Link: All Gulf Shores Beaches Closed After 4th Drowning In 24 Hours

[92tide]

what no X-rays ?

no, just scars

 

[exiledNms]

It surprises me that, in this day and time, people don't know how to get out of a rip tide. You never try to swim against it towards the shore. You'll tire yourself out and there's no way to win. The escape is to swim parallel to the beach until you're out of it. They're always very narrow - part of why they're so strong - and you'll be out of quickly...

I grew up on the beaches of NW FL, & have dealt w/ rip currents. Scary stuff! But like Earle said, do NOT swim against them. It's quite amazing how quickly you'll get out of one by swimming sideways. But as noted, it's pretty scary.

In HS days, I worked at hotels in the summer. I recall one walkie-talkie alert clearly: "We need a porter at the beach NOW!" I was nearest & thus went. This was a day of hurricane-ish breakers & currents; even the usual local stoner surfer dudes weren't out there this day. Nobody w/ sense would've gotten in the Gulf that day. And yet, there lay an older guest who had tragically learned the hard way that the red flags & signs posted are there for a reason. A server in the hotel restaurant recalled them eating an early bkfst & "heading to the beach for a quick morning swim." The husband's body washed up some distance away a day or so later. The server had told them about the warnings, & the response was something like "psh, we swim in the lakes back home all the time..." <sigh>

Ever seen the face of someone who drowned? Pray that you never do. It's been 37 years since that day, & I can still see her face.

 

[TIDE-HSV]

yes, i know that undercut well and always avoided it . luckily i only folded one boat and it was on the chattooga. i was trying to catch one of the small eddies in jawbone (the one across the curler from decap rock) and i came flying into it off of the wave and the nose of my boat (a prijon hurricane) got stuck in one of the potholes on the bank while the middle of my boat grabbed a rock just beneath the surface out in the current. i had my head just above the surface and was able to get the attention of my friends downstream and they had to come pull me out, then it took a while and a few folks to get the boat freed up. it wasn't too scary while it happened because of the adrenaline, but i got a little wigged out on the lake paddle to the takeout (the safety meeting after sock 'em dog helped the anxiety a bit ). the boat had popped back into shape by the time i got back to atlanta and i continued to paddle it for a few more years before selling it.

I know that spot well. I only capsized once in Jawbone and that was a week after a guy got killed there - same thing happened to him as to you. They said I rolled so fast the boat never stopped moving. I ran the Five Falls once at 2.75'. Nobody else ran the Dog that day, and almost miscalculated and bought the farm. Then, I got stuck in Shoulder Bone and rolled 13 times before I could dig my way out. The spectators were counting. I wasn't. I always ran with SE Expeditions, the company my daughter had worked for as a guide and got a ride back to the top with them...

 

[cbi1972]

A guy I went to high school with died trying to pull a kayaker off this dam in 1996: Rockford Manufacturing Co.

RIP Chip Koella

 

[92tide]

I know that spot well. I only capsized once in Jawbone and that was a week after a guy got killed there - same thing happened to him as to you. They said I rolled so fast the boat never stopped moving. I ran the Five Falls once at 2.75'. Nobody else ran the Dog that day, and almost miscalculated and bought the farm. Then, I got stuck in Shoulder Bone and rolled 13 times before I could dig my way out. The spectators were counting. I wasn't. I always ran with SE Expeditions, the company my daughter had worked for as a guide and got a ride back to the top with them...

awesome. when was she there? i had a good buddy working with SE exp. in 94-96 and spent a lot of time up there with those guys. they would let me crash in the evenings and give me a ride if i needed it. i also went to a couple of massive parties up there at their "office/compound" (incidentally, one the night before my pin in jawbone)

i would usually do a late afternoon run with the guides after they got off their trips and that was a great way to learn that river. i think my most favorite run down the chattooga (out of probably 100+) was a midnight moonlight section 4 run on a full moon with another buddy of mine and 3 of the SE guides. we taped glow sticks to our helmets so we could keep up with every one. 5-falls was surreal in the full moonlight. we had to run corkscrew by feel and memory, but jawbone and the dog were well lit :biggrin2:

 

[92tide]

A guy I went to high school with died trying to pull a kayaker off this dam in 1996: Rockford Manufacturing Co.

RIP Chip Koella

that's rough. dams are nasty

 

[cbi1972]

that's rough. dams are nasty

What's crazy is he wasn't even out trying to enjoy the outdoors. He was at work. At a string factory.

 

[TIDE-HSV]

awesome. when was she there? i had a good buddy working with SE exp. in 94-96 and spent a lot of time up there with those guys. they would let me crash in the evenings and give me a ride if i needed it. i also went to a couple of massive parties up there at their "office/compound" (incidentally, one the night before my pin in jawbone)

i would usually do a late afternoon run with the guides after they got off their trips and that was a great way to learn that river. i think my most favorite run down the chattooga (out of probably 100+) was a midnight moonlight section 4 run on a full moon with another buddy of mine and 3 of the SE guides. we taped glow sticks to our helmets so we could keep up with every one. 5-falls was surreal in the full moonlight. we had to run corkscrew by feel and memory, but jawbone and the dog were well lit :biggrin2:

She was there in the mid 80s, so earlier. Yeah, I know the gang well. I went down the GC and the Gauley with them. I refused to get stoned until evening. They didn't put it off. I never made a moonlight run, but I would have liked to. We need to have a drink sometime. We are two adrenalin freaks...

 

[92tide]

She was there in the mid 80s, so earlier. Yeah, I know the gang well. I went down the GC and the Gauley with them. I refused to get stoned until evening. They didn't put it off. I never made a moonlight run, but I would have liked to. We need to have a drink sometime. We are two adrenalin freaks...

yeah, putting it off wasn't really the southeastern cup of tea there was this really cool cave they showed me about 1/3 of the way up the ridge on the river right side just at the beginning of the lake where we used to go hang out. neat place.

i felt really lucky to get to do the moonlight run. i got to run a lot of great rivers many times over the years at that experience is top 3

i like single malts, tends to mix well with the adrenaline