MARGATE — Zach Vasser arose from the surf, took a quick look around and then high-stepped it to the beach ahead of his 14 competitors to win the swim and help the host patrol secure victory during the 79th Margate World War II Memorial Lifeguard Races.
“It’s pretty calm and there’s a nice swell that is easy to catch for nice body surfing on the way in,” Vasser said.
It was his third straight win in the event Aug. 4.
“I felt good the whole way. Right past the break I pulled away a little bit but I had a pack with me the whole time,” he said, noting Charles Schreiner of Atlantic City and Dolan Grisbaum of Avalon were right on his heels. “I turned the flag first out there but they were really close. It’s always good having guys like that that I have grown up with close to me, pushing me. It gives me a little more motivation to go faster.”
The competition, which pitted 15 patrols from the South Jersey Lifeguard Chiefs Association against one another in a 1-mile doubles row, half-mile swim and 1,000-foot singles row, was postpone from Aug. 1 due to strong winds and heavy surf that made it too dangerous to compete.
The delay turned out to benefit all as the conditions were perfect — small waves, a temperature in the low 80s with a light breeze beneath a cloudless sky.
The Margate City Beach Patrol’s Chris Spiers placed second in the singles row and he and Bob Bechtel took third in the opening doubles race to secure 12 points and the team win.
Spiers said he was unclear where he had placed in the singles row.
“Waves stacked up behind me luckily; I was in the right spot. Rowed away straight for the first time in a while,” he said.
Spiers said the event usually is decided by the singles row.
“I knew going in that Avalon was up there with the good swim, Atlantic City won, had a good swim. We had a third and won the swim,” he said.
The Avalon Beach Patrol was second with 9 points on the strength of a win in the singles row by Ryan Finnegan and second place in the swim by Ocean City High School graduate Dolan Grisbaum.
“I got a good — I’m notorious for catching good waves at the end,” Grisbaum said, noting it’s a little luck and a little skill. “I know how long to stay on the wave for and when to get up and when to keep going.”
New to ocean racing, OCBP rookie Dante Buannadona took sixth in the swim.
“That was the longest swim I think I’ve ever done, so that was pretty good. I was happy with how I went out. It was pretty busy getting out there and then coming in, was kind of a little bit all over the place,” the 19-year-old said. “I’ve never done any ocean swimming and I didn’t do distance swimming in college.”
The Atlantic City Beach Patrol was third, collecting 8 points from a win in the doubles row by Vince Granese and Nick Guidara and third in the swim by Charles Schreiner.
“The first one we couldn’t get a lot out of but then one lined up for us and I knew that was the one that we had to catch and there was going to be another one behind it for everyone else,” Granese said. “I told Nick to just stay on the oars and I kind of hopped back just to keep us straight on it. If he stopped rowing we would have fallen off of it but he kept rowing, we dropped right in and that was it.”
Guidara, a graduate of Mainland Regional High School from Northfield, said it was a rower’s race.
“When it’s a slightly flatter ocean it favors more the cardio and just the grit that rowers have, and the ocean knowledge is huge too. That’s what makes ocean racing the best; you can come from any background and still be a good rower,” he said.
The Ocean City Beach Patrol finished with 2 points after A.J. Oves took fourth place in the close singles race in which any one of several rowers could have taken the win.
“I have to work on my flag runs a little bit,” Oves said, noting he was first or second but had a poor turn. “Everyone else was able to spin it a little bit quicker than me. I lost a lot of speed there.”
Competitors were looking forward to the South Jersey Championship at 6:30 Aug. 8 in Avalon.
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff
