangely go like, well, wouldn't most fires happen around dinnertime when the

689
00:46:53,280 --> 00:46:57,120
fires are going on in the house or when they don't happen, like fires happen when they

690
00:46:57,120 --> 00:46:57,440
happen.

691
00:46:58,000 --> 00:46:59,200
But it's no fault of their own.

692
00:46:59,200 --> 00:47:00,160
It's just one of those things.

693
00:47:00,160 --> 00:47:01,040
There's a transition.

694
00:47:01,040 --> 00:47:04,560
Now, the culture of volunteer firefighting is amazing.

695
00:47:04,560 --> 00:47:05,840
It's cool that people want to do that.

696
00:47:05,840 --> 00:47:10,480
But the reality is that the economics of it these days is people in these areas, they've

697
00:47:10,480 --> 00:47:12,000
gotten way more expensive to live.

698
00:47:12,800 --> 00:47:18,320
So they can't just drop their job and go on a call or there's less attraction to being

699
00:47:18,320 --> 00:47:22,880
a volunteer because they have to work the job that requires the money to live in these

700
00:47:22,880 --> 00:47:25,360
densely populated expensive shore towns.

701
00:47:25,360 --> 00:47:28,960
And they're still running off volunteer service, which I think there should always be volunteer

702
00:47:28,960 --> 00:47:36,480
service, but they should also have a line of professionalism to man the firehouses throughout

703
00:47:36,480 --> 00:47:37,200
no matter what.

704
00:47:37,200 --> 00:47:39,040
And then the backup staff will rotate.

705
00:47:39,040 --> 00:47:43,760
And that's a good way to get them in to kind of cultivate the next class of professionals

706
00:47:43,760 --> 00:47:49,360
is maybe do five years of volunteer and back up the crew and then go from there.

707
00:47:49,360 --> 00:47:50,880
That could be a good way to transition.

708
00:47:51,440 --> 00:47:54,720
But it's like anything small town, big town oversight.

709
00:47:54,720 --> 00:47:57,920
They don't like the state fights at the town.

710
00:47:57,920 --> 00:47:59,120
The town fights at the state.

711
00:47:59,120 --> 00:48:03,920
And then at the end of the day, the only thing that really gets the short end of the stick

712
00:48:03,920 --> 00:48:05,120
is the house that burns down.

713
00:48:05,120 --> 00:48:05,840
You know what I mean?

714
00:48:05,840 --> 00:48:10,400
Because there wasn't any volunteers available for that call or something like that.

715
00:48:10,400 --> 00:48:11,600
So it's a hard one.

716
00:48:12,000 --> 00:48:13,440
I wish everyone the best on that.

717
00:48:14,080 --> 00:48:17,920
I've got fire extinguishers all over my house for that reason because you never know.

718
00:48:19,760 --> 00:48:21,200
Hopefully they come, but who knows?

719
00:48:21,200 --> 00:48:28,080
Yeah. But I think priority, there's a lot of departments that are running a lot of calls

720
00:48:28,080 --> 00:48:30,080
that are volunteers that should just be made professional.

721
00:48:30,080 --> 00:48:35,040
I mean, there's no question if you're in a density populated high tax area and then you

722
00:48:35,040 --> 00:48:37,920
haven't allocated funds for a fire service, then you should.

723
00:48:37,920 --> 00:48:40,400
And I think it's the same with the lifeguarding community.

724
00:48:40,400 --> 00:48:42,480
And of course, there are exceptions to all these rules.

725
00:48:42,480 --> 00:48:48,160
If you're in a rural place where a population of 250, I get the volunteer fire service completely.

726
00:48:48,160 --> 00:48:49,520
Yeah, it makes perfect sense.

727
00:48:49,520 --> 00:48:53,760
I already did in New Jersey because these towns were short towns and they're one square

728
00:48:53,760 --> 00:48:57,040
mile or two square miles and there's maybe 500 people.

729
00:48:57,040 --> 00:48:58,320
But now it's not like that.

730
00:48:58,320 --> 00:48:59,120
It's like sprawling.

731
00:48:59,120 --> 00:49:01,680
There's 150,000 people living in the area.

732
00:49:01,680 --> 00:49:02,320
It's different.

733
00:49:03,200 --> 00:49:03,840
Things change.

734
00:49:03,840 --> 00:49:05,120
Yeah.

735
00:49:05,120 --> 00:49:09,040
Well, speaking of Ben, I went to have breakfast with one of my friends in Newport Beach and

736
00:49:09,040 --> 00:49:11,120
there's a statue of him on the beach there.

737
00:49:11,120 --> 00:49:13,840
But again, I think a lot of those were volunteers as well.

738
00:49:13,840 --> 00:49:20,160
And so when you think about such an affluent, density populated area as Newport and Huntington

739
00:49:20,160 --> 00:49:25,040
and further out, there should be professionally paid lifeguards.

740
00:49:25,040 --> 00:49:28,560
And again, if someone assaults a lifeguard, they should have the same penalty if they

741
00:49:28,560 --> 00:49:29,840
assault a firefighter or a car.

742
00:49:29,840 --> 00:49:30,800
Yeah.

743
00:49:30,800 --> 00:49:37,360
I think in Hawaii, we were able to get that because sadly, everything happens to the beach

744
00:49:37,360 --> 00:49:38,160
in Hawaii.

745
00:49:38,160 --> 00:49:40,000
So the good and the bad.

746
00:49:40,000 --> 00:49:44,080
So you're going to get the local meth head freaking out and that's going to happen

747
00:49:44,080 --> 00:49:44,480
at the beach.

748
00:49:44,480 --> 00:49:44,880
You're going to have to.

749
00:49:44,880 --> 00:49:48,240
So the assault thing, we did get protection, I think about like eight years ago.

750
00:49:50,160 --> 00:49:55,360
When it comes to Newport and California, they do a pretty good job of cultivating summertime

751
00:49:55,360 --> 00:49:56,160
and full-time hires.

752
00:49:56,160 --> 00:49:59,200
You have to do a few seasons because they get paid pretty well in California.

753
00:49:59,200 --> 00:50:00,000
They're the litmus.

754
00:50:00,000 --> 00:50:06,080
LA, Newport, Orange County, you could make 100 grand as a lifeguard, even maybe not even

755
00:50:06,080 --> 00:50:07,040
as a lieutenant.

756
00:50:07,040 --> 00:50:08,640
But it's hard to get that position.

757
00:50:08,640 --> 00:50:13,920
There's a lot of low-paid $16 an hour summer hires that do a lot of the heavy lifting.

758
00:50:13,920 --> 00:50:18,240
In New Jersey, they're 99% summer hires with a couple of admin staff.

759
00:50:19,760 --> 00:50:23,760
The difference in California and Hawaii is that there's a lot of regulation on training

760
00:50:23,760 --> 00:50:28,800
and their SOPs like in Huntington and Newport are just like – and LA too, just great.

761
00:50:29,440 --> 00:50:34,960
And I will say, Honolulu has come a long way in the last five years about really getting

762
00:50:34,960 --> 00:50:38,560
professional because we have the best watermen, but sometimes we just didn't have the asset

763
00:50:38,560 --> 00:50:39,920
that's to the back end.

764
00:50:39,920 --> 00:50:40,880
Now, we're getting there.

765
00:50:40,880 --> 00:50:43,920
And I very, very appreciate to see all the hard work that went into that.

766
00:50:44,640 --> 00:50:49,600
New Jersey, because local government, it's town by town and they do a good job and the

767
00:50:49,600 --> 00:50:52,960
lifeguards as a whole really mean well.

768
00:50:52,960 --> 00:51:00,320
The problem is that the standardization of one lifeguard agency for another isn't there.

769
00:51:00,320 --> 00:51:05,760
So there's no state regulation like you'd have a fire oversight, come down, commissioner

770
00:51:05,760 --> 00:51:10,720
and go look at the firehouse and check everything and check the hoses and do everything or give

771
00:51:10,720 --> 00:51:12,800
like check your EAPs and everything.

772
00:51:12,800 --> 00:51:13,680
There isn't that.

773
00:51:13,680 --> 00:51:18,560
The way it works is that you submit your member of the national board, which is USLA, but

774
00:51:18,560 --> 00:51:19,840
they're not a training organization.

