Meet Your Lifeguard ~ Trevor Mott

By Ricci Paradiso

This third-year Atlantic Beach guard grew up 10 minutes from the beach, in a home that craved summer. Open doors and windows, lemonade stands with the neighbors and the trusty ice cream man, Craig,  made the dark and dreary winter months that much harder to get through.

The only way for Trevor to get through the bitter cold winter was to swim for the East Hampton Hurricanes. Trevor has been swimming for the team since he was 8 and continues to swim today, ten years later. His swimming abilities contributed to his ease in passing the cold-water Ocean Test, the qualifying exam to be a lifeguard.

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Trevor surfing by

Before Trevor was old enough to work, he spent days at Indian Wells Beach, which was his home away from home during the sweltering August days when his open-door home lacked AC.

Not only did Trevor grow up at Indian Wells, but half of his family lives in Montauk, so he spent many hours catching waves at Ditch. The 20-minute drive out doesn’t phase him any more, especially if it means there’s a possibility of a better surf. Trevor spends most free days surfing or looking for waves, and if there’s none, he’s left with bumming at the beach like most locals.

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Trevor competing at the Main Beach Lifeguard Tournament by Laura Mott

Trevor is majoring in marine science at the University of Florida, where the heat doesn’t bother him as much as the grueling one-hour drive to the beach does.

As soon as summer starts, Trevor will be glad to cut that hour drive down to ten minutes and to make the chase for waves a little shorter.