When Spencer Pirdy nears the final stretch of the 30-mile Catalina crossing, he and the other paddlers always stop for a moment to pay tribute, looking south to where lifeguard Ben Carlson was last seen in the sea.
“We’re all tired. But you get another wave of energy when you hit the beach, knowing what you’ve just completed and what you’ve done it for,” Pirdy said. “I always tear up at the end, when we are together at the end of the pier before we make the 20-yard dash in. You look south at where Ben passed away at 15th Street, you realize he made the ultimate sacrifice.”
Pirdy will be joined by the largest group yet for the annual Ben Did Go Catalina Crossing fundraiser, now in its sixth year, with an estimated 50 or so paddlers preparing to cross the channel Saturday, Sept. 11.
Carlson died July 6, 2014 during a rescue on south of the Newport Beach Pier. He was able to get the distressed swimmer to the rescue boat, but the longtime lifeguard then disappeared under the wild waves of a big swell.
Since Carlson’s death, the city has honored his legacy in many ways, including with a statue that stands looking out toward the water and dedicating the lifeguard headquarters at the pier in his name.
“What he did, he’s the real hero. That’s why we push ourselves,” Pirdy said. “We pay respect to the statue and celebrate in his honor.”
But the grueling paddle, dubbed the Ben Did Go 6.0 this year, is more than a personal feat for the paddlers. It’s also a way to give back, a fundraiser for the Ben Carlson Memorial and Scholarship Foundation that aims at improving water safety here and at beaches around the world.
With more paddlers this year, the fundraising goal has also doubled, with the foundation hoping to reach $70,000. As of Thursday afternoon, about $45,000 had been raised.
The foundation provides $30,000 in college scholarships each year, handed out to three lifeguard recipients who show leadership and academic excellence and a passion for lifesaving similar to Carlson’s.
The foundation also supports an international resource program with equipment such as buoys and fins and demonstrations for underprivileged communities, including at Puerto Escondido, a surf spot Carlson and Pirdy would often frequent when the surf was big. The foundation has also given similar donations to South African coastal communities.
“His foundation saves lives every summer,” Pirdy said. “That’s what we’re all about.”
The foundation this year also donated to families of two lifeguards who lost their lives, one in New Jersey who died during a training accident and another struck by lightning.
“Ben might have been the first, but these tragedies continue, so we will continue to support the families and community in these sort of circumstances,” said John Moore, a board member for the foundation and a fellow Newport Beach lifeguard.
Later this year the foundation will resume its Water Safety Summit, canceled last year by the coronavirus pandemic, though with a smaller group. It will focus on building a water safety coalition and a state water safety plan that will include various agencies that watch over pools, open water, rivers, lakes and oceans, Moore said.
But first, the paddle.
The group will depart Catalina at White’s Cove before sunlight, sometime between 3:30 and 4 a.m., with most of them able to make it to the Newport Pier within eight or nine hours, depending on conditions.
Many of the paddlers are lifeguards.
“From the lifeguarding standpoint, for eight hours you can be by yourself on the ocean and reflect that summer is gone, what Ben means to you,” Moore said. “You go through a whole process during the eight-hour endurance event.”
Pirdy said he’s grateful for the community for stepping up, with donations big and small coming in, including a $10,000 contribution from local realtor Andrew Nahin and his family.
Typically, the event happens in July, but with coronavirus pandemic concerns still lingering, the paddle was pushed to September. It’s fitting to hold the event on Sept. 11, since it’s a day to honor first responders, Pirdy said.
“Ben was such a great friend, he was such a stud athlete and such a nice, kind person, wanting to help out everyone,” Pirdy said. “It really rubbed on me, what he stood for. I’m just trying to perpetuate that.”
For more information, go to bencarlsonfoundation.org
This post first appeared on ocregister.com
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