775
00:51:19,840 --> 00:51:22,960
They're just an organization for lifeguarding for the US.

776
00:51:22,960 --> 00:51:23,840
They do a great job.

777
00:51:23,840 --> 00:51:25,040
They run amazing tournaments.

778
00:51:25,040 --> 00:51:30,080
They have a good manual, but that manual applies as a general overview.

779
00:51:30,080 --> 00:51:32,480
It's not how you do things in your specific area.

780
00:51:32,480 --> 00:51:38,160
I'd like to see New Jersey because the coastline of New Jersey essentially and a lot like Florida,

781
00:51:38,160 --> 00:51:40,560
it's the same coastline for 60 miles.

782
00:51:40,560 --> 00:51:45,840
So the only thing dividing it is a tax map key and maybe a jetty, if that.

783
00:51:45,840 --> 00:51:47,200
So the beach is the beach.

784
00:51:47,200 --> 00:51:50,400
The way to do, you know, the winds are north, the currents are going this way.

785
00:51:50,400 --> 00:51:52,160
The winds are south, the currents are going that way.

786
00:51:52,160 --> 00:51:53,360
There's a jetty here.

787
00:51:53,360 --> 00:51:54,240
There's an entry point.

788
00:51:54,240 --> 00:52:01,280
It's very similar, but you'll see a beach down south running a different rescue module

789
00:52:01,280 --> 00:52:03,920
and not using rescue boards.

790
00:52:03,920 --> 00:52:07,840
And you'll see a surf community that's really good with surfboards running a, you know,

791
00:52:07,840 --> 00:52:10,480
like a rescue board protocol and a jet ski.

792
00:52:10,480 --> 00:52:13,040
And then you won't have a jet ski in this town, but it's the same rip current.

793
00:52:13,040 --> 00:52:13,760
It's the same people.

794
00:52:13,760 --> 00:52:14,640
It's the same tourists.

795
00:52:14,640 --> 00:52:16,400
It's the same type of locals.

796
00:52:16,400 --> 00:52:21,920
And the problem with that is one is the standard is in equal parts because yeah,

797
00:52:21,920 --> 00:52:23,280
maybe they have a different talent pool.

798
00:52:23,280 --> 00:52:26,720
Some of these agencies have like as good as lifeguards I've ever seen.

799
00:52:26,720 --> 00:52:31,040
Some of them are getting, you know, inland and other places because they're just trying

800
00:52:31,040 --> 00:52:32,400
to put it together.

801
00:52:32,400 --> 00:52:34,560
And I think they did a really good job.

802
00:52:34,560 --> 00:52:36,000
They started a lifeguard academy.

803
00:52:36,880 --> 00:52:43,040
Seager in New Jersey, one of the more forward thinking agencies, they started this initiative

804
00:52:43,040 --> 00:52:45,120
to start a lifeguard academy and it's a really good start.

805
00:52:45,120 --> 00:52:46,080
So I'm very proud of them.

806
00:52:46,800 --> 00:52:50,000
Tim Harmon is actually the chief there and his brother.

807
00:52:50,000 --> 00:52:52,000
They, the whole staff does a really good job.

808
00:52:52,000 --> 00:52:53,120
They were very forward thinking.

809
00:52:53,120 --> 00:52:56,080
They did a jet ski course with the big wave assessment group and us this year.

810
00:52:56,080 --> 00:52:59,120
And I got to guest train and some cool things are happening.

811
00:52:59,120 --> 00:53:06,640
I do think and personally, and this is what I think is that, that academy should be for

812
00:53:06,640 --> 00:53:08,880
the whole state and there should be all the way through.

813
00:53:09,760 --> 00:53:15,440
And I think that the emergency action plans, SOPs and protocols should be standardized.

814
00:53:15,440 --> 00:53:17,040
And there's two reasons for that.

815
00:53:17,040 --> 00:53:18,880
One is patient care.

816
00:53:18,880 --> 00:53:20,960
So that way the beach is the beach in New Jersey.

817
00:53:20,960 --> 00:53:22,880
We all know what we're up against.

818
00:53:22,880 --> 00:53:27,200
And then secondly, liability because limited liability for the lifeguard.

819
00:53:27,200 --> 00:53:35,440
If they have a training standard and then something goes south because heavy surf

820
00:53:35,440 --> 00:53:39,120
conditions or something goes wrong, as long as it's not gross negligence, they would be

821
00:53:39,120 --> 00:53:44,480
protected because they followed a protocol that is transparent across the board and works.

822
00:53:44,480 --> 00:53:49,760
It's not like we do a line pole here and we use Dory boats here or we use rescue boards in this

823
00:53:49,760 --> 00:53:51,360
and we use jet skis here.

824
00:53:51,360 --> 00:53:55,520
It's, this is your situation you need to have as your minimum standards.

825
00:53:55,520 --> 00:53:59,600
And if you don't have this, there should be state funds that go fund your jet ski program

826
00:53:59,600 --> 00:54:04,720
and we'll send a team down to do that or send you up to the academy to run through that.

827
00:54:04,720 --> 00:54:08,240
Because when it really comes down to it is if a guy gets rescued up in Monmouth County

828
00:54:08,240 --> 00:54:13,280
by a jet ski, jet ski on a boating accident or some other type of multi-person rescue.

829
00:54:13,280 --> 00:54:17,360
And then the same thing happens say in, you know, Wildwood, New Jersey, and they don't

830
00:54:17,360 --> 00:54:19,520
have a jet ski program, not picking on you Wildwood.

831
00:54:19,520 --> 00:54:23,280
I'm just, just making an assumption that you may or may not just any town

832
00:54:23,280 --> 00:54:28,480
farther away doesn't have it. Well, the patient is the one who suffers and you're going to be on

833
00:54:28,480 --> 00:54:31,760
the hook, you know, and you're actually going to be on the hook because there was nothing

834
00:54:31,760 --> 00:54:35,280
iterated of like, well, they do this up here and it worked and you did this down there and

835
00:54:35,280 --> 00:54:40,000
it didn't work. So obviously you're negligible. So that's why it's, it's, it's a win-win for both

836
00:54:40,000 --> 00:54:43,360
sides. It's a win-win for the agencies. It's a win-win for the patient care. And there's,

837
00:54:43,360 --> 00:54:46,320
and I don't see any downsides to it. So I'm really pushing for it.

838
00:54:47,440 --> 00:54:52,400
What about recruitment, police, fire, EMS? We're all struggling in a lot. And you know, this,

839
00:54:52,400 --> 00:54:56,880
there's many things I talk about as far as fixing the things that are deterring young applicants to

840
00:54:56,880 --> 00:55:02,320
get them testing for us again, lining up out the door and then retaining a lot of the people that

841
00:55:02,320 --> 00:55:06,800
are experienced that are retiring early because of the working conditions. What are you seeing in the

842
00:55:06,800 --> 00:55:10,960
lifeguarding community? New Jersey is a bit different because I would say the lion's share

843
00:55:10,960 --> 00:55:15,520
of the vets come from the teaching profession because they end right after Memorial Day and

844
00:55:15,520 --> 00:55:19,280
they can jump on the beach and they've got really good experience and they're solid watermen. They've

845
00:55:19,280 --> 00:55:23,760
been doing it since they've been 16, but to fill in the gaps. And then when the college kids goes

846
00:55:23,760 --> 00:55:29,280
back, they all go to skeleton crews. So that's when we get the surf. Like this last week was like

847
00:55:29,280 --> 00:55:32,640
eight foot surf for four days, a really good hurricane swell. I don't know if you saw that

848
00:55:32,640 --> 00:55:38,320
storm and they're half sapped or less. So there's just towers dropping and stands dropping. And it's

849
00:55:38,320 --> 00:55:41,840
like, you don't need red flags so much at the beach. Things are going to get, it's just the way it

850
00:55:41,840 --> 00:55:45,440
goes. And I have a whole thing with that too, is that like red flagging a beach where you're

851
00:55:45,440 --> 00:55:50,880
paying high taxes and beach badges is, you know, like maybe the state should fund some professionals

852
00:55:50,880 --> 00:55:55,680
to do this year round so they can cover that. So they're not just a four month salary. So that

853
00:55:55,680 --> 00:55:59,920
way they actually have, just like California does, you have seasonals and you have full timers and

854
00:55:59,920 --> 00:56:03,680
the full timers run that beach and they respond to rescues in the middle of winter. It doesn't matter.

