Photos by Oliver Hamlin for WSB

On Saturday, Colman Pool on the Lincoln Park shore officially opens for the year, and one last work party today got it ready. Photojournalist Oliver Hamlin was there for WSB. Above, lifeguards Rommel D (left) and Patrick K dismantle an old lane line before discarding it in a dumpster outside the pool. This year Colman Pool has new lane lines and reels thanks to a donation from the Greater Seattle Swimming Association. You can see them in the next photo, behind Aquatic Technical Supervisor Robert Danielson preparing the diving board:

Lifeguard Patrick K tested out the diving board after installation:

Another kind of board was also addressed today – the protective wooden boards were removed from the Plexiglas around the pool (we showed you a reader photo of the work in progress earlier).

Other work was done inside. Below, Aquatic Center Coordinator Wendy Van De Sompele points toward the filtration system in the Colman Pool pump room. The pump room contains a mix of newer and original pipes from the 1940s.

These are the wells that bring Puget Sound water into Colman Pool, visible during low tide today. The pool can only be filled during high tide, meaning sometimes work must get done in the middle of the night.

Colman Pool celebrated its milestone 75th anniversary nine years ago. This year, as we first reported last month, it’ll be open for “preseason weekends” through mid-June, then seven days a week (except for swim-meet closures June 26-28 and July 18-19) through September 1, and two “postseason weekends” after that. For those who have asked about the slide, it’s only open during private events; they’re keeping it out of service the rest of the time, Van De Sompele told us, because it gets in the way of lap swimming and creates staffing challenges, and the diving board is considered a more accessible feature to keep open.

See the pool schedule here; plus, you can get a sneak peek at the pool during Friday night’s West Seattle Water Polo matches starting at 6:20 pm.