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The danger of walking by the coast in rough seas


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I am in no way trying to draw any comparisons with the tragic death of Keith Morris, there is no official explanation for that, but this video from Meridian TV does graphically illustrate the dangers:

 

https://twitter.com/i/status/1191387427182727169

 

Edited by Harry Harrison
typo
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“A sneaker wave is a wave that is extremely large and usually appears unexpectedly. It can also be termed as a king wave or sleeper wave. These waves are coastal waves that are unexpectedly larger than the previous waves. Sleeper waves are called so because they are sneaky and appear with no warning after periods of smaller waves; pauses that last ten to twenty minutes. They often sweep unsuspecting swimmers out of the sea since they appear unexpectedly. They are also known to carry people standing or walking on the beach into the sea.”

 

I was an unsuspecting victim of one the first time I was by the sea. Luckily I was on a small cliff with the waves well below when the sneaker wave hit and only soaked my legs. Had I been at sea level, I would have been gone. As we moved down the Oregon coast, we came across a seaside large sign warning about these waves. There have been a dozen or more deaths from them in Oregon since 2005.

Betty

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  • 2 weeks later...

It even happens on the Great Lakes. Here in Chicago, people frequently get swept into Lake Michigan and often die. This is a close call from several years ago caught by a news helicopter. You only need to watch the first minute.

 

 

Edited by TABan
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On 16/11/2019 at 15:25, Harry Harrison said:

 

Truly what nightmares are made of.

Totally wave unrelated but water related. When I was about 12, two boys, schoolmates, decided flirting with me was by dunking me in our town’s Olympic-sized swimming pool one summer. I never got a chance to take a full breath before they pushed me underwater again. It seemed like it went on forever, but I’d say about 10 dunks and they held me under for a long time each time.  When they finally let me go, I was gasping and hysterical. I’ve never been so frightened in my life, for my life.


When I told my 15 year old sister, she hunted down those 2 boys, and when she got through with them, they thought they’d gone 10 rounds with the Tasmanian Devil. She peeled the skin off one boy’s back from his neck to his swim trunks with her fingernails. Forever more, they gave me a very wide berth when school started back up. 😄

Never underestimate a furious girl with a mission.

Betty

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1 hour ago, Betty LaRue said:

When I told my 15 year old sister, she hunted down those 2 boys, and when she got through with them, they thought they’d gone 10 rounds with the Tasmanian Devil.

There's a moral in there somewhere, for small boys in particular....

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2 hours ago, Harry Harrison said:

There's a moral in there somewhere, for small boys in particular....

I found at that age, in my town anyway, boys did not know how to relate to girls they liked. At school, I got hit over the head with schoolbooks. No, it wasn’t bullying, but the way they tried to get a girl to notice them. If the girl survived....I think that’s what’s wrong with my neck now.

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1 hour ago, Betty LaRue said:

I found at that age, in my town anyway, boys did not know how to relate to girls they liked. At school, I got hit over the head with schoolbooks. No, it wasn’t bullying, but the way they tried to get a girl to notice them. If the girl survived....I think that’s what’s wrong with my neck now.

 

I believe that's what adults tell girls to try to minimize what's happening to them and to avoid conflicts with nasty boys' often even nastier parents.  I was babysitting a girl who was in a wrist brace for a sprain and ran off a boy who was physically bullying her.  His parents complained to the girl's parents, who decided that their daughter had exaggerated what was going on.

 

The boys who do those things have been told by their parents that it's okay.

 

I've also run off a boy who was bullying a crazy homeless woman here.  And she later tried to give me money.  What the little brat was doing wasn't about liking her, but it was about seeing her rant and rave. 

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2 hours ago, Betty LaRue said:

I found at that age, in my town anyway, boys did not know how to relate to girls they liked. At school, I got hit over the head with schoolbooks. No, it wasn’t bullying, but the way they tried to get a girl to notice them. If the girl survived....I think that’s what’s wrong with my neck now.

Wow, that's barely above the level of dragging girls by the hair back to their caves. I apologise to you on behalf of the male gene

Edited by Avpics
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7 hours ago, MizBrown said:

 

I believe that's what adults tell girls to try to minimize what's happening to them and to avoid conflicts with nasty boys' often even nastier parents.  I was babysitting a girl who was in a wrist brace for a sprain and ran off a boy who was physically bullying her.  His parents complained to the girl's parents, who decided that their daughter had exaggerated what was going on.