855
00:56:03,680 --> 00:56:07,520
They're ready to go. You know what I mean? That's where I want to come with that. But

856
00:56:08,080 --> 00:56:12,080
they just, in general, what I think has happened is that lifeguarding used to be like a rite of

857
00:56:12,080 --> 00:56:19,760
passage in the Northeast. Whereas if you were surf adjacent, a swimmer, a lifeguard, a firefighter,

858
00:56:19,760 --> 00:56:25,040
or any of the, or you wanted to go to those things, or if you were, you know, just like a college

859
00:56:25,040 --> 00:56:29,280
athlete and you wanted to stay fit, you became a lifeguard. And everyone did a season or two

860
00:56:29,280 --> 00:56:34,320
lifeguarding. People are finding other jobs or not working anymore in these areas, the young kids.

861
00:56:34,320 --> 00:56:38,080
So that's the hard part is finding the seasonals. There is good ones and there's a lot of them that

862
00:56:38,080 --> 00:56:42,640
are putting out there, but you need thousands of lifeguards here. Like we have 300 in Hawaii.

863
00:56:42,640 --> 00:56:48,240
You need probably 5,000 lifeguards from Cape May to Sandy Hook. I think maybe more actually,

864
00:56:48,240 --> 00:56:52,400
you might just run rotational bases. So there's got to be fostering programs. And that's what

865
00:56:52,400 --> 00:56:57,600
Never Off Duty was essentially is to fix that lifeguard shortage in like an incubator, get them

866
00:56:57,600 --> 00:57:02,720
into the water park, get them a base, get them trained up to do the beach, stage it up, let them

867
00:57:02,720 --> 00:57:06,320
run through their college career. And then maybe they work during the summer on weekends, or they

868
00:57:06,320 --> 00:57:10,560
work if they're teachers through the whole summer. So there's ways to do it, but you need a lot of

869
00:57:10,560 --> 00:57:15,520
public awareness that it is a gap and you really need to like get these kids back into the cultural

870
00:57:16,080 --> 00:57:20,640
aspect of being a lifeguard from, you know, Maine all the way down to Delaware. Like that was a

871
00:57:20,640 --> 00:57:24,800
thing. I know for a fact, because we're all kind of living in the same beach towns. And it's just,

872
00:57:24,800 --> 00:57:28,480
there's less of that. So I'm hoping that we can kind of start promoting it again. And there's

873
00:57:28,480 --> 00:57:34,000
some hype to it again. Will you talk about Never Off Duty before, give us an overview again, and

874
00:57:34,000 --> 00:57:39,600
then what's been the progress the last few years? Yeah, so Hawaii is going great. I have my board in

875
00:57:39,600 --> 00:57:44,320
Hawaii. They've done awesome things. We've got a thousand people through the program over the last

876
00:57:45,520 --> 00:57:52,560
almost six years since we started in 2017. Base level American Red Cross, pool and waterfront

877
00:57:52,560 --> 00:57:56,720
lifeguarding, starting them in jobs, then moving into the Never Off Duty open water program to get

878
00:57:56,720 --> 00:58:01,840
them ready for ocean safety tryouts. So now they do both. Now that we have the curriculum up and

879
00:58:01,840 --> 00:58:05,520
running, we wrote that curriculum actually for the state department because we were going to do

880
00:58:05,520 --> 00:58:12,320
sports envoys as an economic driver in different international coastal communities that have beach

881
00:58:12,320 --> 00:58:17,040
towns that don't have lifeguarding, like creating a lifeguard agency for those hotel areas. So that

882
00:58:17,040 --> 00:58:21,920
way it's an economic driver for safe beaches for those like say Indonesia, Sri Lanka. That's where

883
00:58:21,920 --> 00:58:26,240
I wrote that program for, but now I've adapted it so that way people can use it as a general

884
00:58:26,960 --> 00:58:30,720
program. And we put all our kids through it. So that way they're ready to go on the beach and

885
00:58:30,720 --> 00:58:36,480
there's some type of standardization. We started Chapter in New Jersey with the Watermen's Ball

886
00:58:36,480 --> 00:58:43,280
this year. Went great. Most of the money is going to go to education, elementary school education,

887
00:58:43,280 --> 00:58:48,240
water safety. We have that Barefoot Brigade book. So we're going to print another 10,000 copies,

888
00:58:48,240 --> 00:58:52,880
hopefully more, do another 15 schools and then kind of build it from there and get funding.

889
00:58:52,880 --> 00:58:56,480
And then we're going to hire a grant writer for this region because it has to be state by state.

890
00:58:56,480 --> 00:59:02,320
And we can't commingle funds. So like I can't pull from Hawaii to start New Jersey. So I had to do

891
00:59:02,320 --> 00:59:06,880
the same thing as I did in Hawaii, as whereas I put in my own capital, people see the value in it.

892
00:59:06,880 --> 00:59:11,280
We get chairs and we get people involved just as a regular nonprofit and they fundraise and then

893
00:59:11,280 --> 00:59:16,480
we can go on from there and start working the ways to keep revenue coming into it and revenue

894
00:59:16,480 --> 00:59:20,800
going out of it to create the programs and facilitate the program. So it's a little bit

895
00:59:20,800 --> 00:59:26,000
easier this time because it was like a two-year gap for me starting it in Hawaii. It's any type

896
00:59:26,000 --> 00:59:32,240
of success because it was my own bootstrapping. And at that time in Hawaii, Jersey Mikes oddly

897
00:59:32,240 --> 00:59:37,120
got involved and they did a month of giving and got us through the next hurdle. Whereas here,

898
00:59:37,120 --> 00:59:42,240
we did a Waterman's Ball and that lifeguard tournaments fundraising went good and we started

899
00:59:42,240 --> 00:59:48,640
off with a $24,000 raise. Luke Shepperton gave me a signed board from his quiver. He was the

900
00:59:48,640 --> 00:59:54,160
Eddie Icao winner and that went to 13,000, went for $13,000 which is going to cover a lot of the

901
00:59:54,160 --> 00:59:59,440
books and the staffers to go to these schools and teach the water safety right before summertime

902
00:59:59,440 --> 01:00:03,440
in spring. So we're getting there for sure. We've got a lot of lofty goals but we're getting there.

903
01:00:04,160 --> 01:00:10,400
Brilliant. Well, talk to me about the education you're doing in our schools and obviously here

904
01:00:10,400 --> 01:00:15,680
in Florida, there are a huge amount of pools. A lot of our first responders go to numerous

905
01:00:15,680 --> 01:00:21,600
drownings and it's definitely one of the most traumatic events that we respond to. So what do

906
01:00:21,600 --> 01:00:26,320
you suggest as far as a new parent and we're talking about the infants and then let's talk about,

907
01:00:26,320 --> 01:00:31,680
if not that, then what about elementary school? Yeah, so elementary I think is the first place

908
01:00:31,680 --> 01:00:36,880
they can conceptualize. So obviously if you have a child, like I taught my kid to swim because I'm

909
01:00:36,880 --> 01:00:41,120
a lifeguard so I did it myself but not everybody has those resources. So some people don't even

910
01:00:41,120 --> 01:00:45,520
have access to pools to teach swim lessons. That was one of the things is we wanted to have funds

911
01:00:45,520 --> 01:00:50,960
to rent out pools in the winter time for free swim lessons. So that's a base layer. In the elementary

912
01:00:50,960 --> 01:00:56,560
schools, we wanted to give visual examples with the book and then teaching what a riptide is,

913
01:00:56,560 --> 01:01:00,320
teaching what buddy swimming is, teaching how to check in with the lifeguard, why you would,

914
01:01:01,200 --> 01:01:05,760
all the things that as lifeguards we teach our kids but you move 10 minutes west of where I am

915
01:01:05,760 --> 01:01:10,800
and that might not even be a thought. They're either rural or they're in urban and both of those

916
01:01:10,800 --> 01:01:15,200
have the same issue where they're just not coastal but then they come to the coast in the summer and

917
01:01:15,200 --> 01:01:20,560
they all do or they go to the water park in the summer and it's education. So sometimes if the

918
01:01:20,560 --> 01:01:24,560
parent doesn't have the knowledge, they don't pass it on. We want to be that stopgap so that stops.

