The 37th annual East Hampton Ocean Lifeguard Tournament returned to Main Beach last Thursday, drawing a crowd for an evening of high-stakes, high-energy competition. East Hampton Town’s A team won it all — taking the top spots in both the men’s and women’s divisions. Seven women’s teams participated — East Hampton Town A, East Hampton Town B, East Hampton Village, Southampton Town, Smith Point, Jones Beach, and the Town of Hempstead. Five additional men’s teams took part — the Ocean Rescue Legends, Southampton Village, Westhampton, Fire Island, and Robert Moses.
On the men’s side, the town’s A team captured first place, scoring 71 points. Liam Knight was the M.V.P. Smith Point took second place with 69 points. Jones Beach finished third with 66 points. East Hampton Town’s B team came in fourth, while the village finished ninth.
The town women’s A team won their division handily, with 45 points. Vanessa Rizzo was the women’s M.V.P. Smith Point came in second with 35 points. East Hampton Village took third place, with 33 points. The town’s B team finished fifth.
But the night was never really about winning.
“It’s really the camaraderie of a bunch of towns and villages coming together and showcasing some of our skill sets. And it just brings everyone together,” said Sean Daly, the chief lifeguard for East Hampton Village and one of the tournament directors. “I’m proud of them every day, but today we’ve done great with the relay races, the paddleboard races were exciting, the landline events were great.”
The town men’s A team won the rescue board relay, with incredible performances from the lead paddler Knight, who just graduated from East Hampton High School, and the team’s anchor, Miles Menu, a rising senior, defending their victory from last year.
“The goal was to get as big of a lead as I could so we looked cooler finishing
the race,” Knight said jokingly. “We had a couple of mishaps on the way but we still got it done.”
To get that lead, he tested out a new move he learned at the International Surf Rescue Challenge in New Zealand last November.
“When the wave comes you sit all the way back on the board and point it at a 45-degree angle and the second the wave hits the middle of the board, just pop right up and you go flying over the wave. Those guys turtle the board [which means you hold the board and go under it]. They turn it around and just paddle straight through it and that pushes you back,” he said.
Menu lost his board at the end of the race but still kept his lead.
“If that guy caught the wave, I would’ve been cooked,” he said, laughing. “I like the pressure at the end. It’s good that we followed through and won it. It was sick.”
Earlier in the evening, Brooke Bertrand, a rising college junior who plays lacrosse at the University of Virginia, won the women’s distance run for the third year in a row. She has been an East Hampton Village lifeguard for four years and has only lost the race once, to a fellow East Hampton lifeguard, Dylan Cashin. She and Cashin also compete on the same team for paddleboards and the run-swim-run relay.
“I love to run. I’ve done the Mighty Montauk triathlon two years in a row,” Bertrand said.
When she ran the race in June, Bertrand won her age group, and finished as the sixth female over all. “I’m pretty competitive,” she said.
Daisy Pitches, a town lifeguard who will swim at Marist University this fall, won the women’s distance swim.
Hannah Rosenheck, a second-year village lifeguard, won beach flags, and also helped a swimmer in distress, one of several saves during the tournament that night.
“We knew there were going to be some bad conditions this week. It’s been bigger and people are swimming in the rough,” Rosenheck said. The swimmer was stuck in the rip current but was able to stand by the time she got to him. It was a preventive save, but one that could’ve escalated quickly.
“A swell like this, people love to see it. It’s exciting for everyone. Everyone wants to be in it, but a lot of people don’t know how to handle it. That’s what we’re here for. We’ve had a couple of line saves today, a couple torpedo rescues. We’ve been keeping an eye out,” said Carolina Condon, a lieutenant with the village lifeguards, who reminded all beachgoers this summer that the place to swim is in front of the lifeguards — the ones on the stands, not the ones competing for a little local glory among their peers.
