We re going to need to get helicopters in the air and we re going to need to illuminate. We ll need someone out there on the jetty popping flares for us. We re going to be busy. Baptism As in the days of wooden surfboats and beach rescues, training is the backbone of a surf crew. Potential surfman start out as standard small-boat drivers called coxswains, which, in itself, requires more than a year of training.
Coxswains are well qualified to meet the demands at most stations, even in heavy weather conditions.
However, inlets with surf zones like Umpqua river, demand more intensive training. Only a small percentage of coxswains go on to participate in the more than two-year training process needed to become a surfman. Trainees are taught according to the conditions of each individual unit. They learn the nature of the inlet as well as what to do, how to do it and when to do it. Hours are spent proving themselves in the surf.