919
01:01:24,560 --> 01:01:28,320
And then when we teach the kid, when they have kids, they're going to teach the same lessons

920
01:01:28,320 --> 01:01:33,440
and that's a base. And then they might not become lifeguards later but maybe one out of 100 do.

921
01:01:33,440 --> 01:01:38,320
And if we say we extrapolate that out and we get through 200,000 kids in New Jersey and you get

922
01:01:38,320 --> 01:01:45,360
20,000 lifeguards off that over, you know what I mean? It's all a numbers game but with prevention

923
01:01:45,360 --> 01:01:50,880
because education is prevention, then two, we can facilitate and incubate the jobs training from

924
01:01:50,880 --> 01:01:56,480
there. So we have a system on how to do it. We just needed some ammo and some fuel to get behind

925
01:01:56,480 --> 01:02:02,160
it to implement it and start to get there for sure. I was very lucky. The junior school I went to in

926
01:02:02,160 --> 01:02:07,360
England, every Wednesday we would go swimming. Yeah, it was awesome. Yeah, it was amazing and

927
01:02:07,360 --> 01:02:11,520
I think I started there at three years old. So I can't remember if we went that early. I'm not sure

928
01:02:11,520 --> 01:02:16,880
but certainly that's my entire memory. Then as you get older, you start working for your 25 meter

929
01:02:16,880 --> 01:02:21,440
badge, your 50 meter badge and you're working towards a mile. It's great. Yeah, phenomenal

930
01:02:21,440 --> 01:02:27,840
program. And then you're doing the whole get your pajamas, tie the legs together. Yeah, I had a

931
01:02:28,560 --> 01:02:34,000
swim survival. Yeah, exactly. So again, when we talk about environment, I always say this when

932
01:02:34,000 --> 01:02:39,520
we talk about my health and fitness. I grew up on a farm in England. A lot of the environment set me

933
01:02:39,520 --> 01:02:43,840
up for success in that. And I think it's the same if you're if you buy an ocean or you have access

934
01:02:43,840 --> 01:02:47,680
to a pool, you know, there's a high chance that you're going to get more exposure to be able to

935
01:02:47,680 --> 01:02:54,480
swim. Exactly. That being said, prior to any sort of schooling at all, obviously there are those

936
01:02:54,480 --> 01:02:58,320
programs where we see these little infants being flung into a pool and they go on their back and

937
01:02:58,320 --> 01:03:03,040
they kick their way out, which I didn't I couldn't swim at that age. Yeah, talk to me about that

938
01:03:03,040 --> 01:03:06,960
element. It's not up to the child, of course, we're now we're talking to the parents. But

939
01:03:06,960 --> 01:03:12,880
what is the efficacy and the importance of doing it that young? Yeah, so I think it is because pool

940
01:03:12,880 --> 01:03:17,280
pool drownings just irk me it stinks, but it happens. I know people that I know actually

941
01:03:17,280 --> 01:03:21,520
know personal people that have lost children that way and their water people because the pool doesn't

942
01:03:21,520 --> 01:03:27,120
have the scary element of the ocean. The ocean kind of keeps kids at bay at certain times. But

943
01:03:27,120 --> 01:03:31,440
a pool you can run into someone's backyard at a birthday party and just drown. And I actually know

944
01:03:31,440 --> 01:03:35,600
someone that saved his own child just doing a scan and noticed something at the bottom of the pool

945
01:03:35,600 --> 01:03:40,400
and ended up being his kid and he resuscitated him. Luckily he had the lifeguard eye, but we're not

946
01:03:40,400 --> 01:03:45,440
excluded from that as lifeguard. It can happen to any parent, especially just young children. And

947
01:03:45,440 --> 01:03:52,720
it's a tragedy regardless. Something that I hate to see is that like in the oranges and and like

948
01:03:53,840 --> 01:03:57,680
this, you know, the outside surrounding parts of Newark and different urban areas,

949
01:03:57,680 --> 01:04:03,200
some of the pools have been shut down from basic needs of like, say, pumping fixed or like the

950
01:04:03,200 --> 01:04:06,560
funding for chlorine and then they shut the whole pool down for a whole summer. That's a whole

951
01:04:06,560 --> 01:04:11,120
generation that lost their swimming ability that could have had programs. So I would love to get

952
01:04:11,120 --> 01:04:16,400
this to the point where we go, hey, what's your need? Okay, so, you know, the private element

953
01:04:16,400 --> 01:04:20,720
isn't working. How can we publicly fund that and grant you the 10 grand to fix your pool pumps or

954
01:04:20,720 --> 01:04:26,720
to hire your guards or to hire WSI swim lessons? Like, let's figure that out because that's downstream

955
01:04:26,720 --> 01:04:32,320
going to someone's going to drown because of that situation. So and another thing is foresight of the

956
01:04:32,320 --> 01:04:37,200
parent, if the parent's not a swimmer, regardless of your social economic is not a swimmer,

957
01:04:38,240 --> 01:04:42,320
you might not even think about it because it's not on your radar, we're going to go to the baseball

958
01:04:42,320 --> 01:04:46,000
field, we're going to go but then your kid goes to a birthday party, or he ends up at the beach for

959
01:04:46,000 --> 01:04:50,080
the first time on a field trip and something goes wrong, whatever it may be, those situations come

960
01:04:50,080 --> 01:04:56,960
up all the time. We're trying to like get as much awareness to the need, then fix it with the

961
01:04:56,960 --> 01:05:01,280
education and then from there foster that education and turn it into actually skills.

962
01:05:01,280 --> 01:05:04,880
So that's we got to start from the base. I was like, oh, let's get it right on life. Getting

963
01:05:04,880 --> 01:05:09,760
someone to a high center of life guard will take a long time, but preventing a drowning is actually

964
01:05:09,760 --> 01:05:15,040
pretty simple. So we were kind of like, let's scale it back and start where, hey, you need a swimsuit,

965
01:05:15,040 --> 01:05:20,960
let's get you a swimsuit. You need to find a free swimming and, you know, water safety course. Let's

966
01:05:20,960 --> 01:05:25,600
get you into one. Let's find you funding for that, you know. So that's where we actually brought the

967
01:05:25,600 --> 01:05:30,400
programming down to a very base level. I think that's going to like actually scale the whole

968
01:05:30,400 --> 01:05:37,440
program up. Absolutely. Well, before we hit record, you were showing me a bag. So let's go back to

969
01:05:38,000 --> 01:05:41,600
sharks first, because obviously that's, you know, the bleeding control on the beach.

970
01:05:42,400 --> 01:05:47,680
What is your community seeing about the prevalence of shark attacks? Because sometimes it gets skewed

971
01:05:47,680 --> 01:05:52,080
when something makes the news and all of a sudden, you know, they're reporting everything and maybe

972
01:05:52,080 --> 01:05:56,480
it was going on the whole time. What are you actually seeing though as far as stats first?

973
01:05:56,480 --> 01:06:02,400
And then let's talk about the equipment that our lifeguards need to be carrying. Sure. So a

974
01:06:02,400 --> 01:06:07,440
prevalent shark population shows the health of the ocean. So it's not a negative thing.

975
01:06:08,800 --> 01:06:14,320
A friend just got chased out two days ago in Asbury Park from a shark. I don't know if you've seen in

976
01:06:14,320 --> 01:06:18,320
New Jersey, but the whales have come back, the rays have come back, the dolphins have come back.

977
01:06:18,320 --> 01:06:22,000
The nature in New Jersey is actually pretty wonderful. You know, they had the stigma in the

978
01:06:22,000 --> 01:06:26,080
80s of the needles and the red tie and all this stuff. It's gone. They've done a very good job

979
01:06:26,080 --> 01:06:30,800
of management here and we're getting like some of the cool stuff I've seen in Hawaii I'm seeing

980
01:06:30,800 --> 01:06:37,520
here, like, which is pretty cool. But with that nature is nature and it is what it is. So shark

981
01:06:37,520 --> 01:06:43,760
attacks, you know, very unlikely, but they do happen. I think just as prevalent is surf and

982
01:06:43,760 --> 01:06:49,760
water safety accidents. So we had a friend in Indonesia that died of a bleeding control incident.

