RINSE AND REPEAT
and beyond, said John Jr. Graduates routinely come back to help run the program, which has served as an employee pipeline for the many town and village ocean beaches in the area. The Ryans were also instrumental in creating the East Hampton Volunteer Ocean Rescue Squad in 2004, certified ocean lifeguards who are on call as first-responders to ocean-related emergencies at beaches without lifeguards or during hours when lifeguards are not on duty. The program has become so legendary, it was the subject of a documentary premiered at the Hamptons International Film Festival in 2019—“Waterproof,” produced by Mae Mougin and directed by Ross Kauffman. Be on the lookout for a showing this summer. “Without the support of the town and the village, these programs wouldn’t exist,” said John Jr. The coordination and involvement of those entities allows the programs to run for what amounts to less than $4 an hour, a cost of just $90 per child for the entirety of the six-week program. “It isn’t about the money, it’s about what we’re giving to the community,” he said. Heroes, indeed.
has been the manager of the Amagansett Beach Association—adjacent to Indian Wells Beach, where his son works—for 35 years. Big John also serves as coordinator of lifeguard training and the junior lifeguard program for the town. Starting the junior lifeguarding program in 1996 has perhaps been the biggest legacy of the Ryans. The low-cost program runs for several weeks in the summer and teaches children ages 9 to 14 ocean safety and awareness—how to safely enter and exit the shore break, how to break the grip of a rip current—as well as the fundamentals of lifeguard drills and rescues. While the program was limited last summer due to COVID-19, it had well over 300 children participating in 2019, with weekend clinics at Indian Wells, Ditch Plains in Montauk, and Main Beach in East Hampton. The Nipper Guards program was added six years ago, for children ages 6 to 8, conducted by John Jr.’s daughter, Haley Ryan, at the bay beach, functioning as an introduction to the junior program. The junior program has had positive ripple effects throughout the East Hampton community
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