As an El Segundo Junior Lifeguard, attending the International Surf Festival lifeguard competitions, Coral Kemp dreamed of competing for the Wieland Shield.
The biennial Wieland Shield competition began in 1967 during a competitive and educational exchange between California and Victoria, Australia lifeguards.
During Friday’s Wieland Shield competition, Kemp, who became an LA County lifeguard in 2007, exceeded her JG dreams in the paddleboard relay when she and teammate Holly Maine opened up a gap for the California team that the Victorians were never able to close. Kemp and Maine attributed their paddleboard victory to knee paddling, a skill the Australian women, who paddled prone, are sure to learn before the next Wieland Shield competition.
Spectators lined the Hermosa Beach Pier overlooking the competition, which included surf skis, swimming, and simulated rescues, in addition to paddleboarding.
In the men’s competition, Victoria held the lead from the start, when Victoria’s Harvey Larke placed first in the swim, defeating California’s top swimmer, LA County Lifeguard Alexander Cole, winner of the 2024 Surf Festival Pier to Pier swim.
But the California women’s dominance in paddleboarding, ironwoman and surf ski races ensured the Victorian Red Gum wood Wieland Shield perpetual trophy would remain in California for the next few years. Victoria won the previous three Wieland Shield competitions, most recently in 2024 in Ocean Grove, Victoria.
“It’s a super fun weekend because we’re generally working in the towers all summer long,” said California team paddler Jake Miller. “This is an opportunity to showcase our skills to the community.”
“These are the absolute best life-saving competitors in the state of California and these are the best men and women from Victoria,” said California team coach and LA County Lifeguard Brian Murphy.
The California women’s team included Sae Ackerstein (Santa Cruz), Claire Kelly (Laguna), Coral Kemp (LA County), Sasha Hemmens (Cal State), Holly Maine (LA County) and Montana White (Cal State).
The California men’s team included Stephen Blaauw (LA County), Alexander Cole (LA County), Hayden Hemmens (Cal State), Roman Higgins (Call State), Jake Miller (LA County) and Lukas Pohlman (LA County).
During the Victoria team’s visit they toured lifeguard towers from Huntington Beach to Zuma.
Unlike California lifeguards, the Victorian Lifesavers are volunteers drawn from beach clubs along their coast. LA County Lifeguards serve over 10 million people in LA County. Last year LA lifeguards performed 7,500 rescues and responded to over 13,000 medical calls.
Victoria lifeguards typically protect rural, and remote beaches.
“They use helicopters a lot more than we do because they’re covering a lot of distance,” Miller said. “When we go down there, they take us on the helicopters and show us all the cool things that they do.”
Reidel Smith, Captain for the Wieland Shield Victoria team, said in Australia there are designated swim areas.
“Here, you can swim anywhere because you have lifeguard towers every couple hundred meters,” she said. ER
