A man who went to the Northern California coast near the Klamath River to photograph the arrival of a tsunami early Friday was swept out to sea and remained missing, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

If he was a pilot, he would be the cause of increased insurance rates.

Tim

If he was a pilot he probably would have been a statistic long ago. I hear three of them went down to the beach to take pictures of the tsunami and all three got washed out to sea. Two of them made it back but one is still missing. Guess they didn't know what a tsunami was?

When I was in the navy over 40 years ago, a female enlisted was refered to as a wave. If they were a bit broad in the beam, we refered to them as a tsunami

Tim

Looks like the planes fared better than the cars. I can see the wheels above the lumber on the nearest Cessna.
Anyone who went to take a picture of that thing coming at them is walking the footsteps of Timothy Treadwell. Not trying to make light of this tragedy but some things of nature should be respected from a distance.

Late addition.
I can't imagine the force of the under tow of that thing. I body surfed off Kauai in '85. There were signs for dangerous undertow and no swimming. There were people out there doing it though so my wife laid on the beach and went to sleep in the sun while I went to try my hand at this body surfing thing. By the time I got back no one was left out in the water, all had left because of the undertow of the building waves. I got slammed down and drug on the bottom of the grit and sand three times trying to get back out of the water and each time it happened I came up and one more wave crest was between me and the beach. I was being towed further and further out with each pounding. I finally decided I could not catch these waves and surf in. I turned and swam toward the coming wave and dived down under and came up behind it. Then I turned and swam behind it toward shore as fast as I could till the next wave caught up to me then I turned and dived under it again finally making it back to the beach. I was wasted when I got my feet braced in the sand in the waist deep water and clawed my way to the beach with the last one trying to pull my feet out from under me one more time. Never again, and I considered myself a strong swimmer.
When I woke up my wife from her nap I was exhausted and she just asked if I had fun. Actually, until I got smarter than the wave I was thinking the kids and her would be ok because of the life insurance. It was one of those moments that stick in your mind and you never forget.

As you found out you can't usually swim against an undertow. The best bet is to swim 90* to it until you find a spot you can either stand up in or where the undertow is milder or even non existent. For our Kansas friends undertow is created by all those waves coming in, the water has to go out somewhere. Most often it just flows back out under the waves. But sometimes a channel is created with a lot of the water going out in said channel. fast. When you grow up near the water you learn to read the sea. Deep water, shallow water, channels etc can change from day to day on a sandy beach. Places like Pismo Beach in California lose a few people every year, most are not local and don't realize swimming in your local creek is completely different than the ocean.

qmdv wrote:A man who went to the Northern California coast near the Klamath River to photograph the arrival of a tsunami early Friday was swept out to sea and remained missing, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

If he was a pilot, he would be the cause of increased insurance rates.

Tim

The Darwin Award is presented once more. Sad, but what the hell was he thinking?

courierguy wrote:

qmdv wrote:A man who went to the Northern California coast near the Klamath River to photograph the arrival of a tsunami early Friday was swept out to sea and remained missing, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

If he was a pilot, he would be the cause of increased insurance rates.

Tim

The Darwin Award is presented once more. Sad, but what the hell was he thinking?

He was thinking that the wife and kids would be ok with the life insurance. Before that he wasn't.

I had a very similar experience while boogie boarding at Hapuna Beach on the Big Island. Without my glasses it took a while for me to realize things were getting smaller! I did NOT know about swimming at 90 degrees. What saved my butt was a set of waves that, even as far out as I was, broke behind me, (none had been breaking anywhere near that lucky set) that I luckily caught, and rode the entire way in, I mean I stopped in knee deep water with little kids playing around me, my best ride ever and it probably saved my life.

Still not sure if I had a dodged a bullet or I just freaked for nothing, I got up on the shore and two locals came up and informed me in no uncertain terms I had indeed dodged a bullet, they saw the whole thing On this same trip, alone on a black sand beach at dawn my ex-wife lived nearby, I saw TWO water spouts, about 1/4 to 1/2 mile away. NO wind on the surface where I was, that was spooky also!

Yet another time in Big Sur, in 1973, I landed at high tide on a very narrow beach, and had an expecially big wave hit me about waist high and damn near took me down and drag me out. I was still hooked into the glider. I got a picture of me walking out still hooked in, soaking wet!

They call it wisdom, the reward for surviving youth.

We all go to meet our maker eventually. The difference is some sit around and wait for him to find them and others go looking for him. Some of my best days are the ones I didn't finding what I was looking for.
dirt