You Vs. Nature

[Glenn]

The big news over the weekend, in case you, somehow, missed it, was Hurricane Sandy. Many people were killed, there was MASSIVE flooding in New York and New Jersey, the power is out to about 6 million customers and Sandy created a blizzard in Virginia and West Virginia, complete with thunder and lightning. Sandy proved to be a very serious deal... in spite of its tame- like name.

Sandy also provided a bit of irony. You see, a movie about Noah's Ark, starring Russell Crowe (as one of the animals?) had to stop production because of concerns about, well, flooding. It should be noted that they built a replica of the Ark for the movie. Just sayin'.

Also over the weekend, two Boy Scouts were rescued after spending two unpleasant nights in the elements out in the wilderness. Lucky for them, they lived up to the 'Scout motto, "Be Prepared". That's fine, but are you?

All of us, at some time or another, have had the misfortune of having to deal with Mother Nature when she was feeling particularly moody and today we wanted your stories: WHEN WAS IT YOU VS. NATURE?

[clayton86]

Every time I go to Ft. Drum is me or us my unit vs mother nature.

One time though not involving Drum was when I was maybe 15 out fishing with some buddy's behind his house and a storm had rolled in. We fished as long as we could till it started hailing and thunder and lightning. We jumped on the 4 wheelers and high tailed out of there. We were dodging falling trees in the woods on our way back till we got to the road. That was painful as hail the size of like a small grape or marbles hurt like hell when racing home on a 4 wheeler.

Then there was fishing with J Francho last fall on lake Ontario actually was like exactly a year ago this week if I remember correctly. That wasn't to bad other then racing to get into the shelter of the bay watching John race his xpress looking out a little hole in his hoodie to see out of he had it cinched down so tight around his face.

[SirSnookalot]

Back in the mid 60's I crewed on a 39' sailboat, a few days before the start of the Port Huron to Mac race, myself and another crew member took the boat up from our marina on the Detroit River. A bad storm came rolling in, we dropped the sails, went to power, which isn't much on that boat, tethered ourselves and hung on. Well we made the 60 miles, get into the Black River and the harbormaster says.................are you guys out of your *(&^$%^$ mind!.

[DavePNW]

This was probably entirely my fault for not being more cautious but I was heading to a beach spot to meet up with a couple friends and the only way to their beach was across a path with rocks stacked up beside it. When I started heading toward their beach about a mile and a half away the tide wasn't too high and hadn't even reached the rocks yet. Before I knew it I was pinned between the rising tide and the sticker bushes at the top of the rocks. I climbed across and even fell in the ocean a few times before reaching the other beach to meet up with my friends.

[slonezp]

My boy couldn't have been older than 6 or 7. He and I were salmon fishing in Door County on my fathers 24' Pro Line. Water was glass calm when we took off in the morning. We were out maybe 3 or 4 hours when reports started coming over the radio about bad weather approaching, although stil not a cloud in the sky. I decided to continue fishing for another hour or so until I saw the weather changing in the distance. Puled in the rods and downriggers and headed back to the marina. About a mile from safety, the sky turned black, and the storm hit with full force. Torrential rain and 8 footers maybe more. Never been so scared in my life. We make it back to the marina and tie up the boat in the slip both of us completely drenched, and I was shaking. "Dad, I'm hungry, and are we going to sleep on the boat tonight? You promised." We went back to the house, changed clothes, got a bite to eat, and came back to the marina to spend the night on the boat because I promised.

[retiredbosn]

... I was shaking. "Dad, I'm hungry, and are we going to sleep on the boat tonight? You promised." We went back to the house, changed clothes, got a bite to eat, and came back to the marina to spend the night on the boat because I promised.

Sounds like your boy had allot of faith in you, wasn't even scared.

[slonezp]

Sounds like your boy had allot of faith in you, wasn't even scared.

Nowadays, he sees lightning and turns into a little girl when were on the water. A few years back we were in a tournament and a storm came thru. We went into a protected channel. A tree got struck by lightning less than 50 yards from us. Ever since then, he's paranoid of lightning, and he's 22 now. Not saying he shouldn't be concerned, it's just comical to see his reaction.

[CoBass]

Nowadays, he sees lightning and turns into a little girl when were on the water. A few years back we were in a tournament and a storm came thru. We went into a protected channel. A tree got struck by lightning less than 50 yards from us. Ever since then, he's paranoid of lightning, and he's 22 now. Not saying he shouldn't be concerned, it's just comical to see his reaction.

I'll fish through a lot of different weather conditions but lightning isn't one of them. About ten years ago I was shore fishing a local pond. I was having a pretty good day and after a couple of hrs I could see some clouds building on the mountains. No big deal, typical Colorado Summer weather. I saw a little bit of lightning off to the north but there was only a few clouds where I was. A few minutes later, the hair on my arms started standing up and when I went to open my bail for my next cast little blue sparks started arcing between the metal hook holder on my rod and my finger. I dropped the rod right where I was standing and took cover under a wooden dock that was close by. Within five minutes marble sized hale was pounding the area with lots of lightning to go along with it. I don't know whether it was all of the static electricity in the air or if I was about to get struck by lightning that caused my rod to spark like that, but ever since that day I don't mess around when it comes to lightning.

[retiredbosn]

Not necessarily a me v/s nature more like my unit v/s nature, but I remember the worst storm I ever had the misfortune of being at sea in.

We (USCGC Cape Upright a 95 foot Patrol Boat) recieved a call to go out and recover a stranded trawler 300 miles off the coast of Charleston, SC. We decided to go out on one engine to conserve fuel, looking back that was a smart decision. Long story short, got on scene and rigged a stern tow and headed back toward the coast. About 4 hours into the tow we recieve a call from the group (command for our area) to let us know of a storm. We turn up the radar to see how big of a storm it is and the whole screen goes green, this storm was over 400 miles wide. It hits and man, it kicked our butt. 20-30 foot seas, the bridge on our vessel was 14 feet above the water and we could see them crashing down on us. We were in that storm for 4 days, me and another helmsman were the only ones able to stand our watch, there were 2 others able to stand the other watches. We would go six hours on duty, six in the rack (bed) trying to rest. I would literally wedge my arms and legs through the metal frame to hold myself in bed, the refridgerator broke loose and pinned the cook to the wall, the other helsman fell down the stairs and broke his leg. So between the four of us we made it back. With the seas as confused as they were we decided to just head west, I remember steering the cutter and watching the seas, when a big wave was going to hit our beam I would throttle the engines swing the stern toward the wave and basically surf the wave as it crashed over us. It took four days to get back to port, when we arrived, the Cutter was a mess, we had lost an anchor, the life lines (metal rope hooked to metal post than ran around the perimeter of the cutter) were gone, we had several holes where the posts were ripped away, we lost a fire station, and had several broken port holes and windows on the bridge. Our original destination was Winyah Bay and we came in at Charleston Harbor, about 150 miles south! We get to port, turn our tow over to a smaller vessel, and the group is playing war games with the Marines. We go to tie up and some Marine asks for my id, the cutter is a mess, I hadn't shaved in several days and the last thing I wanted to deal with was some moron playing war games. We ended up staying in port for a week while they repair the cutter. I have no idea how much damage the trawler recieved. I was never so happy to be back ashore during my entire career.

Wish A-Jay would weigh in, I know he has been in some bad storms, lol.

[slonezp]

^^

Winner winner chicken dinner