983
01:06:49,760 --> 01:06:53,920
His fin caught his femoral artery and he bled out very quickly. There was nothing to do because

984
01:06:53,920 --> 01:06:58,480
transport was six hours and the mental eyes and things of that nature. You know, not even big

985
01:06:58,480 --> 01:07:04,960
surf world-class surfer, McCalla Jones passes away, you know, very tragically from a bleeding

986
01:07:04,960 --> 01:07:09,440
control situation that may be on the mainland here in Hawaii could have been aided there,

987
01:07:09,440 --> 01:07:14,640
it couldn't, but that can happen here too. So I do produce these kits. I give them as presents

988
01:07:14,640 --> 01:07:18,160
to people. I've done it for years. I did it as like a side project to bring in revenue. Maybe

989
01:07:18,160 --> 01:07:22,640
we'll sell a kit and like a Tom shoe, you know, buy one, give one, but I just started giving them

990
01:07:22,640 --> 01:07:27,840
out. I had extra funds and you know, I put them together and then this company called StatPak,

991
01:07:27,840 --> 01:07:31,440
I've been working with them for like three years on and off, just trying to like develop products.

992
01:07:32,000 --> 01:07:36,400
They gave me a few kits for myself when I was an EMT and just doing my own stuff. They just kind

993
01:07:36,400 --> 01:07:41,280
of supported me. Just cool guys, like really cool company. They come from the backpack world and I

994
01:07:41,280 --> 01:07:46,240
made a hip pack that this is the first iteration so that way people could keep it on as lifeguards

995
01:07:46,240 --> 01:07:52,480
or keep it in your car, throw it in a travel bag, which is a very useful go-to. And just to

996
01:07:52,480 --> 01:07:57,680
kind of answer your question though, are sharks being more prevalent? Yeah, that's a fact because

997
01:07:57,680 --> 01:08:02,480
I did an article on it once for Vice Sports, the bro science of shark attacks and surfing,

998
01:08:02,480 --> 01:08:06,880
and you can look it up and I went through the numbers and it is increasing. It just is,

999
01:08:06,880 --> 01:08:11,760
that can be population density, that could be usage of the surf. But if you look at like Cape

1000
01:08:11,760 --> 01:08:16,720
Cod, like the seal population and the documentary, yeah, the sharks are back and that's a good thing,

1001
01:08:16,720 --> 01:08:22,800
but people plus hazards equal risk and the hazards, the shark and the people are there,

1002
01:08:22,800 --> 01:08:27,920
it's going to happen. So in New Smyrna, Florida, you get bumped every day. So it just all depends

1003
01:08:27,920 --> 01:08:33,760
on where you are surfing and that kind of thing. This is the kit that we were talking about before.

1004
01:08:33,760 --> 01:08:37,280
This is the first iteration. It probably won't be the last. We're going to do a couple more tweaks

1005
01:08:37,280 --> 01:08:42,960
to it, but it's basically, it's got the Velcro so you can rip off a tourniquet. I just have my pen

1006
01:08:42,960 --> 01:08:48,160
right there for concussions and stuff. This has got a pouch here, so like Israeli bandage, all your

1007
01:08:48,160 --> 01:08:54,000
gauze, your gloves, all your go-to stuff. Maybe an OPA, something of that nature. You can stack

1008
01:08:54,000 --> 01:08:59,680
right here so your OPAs, your orophlegic airways and just like your adjuncts can be in the front,

1009
01:08:59,680 --> 01:09:06,560
quick stuff that you need like on the fly. I throw like for travel, I'll throw like a ClosX

1010
01:09:06,560 --> 01:09:10,080
because I just actually hurt my knee the other week surfing where I just tore it open on a rock.

1011
01:09:10,080 --> 01:09:14,320
So instead of, that's just me, not I would recommend anyone else doing this, but I closed it up so I

1012
01:09:14,320 --> 01:09:19,280
didn't have to get sutured. I just did it myself and just ran a bead of a quick clot and a ClosX

1013
01:09:19,280 --> 01:09:23,920
and stitched it up myself so I could surf again the next swell. But just something that you could

1014
01:09:23,920 --> 01:09:28,560
throw in your bag and go travel in Nicaragua or you could just have in your car for a car accident

1015
01:09:28,560 --> 01:09:33,120
and also wear as a hip pack as a lifeguard, like an interchangeable fanny pack that's like an

1016
01:09:33,120 --> 01:09:39,360
everyday carry. StatPak looks to release that this fall into next spring and they're going to give

1017
01:09:39,360 --> 01:09:45,760
five percent of sale to the Never Off Duty Foundation for that water safety program. So

1018
01:09:45,760 --> 01:09:49,200
it's pretty cool that they got involved that way and they actually already sell to a lot of

1019
01:09:49,200 --> 01:09:54,640
the agencies as well so it's a good thing for us. Brilliant. One more question before we go to the

1020
01:09:54,640 --> 01:09:59,760
closing questions. I was actually, I had an amazing experience. I was with my son

1021
01:10:00,800 --> 01:10:04,800
a few weeks ago and I was at Crescent Beach which is south of St. Augustine, my favorite

1022
01:10:04,800 --> 01:10:11,440
beach on the planet. It's gorgeous and there was a pod of dolphin and they were just around me and

1023
01:10:11,440 --> 01:10:15,360
you know so I was out there. Hardly anyone sat in the water. I was a little bit deeper because I

1024
01:10:15,360 --> 01:10:21,360
liked to body surf and just standing in awe as these beautiful creatures go around which was

1025
01:10:21,360 --> 01:10:26,640
amazing. My sister is an editor and she works a lot with the the wildlife and David Attenborough

1026
01:10:26,640 --> 01:10:31,040
and does all that TV for the BBC and she was like oh you know they could have been protecting you

1027
01:10:31,040 --> 01:10:37,360
from sharks. Yeah. Oh okay so maybe if I'd seen behind the dolphin I would have fucking run

1028
01:10:37,360 --> 01:10:42,720
my ass out. But that being said though, I mean yeah again I just I think nature is amazing and

1029
01:10:42,720 --> 01:10:46,720
you know it is what it is if that happens. I wouldn't enjoy it. The closing teams, the sharks

1030
01:10:46,720 --> 01:10:50,720
versus the dolphins. Exactly. They're the dolphins do a good job of like they've actually like,

1031
01:10:51,680 --> 01:10:56,800
because the sharks will try to attack the babies right so they're used to just going head to you

1032
01:10:56,800 --> 01:11:00,720
know like head to head and just straight they'll just nail them in the guts you know what I mean

1033
01:11:00,720 --> 01:11:04,640
and just try to take them out when they see them. But they also like they're pretty cool people.

1034
01:11:04,640 --> 01:11:09,040
That's why I get really frustrated when I see like like blackfish and all the stuff that you see like

1035
01:11:09,040 --> 01:11:13,440
the you know the culling of dolphins for food. I'm like those guys are like cool with us. We

1036
01:11:13,440 --> 01:11:18,960
should be nicer to them. They like us. Yeah be a little kinder. They're smart you know.

1037
01:11:19,760 --> 01:11:24,960
Well with the the profile of a human in the water, are there any whether it's kind of

1038
01:11:24,960 --> 01:11:30,240
folklore in Hawaii or maybe some of the science stuff, what kind of human beings swimming in the

1039
01:11:30,240 --> 01:11:36,720
ocean do to minimize the chance of being confused for prey? Because I mean clearly if you are a

1040
01:11:36,720 --> 01:11:41,520
surfer and you're paddling on a wave looking up you know that that seems like it might have the

1041
01:11:41,520 --> 01:11:46,080
same kind of silhouette as a seal. So that you know is going to be a higher target. But for your

1042
01:11:46,080 --> 01:11:52,160
average swimmer you know what are some of the the things that are told in Hawaii to kind of maybe

1043
01:11:52,160 --> 01:11:57,120
try and help reduce that risk? I did just see because I'm still on group chats with all my

1044
01:11:57,120 --> 01:12:03,040
lifeguard buddies. Shark bands donated bands to the guards on the north shore anyway that is you

1045
01:12:03,040 --> 01:12:06,960
know just nicely gave to him. I think they work. I don't know because I don't know. I know it's a

1046
01:12:06,960 --> 01:12:12,000
frequency but it seems like it does. So I'm looking to that if that's a concern something to do. I'm

1047
01:12:12,000 --> 01:12:16,160
not endorsed by them. I don't know the validity but that was really sweet of them to reach out

1048
01:12:16,160 --> 01:12:21,920
and you know to keep us keep us another element of safety. I would say strength in numbers. The one

1049
01:12:21,920 --> 01:12:28,160
thing I noticed I have my friend Colin Cook. He got bit and he was my neighbor and his leg was

1050
01:12:28,160 --> 01:12:33,680
taken off at you know the north shore right near our house. And he luckily was saved by another

1051
01:12:33,680 --> 01:12:38,480
friend. He only boarded up that uses surf leashes as a makeshift tourniquet so he could get you know

1052
01:12:38,480 --> 01:12:43,200
out of the water. It was a crazy rescue. Never you know never heard anything like that really.