 

The boys who do those things have been told by their parents that it's okay.

 

I've also run off a boy who was bullying a crazy homeless woman here.  And she later tried to give me money.  What the little brat was doing wasn't about liking her, but it was about seeing her rant and rave. 

You may be right, Miz Brown. That’s the way I thought about it then, and I believe I was told that’s why boys behaved like that. I’ve just never revisited the whys and wherefores since then.
I happened to develop earlier than every other girl in my grade when this behavior happened. While the other girls were still flat-chested, I wasn’t. So the explanation seemed reasonable to me that this was the reason these boys going through puberty behaved like that. I never responded, and pretended it didn’t happen even when my bell was rung. I was pretty icy and ignored them. Once the other girls caught up to me, the abuse stopped. More heads to crack, or the boys grew up! 😄

As far as bullying goes, it’s reprehensible. There was a boy who sat behind me in elementary school, 5th grade, I would have been 9 because I was promoted from 1st to 3rd grade and didn’t have to take 2nd grade. His family lived in a shack with no running water. David was his name. His family had a water well & pump outside, and had a lot of children. David was dirty, practically dressed in rags and smelled bad. But he was sweet, extremely quiet and polite. I gave him paper and other supplies when he ran out, and put a stop to other kids being cruel to him.
On the last day of school, he gave me everything he had, pencil, eraser, compass, notebook. He had nothing, but what little he had, he gave to me. I didn’t want it, I didn’t need it, but realized he needed to give it to me, so I acted excited, took it and thanked him. There needs to be more kindness in the world. Good for you, defending the old woman.

Avpics, how nice of you.

Betty

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14 hours ago, Betty LaRue said:

Good for you, defending the old woman.

 

Betty

 She's actually younger than I am, but has been out on the streets for years.  People do seem to make sure she had enough clothes (sometimes, she gets given too many clothes) and enough to eat.

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This reminds me of two stupid situations I got myself into. Growing up on the water, I should have known better.

 

In one situation, I was covering flooding and spent about an hour covering a flooded bayou. Everything was fine when I began my walk. I didn't take into account high tide, which arrived while I was walking, effectively cutting me off from my car when I tried to return. As I stood there, debating wading into waist-high water, someone came by in a boat and offered me a ride which I gratefully accepted. 

 

The second situation happened a few months ago while covering a hurricane in Florida. I was a considerable distance from the water but managed to sink down in wet sand up to my thigh (I'm 5'1", so it didn't take a lot.) The harder I tried to free myself, the more the mud sucked me under.

 

All I could think was, if I don't get myself free before the hurricane or high tide, I will drown. There was no one on the beach to help me. It was a terrifying situation.

 

Luckily, my Timberland boots were laced loosely that day (unusual), and I was able to free myself after considerable effort by pulling my feet out of my shoes and crawling. It made me think though. Of all the times I've photographed the water, in 30 years of being a photographer, that has never happened. 

 

 

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15 hours ago, cksisson said:

This reminds me of two stupid situations I got myself into. Growing up on the water, I should have known better.

 

In one situation, I was covering flooding and spent about an hour covering a flooded bayou. Everything was fine when I began my walk. I didn't take into account high tide, which arrived while I was walking, effectively cutting me off from my car when I tried to return. As I stood there, debating wading into waist-high water, someone came by in a boat and offered me a ride which I gratefully accepted. 

 

The second situation happened a few months ago while covering a hurricane in Florida. I was a considerable distance from the water but managed to sink down in wet sand up to my thigh (I'm 5'1", so it didn't take a lot.) The harder I tried to free myself, the more the mud sucked me under.

 

All I could think was, if I don't get myself free before the hurricane or high tide, I will drown. There was no one on the beach to help me. It was a terrifying situation.

 

Luckily, my Timberland boots were laced loosely that day (unusual), and I was able to free myself after considerable effort by pulling my feet out of my shoes and crawling. It made me think though. Of all the times I've photographed the water, in 30 years of being a photographer, that has never happened. 

 

 

 

So pleased you are still with us.😀

 

Allan

 

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