All Summer Long captures behind-the-scenes stories of beach culture and life over a span of seven decades (particularly the ’60s and ’70s) as seen and told by lifeguards in their own words. Whether you are a beachgoer or one of the few who has guarded our shores, many of these accounts will bring back memories of good days gone by.
Author Gordon Hesse lifeguarded for ten years on the beaches of New Jersey and Florida. Based on his own experiences and interviews with nearly three dozen men and women lifeguards (most from Lavallette, a small coastal town on the Jersey Shore), All Summer Long is a compilation of beach tales and lore that traces the evolution of lifeguarding on the Atlantic.
Drawn from a long oral tradition, these first-person accounts and recollections tell of triumphs and tragedies and offer insight into lifeguarding’s heritage, training, hazing rituals, friendships, and social scene. Also, some of the significant changes in guarding are discussed, including the introduction and acceptance of women as ocean lifeguards.
Readers will meet these lively and interesting personalities and be transported to the beach, rowing through the waves on Hankins surfboats, looking for elusive sharks and other sea life, observing the crowds, and saving lives—culminating in "The Big Rescue," a massive Labor Day rescue involving dozens of victims.
From interviews and letters, Gordon Hesse artfully weaves the voices of these men and woman as they speak not only about lifeguarding but a full spectrum of human experience. Their words tell of growing up as children of the dunes and coming of age on the beach; they range from the serious to the light and breezy, from the tragic to the ironic and humorous.
Both profound and profane, from the poetic and sublime to the asinine, from heroic deeds to hedonistic parties and the absurd (and often cruel) humor of youth, and from dramatic rescues to heart-breaking tragedies, these stories of the small but mighty men and women who stood guard on the beach reveal a secret shared experience that has forged a bond between them that will last forever.
