For Crane Beach lifeguard Laura Van Schyndel, rescuing swimmers is only part of the job. If you’re sunbathing at Crane Beach this summer and hear random singing, just look up. Chances are it’s coming from lifeguard Laura “Dutch” Van Schyndel. This is the sixth summer that the 22-year-old Ipswich native has been watching the water at Crane, where she’s plucked panicking kids from the surf and helped a drunken, just-crashed jet skier into a rescue boat. Just don’t ask her why Crane’s sand is purple.
What’s the best part about the job? All the people who work [at Crane] are really awesome, and the beach itself is absolutely beautiful. You get to spend eight hours a day in the sun in one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen in my life. I don’t think anyone who works there takes that for granted.
What are the strangest things on the beach? I’ve seen a few really extreme Brazilian-cut thong-type bathing suits and a lot of older guys wearing very small Speedos. I’ve also seen some very interesting inflatable devices that people bring in the water, like giant inflatable animals that we just don’t allow.
What kind of questions do people ask you when you’re on duty? A lot of patrons just come up and ask us questions that aren’t really related to lifeguarding, and we’re supposed to be focused on watching the water. One woman with a really strong Boston accent came up to a lifeguard and said, “I been comin’ here for years, and I ain’t never seen that grass back there!” And she was pointing to the dunes. We said, “Ma’am, we’ve always had dune grass.” Also, everyone always asks why the sand is purple. We’re not ecologists, so we don’t really know, and we just make up answers.
How’d you get the nickname Dutch? My first year, we had an ex-Marine on staff and he referred to everyone by their last name, but he couldn’t pronounce my last name. I told him that I thought my origins were Dutch, so he said, “OK, I’m just gonna call you Dutch.”
What keeps you going back every summer? Some people might get really bored, but I don’t. We usually sit with at least one other person, so you have someone to talk to all day. If we’re alone, we can to listen to music, and I just end up singing to all of the patrons around me. Sometimes they don’t realize where it’s coming from.
Are you a good singer? Yeah, I think so! -Alexandra Pecci