1053
01:12:43,200 --> 01:12:48,720
It was just such a wild scenario where the shark actually kept chasing him. Seasonally we get these

1054
01:12:48,720 --> 01:12:53,920
adolescent shark sharks in Hawaii that will follow their migratory pattern and usually find lakes

1055
01:12:53,920 --> 01:12:57,520
and rivers. Not lakes and rivers but just rivers. They follow. They feed off rivers because the

1056
01:12:57,520 --> 01:13:02,240
outflow. So where he got bit was near an old river. So sometimes it's not best to surf near rivers

1057
01:13:03,200 --> 01:13:06,800
because of that fact because they know where the fish come out right. You know like that's

1058
01:13:06,800 --> 01:13:13,680
that's usually the brackish water is a good place to hunt. One thing and I've heard from multiple

1059
01:13:13,680 --> 01:13:19,280
different people that study them is that movement is good. So if you're surfing sitting on your board

1060
01:13:19,280 --> 01:13:24,240
for long periods of time even though it's fun and nice to relax it shows that you're like dead weight

1061
01:13:24,240 --> 01:13:28,320
and you're an easy target. So sometimes when there's no movement and you look like a turtle hanging

1062
01:13:28,320 --> 01:13:33,520
over your board you're you're you could be an already dead animal that they just want to like

1063
01:13:33,520 --> 01:13:38,960
a dead whale they go after a dead turtle. So they'll check bite that just to see what it is. And when

1064
01:13:38,960 --> 01:13:42,800
they find out it's not used most of the time they'll just go but you've already had the life

1065
01:13:42,800 --> 01:13:46,800
altering bite depending on the size if it's a bull shark or tiger or white you know what I mean.

1066
01:13:46,800 --> 01:13:51,680
It's the damage that's been done. So I like me personally I just stay active in the water. I'm

1067
01:13:51,680 --> 01:14:00,000
never I'm never not. I would never like say that it's it's it's hard not to surf alone because us

1068
01:14:00,000 --> 01:14:04,320
as surfers we're trying to avoid crowds but it's good to have an emergency action plan like someone

1069
01:14:04,320 --> 01:14:07,760
on the beach knowing where you are. I actually didn't take my own advice the other day the

1070
01:14:07,760 --> 01:14:12,080
waves were so good and the winds went back offshore New Jersey and I was after work so I jumped in

1071
01:14:12,080 --> 01:14:16,000
before dark and I was like where is everybody I'm surfing by myself and started to get the heebie

1072
01:14:16,000 --> 01:14:21,600
jeebies and one of those things they will say is if your intuition is off get out because you have

1073
01:14:21,600 --> 01:14:26,080
a lot more senses when you're in the elements than you think you do especially when you're in like a

1074
01:14:26,080 --> 01:14:31,280
a very contained space of nature your instincts start kicking in and you see a splash you see

1075
01:14:31,280 --> 01:14:35,840
something in the water you feel something weird you know what I mean your body kicks on stuff that

1076
01:14:35,840 --> 01:14:39,440
your brain doesn't even know yet so it might be worth getting out and checking just to make sure

1077
01:14:39,440 --> 01:14:44,640
everything's right you see birds hitting fish right near you you know little fish big fish big

1078
01:14:44,640 --> 01:14:48,560
fish follows a little fish just be aware you know what I mean like there's things that are

1079
01:14:48,560 --> 01:14:53,280
preventable but just by understanding of what's going on around you but again though like

1080
01:14:54,240 --> 01:14:58,160
sometimes time and circumstances like it's happened to multiple people that I know and they weren't

1081
01:14:58,160 --> 01:15:02,320
doing anything wrong it just happens you know like my friend passed my other friend lost his leg

1082
01:15:02,320 --> 01:15:05,920
I know another I know multiple people that are just like I actually know them it's not that I've

1083
01:15:05,920 --> 01:15:10,000
heard of them I actually know them so it's like it can happen you know what I mean I've only been

1084
01:15:10,000 --> 01:15:19,280
bumped in Florida of all places I was surfing in Palm Beach about mid-center between Reef Road and

1085
01:15:19,280 --> 01:15:24,240
then like say like the Bath and Tennis there's like the Mar-a-Lago area all over there I found

1086
01:15:24,240 --> 01:15:28,880
like an outside spot when I was like 19 I was lifeguarding down there to make some money and a

1087
01:15:28,880 --> 01:15:33,120
start I think it was sardines I'm not too sure so long ago but there was a run of fish and the pile

1088
01:15:33,120 --> 01:15:38,320
went through me and a bull shark just hit me like like physically hit me on my leg and I had already

1089
01:15:38,320 --> 01:15:44,800
thought I was bit and I literally sprint paddled like 200 yards back to shore still thinking I got

1090
01:15:44,800 --> 01:15:48,400
hit not looking because I knew I had to get back when I got back I just had a big whelp and the

1091
01:15:48,400 --> 01:15:53,440
thing didn't have its jaws open it's just the body hit me so hard so I was like yeah it's I had that

1092
01:15:53,440 --> 01:15:58,720
adrenaline spike of like I was not calm and cool I was you know shit in a brick to be honest with

1093
01:15:58,720 --> 01:16:07,680
you it's a scary thing I had a bizarre impact body surfing a while ago and I had this strange

1094
01:16:08,640 --> 01:16:12,560
it did it was I mean there was a bruise it was a graze but it was like the pain I've never felt

1095
01:16:12,560 --> 01:16:17,440
for I never thought about that what if I actually got pumped probably not I was shy shallow but

1096
01:16:17,440 --> 01:16:21,920
really big they're just aggressive you know what I mean like Makos usually will leave you alone

1097
01:16:21,920 --> 01:16:27,120
hammerheads will usually the bulls the bulls in Florida like that scares me that new Samurda

1098
01:16:27,120 --> 01:16:31,120
thing the whole like there's a hundred guys surf and I'm looking at all of them they're crazier than

1099
01:16:31,120 --> 01:16:35,040
the guys that surf pipe because I'm like I surfed it once and you can have it I'm good

1100
01:16:37,360 --> 01:16:41,680
All right well you mentioned Barefoot Brigade so I want to talk about where to find everything

1101
01:16:41,680 --> 01:16:46,640
that you do first but what about other books are there books that you love to recommend to people?

1102
01:16:49,680 --> 01:16:55,600
I just bought my daughter the talent code I've read it before talent codes I forgot the author

1103
01:16:55,600 --> 01:17:00,640
I'm just blanking right now so she's reading that and I got her soul surfer which was Bethany

1104
01:17:00,640 --> 01:17:04,000
Hamilton's book even though it's been out for a while she knows Bethany and I was like you should

1105
01:17:04,000 --> 01:17:10,880
read this like motivational she's kind of a hero like she for me she definitely she's a cool person

1106
01:17:10,880 --> 01:17:15,440
the family friends with all the family but she's a great person talent code is cool because it shows

1107
01:17:15,440 --> 01:17:21,440
how like time and effort actually dictates success versus talent it's not always talent it's like

1108
01:17:21,440 --> 01:17:27,440
generic skills but then refined and and just persistence actually trumps everything

1109
01:17:28,400 --> 01:17:33,840
I'm actually writing my second book my first one was a novel that I did for I think I told you why

1110
01:17:33,840 --> 01:17:38,480
I wrote that book originally is I had a bad concussion and I use it as a way to reorganize

1111
01:17:38,480 --> 01:17:44,240
my my brain and my structure so I wrote the novel so I could have like a more of a goal but this one

1112
01:17:44,240 --> 01:17:51,040
is totally different the working title is Come Hell or High Water and it's basically the story

