[Leica] OT: Rogue Waves

[datamaster at northcoastphotos.com (Gary Todoroff)]

Right you are Ted! Here on the North Coast of California, the ocean seems to
make a snack out of several tourists every year. Actually, that is too much
anthropomorphism to apply to the wild ocean. The sea is beautiful, but the
best characterization regarding ocean rogue waves is that IT DOESN'T CARE!

Co-incidentally, I was shooting aerial "Ocean Day" photos on Friday and just
posted the following to the Aerial-Pro list. On the web site, the wide photo
showing the jetty entrance to Humboldt Bay is where many people have been
swept away.

"Had a great flight yesterday with the HH-65A CG crew out of Group Humboldt
Bay Air Station. The digital files were uploaded to the Friends of the
Dunes, who submitted them with press releases to the local media. See:
http://friendsofthedunes.org/adopt.a.beach.shtml
for some of the shots on their web site. I also took some transparencies
with the Hasselblad and 100mm/3.5 in case they want to ever print poster
size. The ones on the web were taken with my Olympus C-8080 (8 mpix).
Weather was perfect.

Before the photos, the three crewmembers and I were all strapped in, half a
minute from starting the engines when a flight mechanic came running up -
"We need this aircraft for a SAR case!" So out we went to make room for the
search and rescue ready-team, with 500 kids just starting to assemble their
"aerial art" on the beach 15 miles to the south. Fortunately, another HH-65
was just about ready to fly, so we finally made it to the scene about an
hour late - which for the poor adults having to "tend sheep" must have felt
like five hours! The original helo landed just a couple of minutes before we
took off. Some wet folks down in Mendocino Bay were picked up ok by boat.

The top photo on the web site was also the front page photo in this
morning's Times-Standard local Eureka paper - digital is so much fun. But
not as much fun as flying and photographing in a Coast Guard Dolphin
helicopter!"

Gary Todoroff
(Tree LUGger)

Oliver offered:
> I live just a couple of blocks from the ocean. The beach as well as the
> overlooks, walks, and trails near the water are posted with warning signs
> (in English, Spanish, Russian, and Chinese) that point out the danger of
> rogue waves and undertow, with the message "PEOPLE HAVE DIED HERE" added
> for emphasis.<<<

Hi Oliver,
I bet most folks who live inland have neither heard nor have any idea that
such a thing as rogue waves exist, that is until they're being dragged out
to sea! :-(

Up island here a few years ago, we had three Japanese tourists swept away in
one shot even after the group had been warned repeatedly to watch for and
beware of "big waves and certainly not to go exactly where they went." :-(

One blink and they were gone!  :-(

So for all the list members who are not ocean side folks this is one message
for all of you to always keep in mind if visiting ocean beaches anywhere, as
they don't just happen around the shores of North America.

ted













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