It serves as a perch from which the guards scan their territory, holler through their megaphone and scamper out into the waves on their surf board or wooden paddle boat, something they do every time a beachgoer ventures into the lake. The nexus of their workspace is a steel tower that’s about three metres high. Like Sweeney, they don’t mind watching over the island beach partitioned by a string of thin stakes in the sand that serves as a firm borderline between the realm of the possibly naked and the definitely clothed. It’s really just people relaxing and trying to enjoy their day.”Īlongside Sweeney are Jacki Kicksee and Joe Wevers, each clad in red windbreakers to identify them as lifeguards. “But as the summer goes on, you gain comfort with it. I’d never seen a nude beach in my life,” said Sweeney, who stood watch Thursday afternoon, fully clothed and ready to spring into action should any sunbathers get in trouble. “My very first day at Hanlan’s I was a little uncomfortable. Bare bums speckled with wet sand, dangling appendages and collections of exposed skin that mingle together like Neapolitan ice cream: this is the view from Declan Sweeney’s “office.” He’s a lifeguard at Hanlan’s Point, a stretch of beach on Toronto Island that includes the city’s only “clothing optional” public bathing area.Īs a 19-year-old Ryerson engineering student, it’s quite the summer job.
