HOBE SOUND — Pennsylvania natives Bryan Theiss and Christina Gillin first met nine years ago while working as lifeguards on a beach in Ocean City, N.J.

Married since April, the couple recently started the first private lifeguard service in the Treasure Coast. Bryan Theiss is an emergency medical technician and ocean rescue lifeguard for Palm Beach County.

“I love saving people. It’s the best feeling,” Theiss said.

“Lifeguarding is in my blood,” he said. “My father was a lifeguard, managed a pool and was my high school swim coach.”

Theiss nicknamed his wife “Gills,” a play on her maiden name and swimming ability. From age 4 through college, Christina was a competitive swimmer and has been a swim instructor since she was 15. More recently, she was aquatics manager for The Beach Club in Palm Beach.

Besides their lifeguarding service, Christina also runs a traveling swim school, so they named the business Swim With Gills.

Kristen Ongel, owner of Tiny Bubbles Aquatic Academy, a swimming school in Port St. Lucie, said she wasn’t aware of any other private lifeguard service in the Treasure Coast. Larry Russell, vice president of the U.S. Lifesaving Association’s Palm Beach chapter, said he didn’t know of any, either.

Russell recently hired Theiss and his assistant, Chase Robertson, to work as lifeguards Tuesday for the association’s first Battle of the Paddle, three lifeguard-style races at Jupiter Inlet.

Russell, who also is a rescue lifeguard for Palm Beach County, said he hired Theiss for his skills and professionalism. Theiss had been a top competitor in such races. Russell said he knew “the type of lifeguarding skills he has and how good a job he would do.”

Russell also hired Christina Theiss, who has a master’s degree in photojournalism from Syracuse University, to chronicle the event with photos.

“It’s something we can work together doing,” Christina Theiss said. “We love kids. We get to work parties for adults, but a lot of them are for kids.”

The biggest investment they made in their business is a fairly hefty annual premium for pool facility insurance that is “portable” for wherever they lifeguard or teach. Bryan Theiss said the insurance is more for credibility than liability.

They also bought projection equipment to be able to show “dive-in movies” at pool parties.

Starting out, they set their rates low at $29 per hour per guard, with a three-hour minimum. A similar service in Broward County that is not insured and only works at pools, not beaches, would charge $140 per guard for three hours.

“We want to make it affordable and get our name out there,” Christina Theiss said.

SWIM WITH GILLS

Hobe Sound residents Bryan and Christina Theiss have a traveling swimming school and recently added a private lifeguard service for pool and beach parties and other waterborne events. They can be contacted through their Web site,

http://www.swimwithgills.com, or by phone at (561) 222-6457.

Paul Ivice

Tags: beach club, emt, gills, kids, lifeguard, ocean rescue, Palm Beach County, parties, pool, swim instructor, swim with gills

This entry was posted on Monday, November 2nd, 2009 at 11:07 am and is filed under Hobe Sound, Port St. Lucie, Treasure Coast business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.