1113
01:17:51,040 --> 01:17:57,520
of it's basically an autobiography but it's it's how I built skills over time to deal with stress

1114
01:17:57,520 --> 01:18:04,160
that I think could help other people and I'm going to use that hopefully to launch the funding from

1115
01:18:04,160 --> 01:18:09,280
my wife's non-profit I want to use the funding that comes from that book to help people stress

1116
01:18:09,280 --> 01:18:13,760
manage understand like we all deal with some heavy circumstances there's ways to mitigate it it's not

1117
01:18:13,760 --> 01:18:20,320
always perfect but you can do it but she wants to fund a study she's a she's a biologist scientist

1118
01:18:20,320 --> 01:18:27,280
and she also is a scent detection specialist with canines and we would like to work with canines to

1119
01:18:27,280 --> 01:18:33,520
do early detection for neuroblastoma specifically so that way young children that you know with

1120
01:18:33,520 --> 01:18:38,400
between urinalysis and saliva they could pick up because they can do this with other cancers

1121
01:18:38,400 --> 01:18:43,040
specifically for neuroblastoma has never been done so we want to work with different hospitals and

1122
01:18:43,040 --> 01:18:47,920
and get samples from willing participants to see if the dogs can pick up on this for early

1123
01:18:47,920 --> 01:18:52,400
detection because there really is no early detection it's like you walk in with inflammation

1124
01:18:52,400 --> 01:18:56,560
and then all of a sudden you're thrust into the craziest scenario of your life and you're stage

1125
01:18:56,560 --> 01:19:01,120
four versus as if you know like you know because you're not you're not going to just arbitrarily

1126
01:19:01,120 --> 01:19:05,840
give a two-year-old an MRI or CAT scan and the radiation all that extra stuff that you don't want

1127
01:19:05,840 --> 01:19:11,600
to do you need it at one point but if there's a way to kind of go like preemptively find these

1128
01:19:11,600 --> 01:19:16,720
neuroblastoma cells and and through you know very simple methods of a canine's nose we want to see

1129
01:19:16,720 --> 01:19:21,120
and prove a concept we think it can work and we want to figure out funding for that it's not cheap

1130
01:19:21,120 --> 01:19:25,600
so i'm going to write this book altruistically to give people stress management tools but then

1131
01:19:25,600 --> 01:19:29,360
use it as a catalyst to help more people on the back end that are dealing with what we deal with

1132
01:19:29,360 --> 01:19:33,440
so look out for that i'm going to try to get it done in the next six months we'll see if i can do it

1133
01:19:34,160 --> 01:19:40,480
amazing i just finished my second one so yeah it's it's a it's a fight isn't it yeah it's a fight

1134
01:19:40,480 --> 01:19:45,760
exactly and when now i have one i had my daughter was an infant when i wrote my first one so i'd

1135
01:19:45,760 --> 01:19:51,600
write during naps it's like okay i got two hours now i got two kids i'm like okay i might be talking

1136
01:19:51,600 --> 01:19:56,160
to my phone and then refining it you know what i mean it's gonna it's gonna be a trip but it's

1137
01:19:56,160 --> 01:20:01,360
a goal so i'll get it done brilliant yeah you talked about bethany hamilton my son was reading

1138
01:20:01,360 --> 01:20:06,800
soul surfer i think he was around around the same age about 10 because uh maybe a little bit older

1139
01:20:06,800 --> 01:20:12,080
but anyway she came on we were doing the zoom call and uh he came in and talked to her for a few

1140
01:20:12,080 --> 01:20:17,360
minutes and i literally became the world's coolest dad after that because that's right but i need to

1141
01:20:17,360 --> 01:20:22,240
get her back on i know uh you know her perspective even even of the pandemic was uh was a very

1142
01:20:22,240 --> 01:20:27,440
powerful one that i got to check it out that'd be cool yeah she was amazing all right well then

1143
01:20:27,440 --> 01:20:32,560
she's a great person this is a really good person she is she and again just seeing i mean you see

1144
01:20:32,560 --> 01:20:37,440
us in a documentary as well but not only coming back as an adaptive athlete but going like no no

1145
01:20:37,440 --> 01:20:41,840
i'm just gonna go surf with everyone else again and you know just tow me into that god knows how

1146
01:20:41,840 --> 01:20:49,040
big wave and i'll just do it we went on really yeah so her brother and then matahi uh was a

1147
01:20:49,040 --> 01:20:54,720
tahitian surfer was her safety in dark in the i'm not kidding in the dark she packed a 12-footer

1148
01:20:54,720 --> 01:20:59,040
that the footage couldn't pick up because it was so gray and she just did it for her own pride

1149
01:20:59,040 --> 01:21:03,280
and like a 12-foot wave of chopper you saw that like with gabriel mendia it was the same size wave

1150
01:21:03,280 --> 01:21:08,480
and she went for it and then if you look in fiji she actually competed and she won some heats

1151
01:21:08,480 --> 01:21:15,280
which is like it's mind-blowing like it's it's absolutely mind she's a champ she really is well

1152
01:21:15,280 --> 01:21:20,320
speaking of you know the film side what about films and documentaries any of those that you love

1153
01:21:21,680 --> 01:21:26,720
films i always go it's probably because i haven't had time to find much new but gattaca was always

1154
01:21:26,720 --> 01:21:32,720
my uh like go-to when i was a kid because i'm not very gifted like when you like i'm athletic

1155
01:21:32,720 --> 01:21:37,120
but very i would say like i'm like on a scale like a 10 i'm probably like a five or six i'm not like

1156
01:21:37,120 --> 01:21:43,120
a freak athlete but i i have a i'm pretty knuckleheaded where you tell me i can't do something

1157
01:21:43,120 --> 01:21:47,760
and that that storyline was all about like somebody who had to get all the genetics just gifted to him

1158
01:21:47,760 --> 01:21:52,800
through a gene line and the designer baby versus brother who didn't have any of that was myopic had

1159
01:21:52,800 --> 01:21:59,440
like eye issues had physical issue had asthma had all these issues but he always beat his brother

1160
01:21:59,440 --> 01:22:04,720
um in swim races and that was like their challenge and his brother got couldn't figure out how like

1161
01:22:04,720 --> 01:22:08,960
he's just better he's built better and he was i never i never saved anything for the swim back

1162
01:22:08,960 --> 01:22:13,760
like it's like just show it like the the concept is like if you give your all you're going to beat

1163
01:22:13,760 --> 01:22:18,800
someone that has has just like this natural ability because they're going to give up by will and if

1164
01:22:18,800 --> 01:22:23,760
your will is stronger you can you can do a lot more with it so i i still go back to that there's a lot

1165
01:22:23,760 --> 01:22:28,480
of other you know really cool things i've seen lately um but yeah that's the one i always go to

1166
01:22:29,360 --> 01:22:34,560
brilliant now you recommended last time we spoke when i asked about guest suggestions it was

1167
01:22:34,560 --> 01:22:39,680
peter comroy who came on and then craig davison i think was your recommendation too who had yeah

1168
01:22:39,680 --> 01:22:45,280
was amazing and obviously a fellow stuntman too so asking the same question now is there a person

1169
01:22:45,280 --> 01:22:50,320
you'd recommend to come on this podcast as a guest to speak to the first responders military

1170
01:22:50,320 --> 01:22:57,280
and associated professionals of the world trying to think so brian canelana is always at the top

1171
01:22:57,280 --> 01:23:02,080
of my list he's he's usually busy with production so you never know but i know he might be at a gap

1172
01:23:02,080 --> 01:23:07,440
now between shooting because he's he's uh he's an amazing person he got offered to be the captain

1173
01:23:07,440 --> 01:23:13,760
of ocean safety on the west side and he was very deserving of it and and uh he already was essentially

1174
01:23:13,760 --> 01:23:18,480
the captain in everyone's mind at that time he designed a lot of programs with my uncle like we

1175
01:23:18,480 --> 01:23:22,240
call them uncles there but like terry ahui they designed the jet ski program and then he moved

1176
01:23:22,240 --> 01:23:28,800
during uh water world into the water safety and he's went all the way from being like a stunt

1177
01:23:28,800 --> 01:23:34,560
coordinator and a rigger all the way on a directing now he's directing the show so to see someone that

