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Recreational Safety Home

PRINCIPALS OF WATER SAFETY

Life Guards, Hypothermia. Personal Flotation Devices

WAVES

Seas and Swells
Wave Size
Anecdotes
Tide Pools
Playing in the Spray Russian Roulette - Morro Bay Style

BOATING

Boating in the Bay, Boating in the Ocean, Morro Bay’s Rough Bar, Fog, Suction

AND ON LAND

Falls, Falling Objects, Stinging Nettle, Poison-Oak, Mountain Lions, Ticks, Rattlesnakes, Poison-Hemlock

ADDENDA

How Far Can Waves Reach, Mortality Statistics, Off The Road Vehicles, Mountain Biking, Miscellany

 

Waves, Page 2

Russian Roulette, Morro Bay Style

Big Wave
(Note the woman in the blue jeans and dark shirt at the bottom right of the wave.)
Photo by August Phillips


Unfortunately, a few people push the limits. They like to disappear in the spray, or even get down to just above the reach of the last wave.
The previous picture was taken at the end of Coleman drive on the north jetty, where a person is killed every two years or so. Usually people get swept off the rocks into the ocean after getting too close, by “surges”. Surges spring from the deeper adjacent water without breaking, like the flush of an efficient toilet. They exert tremendous force because they are not diluted with air; a person cannot stand in a surging wave.
Once knocked into the deep water that the surge came from, fight for your life; but the chance of surviving is only 50%. An ounce of prevention…

 

Back to Page 1, Waves

All content copyright Dr. Curt Beebe. Please do not use without permission.