The numbers were dismal yesterday.

“Last year, we had about 40 people,” said a Kaua‘i Ocean Safety Bureau instructor. “This year, there’re only a dozen of them. But then, everyone might just show up tomorrow.”

Only a dozen prospects showed up at the opening day for the Kaua‘i Junior Lifeguard program at the Lydgate site.

Working through the normal paperwork, the group moved right into hands-on learning by running the length of the park’s south shoreline.

“It could be the shortened summer,” said veteran water safety officer Roy Yamagata, about school schedules, who was standing in for Cleve Zarbaugh who normally heads the program at Lydgate. “But students can bring their paperwork to the first day at whatever site they choose to attend. All they need is to have the waiver form signed.”

Yamagata said, normally Po‘ipu and Hanalei are the popular sites and those sites are not scheduled to begin until the week of July 9 through July 13.

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(Source: Dennis Fujimoto, Kauai Garden Island News)