1178
01:23:34,560 --> 01:23:40,160
that that can win in one playing field move all the way into another playing field and then operate

1179
01:23:40,160 --> 01:23:45,680
at the highest level it's pretty amazing and his son is is following in his footsteps and doing very

1180
01:23:45,680 --> 01:23:50,640
cool stuff as well so brian is just he's exceptional he's a good he's actually the main thing about all

1181
01:23:50,640 --> 01:23:55,360
the kailan is that are family friends at this point nolan his nephews they're all and kioni

1182
01:23:55,360 --> 01:24:00,400
and all the guys there and uh brandon they're all family to me but him is like kind of the patriarch

1183
01:24:00,400 --> 01:24:05,040
of that family and with his dad uh buffalo kailan who's a legend as well the first life guard at

1184
01:24:05,040 --> 01:24:10,400
macaque that family just has there's there's so dynamic and so many things they do that you

1185
01:24:10,400 --> 01:24:15,680
could just pick their brain about like i call like nolan uh he's like you know like the in case of

1186
01:24:15,680 --> 01:24:20,960
emergency break glass like they have genius the family has genius and elements where most people

1187
01:24:20,960 --> 01:24:27,280
don't even like no like the guy nolan was on a trip with the hokulea from tahiti to hawaii and their

1188
01:24:27,280 --> 01:24:32,080
desalinization machine broke and he took you can't drink water on a sailboat in the middle of the

1189
01:24:32,080 --> 01:24:37,760
pacific you're gonna die he took it apart put it back together and just figured it out you know

1190
01:24:37,760 --> 01:24:42,880
what i mean and it's like he might not be your guy you want doing your hr and your it at some

1191
01:24:42,880 --> 01:24:49,280
company but when the s hits the f like those guys know how to figure it out and they're like

1192
01:24:49,280 --> 01:24:56,080
they're they've been extremely um influential in my life because the things that i give credence

1193
01:24:56,080 --> 01:25:01,440
to of skills that i wanted to learn and i didn't have i could go to them and kind of just shadow

1194
01:25:01,440 --> 01:25:06,400
and they never they never they're they're all about giving away the knowledge for free as far

1195
01:25:06,400 --> 01:25:11,440
as water safety so that's where nod came from is like i want to perpetuate that i never want to like

1196
01:25:11,440 --> 01:25:15,840
have something that i could help someone with and and like put it behind a paywall they've never

1197
01:25:15,840 --> 01:25:20,080
done that they just go like yeah if you need it we got it and i think they're they're extremely

1198
01:25:20,080 --> 01:25:23,920
admirable for that and same with terry who he very cut from the same cloth kind of thing

1199
01:25:24,960 --> 01:25:30,000
brilliant yeah brian um i know i think craig and uh his wife were trying to help me connect with

1200
01:25:30,000 --> 01:25:35,040
him i did have his number but i hadn't uh probably again i was probably reaching out at the wrong

1201
01:25:35,040 --> 01:25:39,920
time so i need to circle around and revisit that and i got a really good guy in new jersey too

1202
01:25:39,920 --> 01:25:47,200
uh matt giacetti he owns a um he was a former lifeguard he's a medic and he uh is helping with

1203
01:25:47,200 --> 01:25:52,800
this fox thing to promote that that bill 41 uh he has a company called life force another training

1204
01:25:52,800 --> 01:25:59,920
organization but he's very passionate about life saving and uh lifeguarding emt he's seen a lot of

1205
01:25:59,920 --> 01:26:04,000
stuff you know what i mean like because i was in emt when i first came back to new jersey to get

1206
01:26:04,000 --> 01:26:09,760
my family going and i will say it's out of all the things i've seen in fires probably but on the

1207
01:26:09,760 --> 01:26:15,440
volume that emt see one they're way underpaid to the stress management the lifestyle is totally

1208
01:26:15,440 --> 01:26:21,840
different i give it up to emt's because they see it all and it's pretty heavy and he's you know

1209
01:26:21,840 --> 01:26:25,920
still involved in lifeguarding but he's very medically sound with all the experience he has

1210
01:26:25,920 --> 01:26:30,640
he's just a good guy to talk to just about you know first response in general brilliant i'd love

1211
01:26:30,640 --> 01:26:35,840
to connect with him as well then okay i'll put you two together awesome thank you all right well

1212
01:26:35,840 --> 01:26:39,440
then the very last question before we make sure where everyone knows where to find your books

1213
01:26:39,440 --> 01:26:46,560
and your projects what you do to decompress uh jujitsu and surfing yeah mainly i i train every

1214
01:26:46,560 --> 01:26:52,000
day no matter what like i don't care what's going on if i have 20 minutes i'm working out just because

1215
01:26:52,000 --> 01:26:58,080
it puts me at like an even keel but jujitsu i think is something that more first responders should do

1216
01:26:58,080 --> 01:27:02,960
just because it's moving meditation you can't do two things at once not everyone has access to

1217
01:27:02,960 --> 01:27:08,560
surfing but these days everyone can you know train and grappling and jujitsu and for a guy like me

1218
01:27:08,560 --> 01:27:13,040
it's like one of those things is like one we got to get rid of our ego a lot and it's the greatest

1219
01:27:13,040 --> 01:27:17,280
way to humble yourself because you're never the you're never going to be the guy in every room

1220
01:27:17,280 --> 01:27:22,240
there's just it's just impossible and the levels are just so there's so many levels to it that it's

1221
01:27:22,240 --> 01:27:26,720
just like i'm never going to quit jujitsu because it's just even if i'm the old man at 70 just like

1222
01:27:27,280 --> 01:27:31,200
you know helping out doing light rolls with the white belts i'm going to be a part of it because

1223
01:27:31,200 --> 01:27:36,000
it's just it's a it's another great community like first responders surfing or lifeguarding that

1224
01:27:36,000 --> 01:27:41,440
it just helps your other part of your life i couldn't agree more all right well then for

1225
01:27:41,440 --> 01:27:46,160
people listening where can they find the books never off duty and any other places you want to

1226
01:27:46,160 --> 01:27:52,240
direct them to so never up to you dot org you can buy the barefoot brigade book there or on amazon

1227
01:27:52,960 --> 01:27:57,840
all the funds go to it's like a tom shoe you buy one we give one so we just we roll it in so say

1228
01:27:57,840 --> 01:28:03,120
the book is five dollars it costs around 250 to produce we purchase another one give it out to a

1229
01:28:03,120 --> 01:28:07,520
school we do have equipment on there we have gear we're coming out with different like funny t-shirts

1230
01:28:07,520 --> 01:28:12,960
like we've got like a listen to metal and save lives like all these just funny t-shirts like

1231
01:28:12,960 --> 01:28:16,480
one-offs more for the lifeguards because lifeguarding is kind of a community like that

1232
01:28:16,480 --> 01:28:23,440
my books on amazon my new book i'm doing it totally differently i'm just i already have the outline

1233
01:28:23,440 --> 01:28:28,640
and i'm shopping it i want someone to produce it the right way and get not bootstrap but i want it

1234
01:28:28,640 --> 01:28:35,040
to be done the right way because the end goal is to give people skill sets but also to save lives

1235
01:28:35,040 --> 01:28:39,600
downstream so i want to make sure that i can get the revenue and do the right thing with it and

1236
01:28:40,160 --> 01:28:44,640
and if i'm going to put my life and expose all the things that i've been through and how i've

1237
01:28:44,640 --> 01:28:50,240
managed it and how i've learned i want there to be a net benefit to multiple people so i have to do

1238
01:28:50,240 --> 01:28:55,120
it strategically so that's not going to be out probably until spring of next year i would say

1239
01:28:55,120 --> 01:29:01,040
but look forward and i'm sure i'll get somewhere brilliant well i want to thank you again i mean

1240
01:29:01,040 --> 01:29:05,280
you know we've obviously gone back and forth since the the first interview and then your family has

1241
01:29:05,280 --> 01:29:10,160
been through some incredibly hard times and i'm so glad to hear that everything's looking really

1242
01:29:10,160 --> 01:29:15,040
good again but uh i want to thank you so much for being so generous with your time and coming on the

1243
01:29:15,040 --> 01:29:19,440
behind the shield podcast today oh appreciate and good luck with everything you're doing a great job

1244
01:29:19,440 --> 01:29:30,320
we appreciate what you do