A Lifeguard's Rite of Passage: The Oarlock Key

July 29, 2005 — -- In the "By the Boardwalk" series, ABCNEWS.com goes down the Jersey Shore each week to bring you another slice of beach life. In this week's installment we look at the experience of first year guards.

It was Tim Henderson's first day as a lifeguard at Bradley Beach in New Jersey, and the 18-year-old was excited to start a job where he could be active and have fun in the sun every day.

When the veteran guards asked him to go find the keys to the oarlocks, Henderson jumped off the lifeguard bench and trotted toward the neighboring stand, eager to please his new co-workers.

We don't have it, but the guards at the next stand south might, Henderson was told when he arrived.

He trotted off toward the next stand.

Hmmm. The next stand over just came and got them. I think they still have it, he was told by the next set of guards.

Henderson went trotting off to the next stand.

When lifeguard after lifeguard seemed stumped by the location of the keys and kept sending him farther and farther away, Henderson finally realized he had been duped.

"After I got to one stand and everyone started laughing, I just walked back," said Henderson who is now in his second year of lifegaurding.

Ah, the keys to the oarlock. The fictional objects bring smiles to the faces of lifeguards across the country, a whimsical reminder of their own rookie seasons on the beach and the innocent pranks pulled on first-year guards every summer.

Almost every lifeguard has spent fruitless hours hunting for the keys to the oarlock, 50 feet of "shoreline," the "jetty stretcher" or some other purported rescue tool that is just a wild goose chase.

Rookie pranks are practically a rite of passage into the lifeguarding fraternity, where the lighthearted atmosphere is a major reason that people return to the beach year after year. In addition, the pranks are key to bonding the guards together, and creating the atmosphere of teamwork that is essential when faced with a life-or-death rescue.

"It opens the rookies up and makes them relaxed," said Rob Johnson, 25. "If it's more relaxed, it's a better working environment."

When rookies aren't scouring the beaches for the line bucket spindle (on calm days of course; when it's rough they're on the stand watching the water), they can expect to be drilled in different rescue techniques and to learn from veteran guards how to spot rip currents.