“There is nothing like being outside and on the water every day. I can’t imagine doing anything else,” says Cameron Abel, a Long Beach Marine Safety officer. On New Year’s Eve, Abel and his rescue team were positioned at the bottom of the barge for Travis Pastrana’s world-record jump at Rainbow Harbor. “My team was ready to go just in case the jump didn’t go according to plan. It was a great overall experience for our team and for Long Beach, with about 50,000 spectators on hand for it,” he recalls.
Born in Cincinnati, Abel moved to Catalina Island at age two. When he was three, he learned to swim in Avalon Harbor. “I always grew up in and around the water. I can remember at a young age watching the Avalon Harbor Patrol and idolizing those guys and thinking how cool it was that they got to work on a boat every day,” he says. As a high-school student at Wilson, Abel played water polo and swam with some of the best players in the nation. “During the summers my friends and I for fun would participate in the Long Beach Junior Lifeguards program. That was the first time that I got a good taste of what lifeguarding was about,” he says.
At 16, Abel tried out to be a part-time lifeguard and was accepted. Even at such a young age, he could sense the huge responsibility he had toward saving lives. Eventually, he could see himself doing it as a career. “People often view lifeguarding as a kick-back job that people do in the summer. The truth is, we are responsible for marine fires, hazardous waste treatments, LA River rescues and so many other things that go unnoticed to the public,” he says. Abel attends CSULB with the hopes of taking on a more administrative position within his department. “It has been great for me to look at my life and my experiences as a lover of the ocean, and to realize that all of my life has prepared me for what I do today,” he says. “I take great confidence in the fact that I am made to do what I love.” SCOTT JONES
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